Twenty years ago, says the Law Times, the site of the new law courts was one of the worst parts of the metropolis; and it is quite true that when the seven acres of fetid grounds, muddy lanes and dirty alleys, were cleared away, there was nothing worth preserving of the many miserable houses and other erections which were then demolished. But there was a time when this locality was the abode of fashion, and the resort of the learned. From the time of Charles II. to the reign of "Good Queen Anne," a fashionable promenade stretched along what is now the western front of the new courts. This was called Clement's Lane, and in it there dwelt Sir John Trevor, sometime speaker of the House of Commons and Master of the Rolls, who was subsequently buried in the Roll's Chapel. Oliver Cromwell spent some years of his life in this lane, and the site of a mansion occupied by Lord Paget may be seen from the windows of the Lord Chancellor's room in the eastern wing of the new building. Boswell Court, a little to the northeast, was a private resort of lawyers in the time of Johnson; and not far from the new rooms allotted to the Lord Chief-Justice, there lived in 1639, Sir Thomas Lyttleton.

The locality is also memorable as having been the residence of the widow of Sir Walter Raleigh; while in new Boswell Court, as recently as 1850, might have been seen a watchman's box, such as was used by the precursors of the present police.

Boswell Court opened into Carey Street, the south side of which was pulled down and is now occupied by the north front or Lincoln's Inn side of the new courts. In one of the houses in this street resided Sir William Blackstone, and Benjamin Franklin is said to have lodged there when serving his time as a printer's apprentice, while at the old Plough tavern, John Gully, the notorious prize fighter, made the money which enabled him to secure a seat in the House of Commons as a member of Pontefract.

A little further eastward is the boundary line of the City of London and the city and Liberty of Westminster. Along this line there ran a broad alley called Shire Lane, and afterward Serles Place.

On the right was Smashers Corner," so called because the

houses were occupied by coiners of bad money. The spot is now occupied, singularly enough, by the Royal Courts of Justice branch of the Bank of England. The next noticeable place was the Anti Gallican, a public house near the Strand frequented by sporting men. Close by was Cadger's Hall, a rendezvous of beggars, and near it was a famous sponging house, in which in 1823, Theodore Hook was detained as a crown debtor, for £12,000.

James Perry, the proprietor of tho Morning Chronicle, lodged in the same Lane for many years. But Shire Lane will be chiefly remembered-in connection with the Kit Kat Club, which met at the Trumpet Tavern; and here in the reign of Queen Anne the leading wits of the day were in the habit of spending their evenings together, including Addison, Steele, Congreve, Dryden, the Duke of Marlborough and Sir William Walpole.

In 1725, the neighborhood became notorious in connection with the doings of Jack Sheppard. He was a constant visitor of a tavern called "The Bible," which was a house used by printers. On the western side of Bell Yard, which was almost parallel, resided Pope's friend, Fortescue, who in 1777, was Master of the Rolls. He it was who induced Pope to write the facetious law report of Stardling v. Styles.

In addition to the above there are many other details of interest, connected with the site of the new law courts. From being the Belgravia of the Stuarts, it became worse than the Seven Dials. It was in every sense a den of iniquity; therefore, nothing more fitting could have happened than that it should have been entirely swept away by the majesty of the law, and its place occupied by the palatial Royal Courts of Justice.

PALACE OF JUSTICE.-The first sight of that immense pile composing the Royal Courts of Justice which fronts the Strand and runs through to Carey Street, is disappointing.

We had expected to see a structure of great height, of immense size and of surpassing grandeur. The outline is impressive, presenting to the eye an oblong pile of buildings, some 500 feet long and 280 broad, and from their central position the courts can be readily reached from almost any point, but the proportions are not good, and to our eye, the

height is not sufficient, and the consequence is that the whole structure has a squatty appearance. The ground plan of the building is in the form of a rectangular parallelogram, measuring about 500 feet on two of the sides, and a little less on the others.

Roughly speaking, the space inclosed within this boundary is occupied by an outer row of buildings and two interior quadrangles, one of which contains the Central Hall; or perhaps, it gives a more correct idea to say that the plan consists of two quadrangles, round one of which are grouped the offices, and round the other the courts; this last quadrangle being roofed over and forming the Central Hall. As compared with Westminster Hall this hall is disappointing. It strikes one as being, in proportion to its height-some 70 or 80 feet-very narrow, indeed.

The roof, too, will of course not compare with that of Westminster, and the hall, which is, roughly speaking, 220 feet long and 50 feet broad, seems altogether of a character out of place in any but an ecclesiastical building.

This hall of the new law courts does indeed present a different appearance to that at Westminster during term time, as it is only intended that it should be used by jurors and the parties to causes, and witnesses. The public have no occasion to go into it and are mostly excluded. It is not necessary for the bar to use it, either in getting to a court or in going from one to another.

For this purpose barristers are provided with a corridor which passes outside of the whole of the courts, between them and the walls of the Central Hall. This corridor, which is designed to be cool in summer and warm in winter, is most useful, and as it is exclusively used by barristers, gives them the greatest facilities in passing from court to court.

Immediately above this corridor is found another for the public, access to which is obtained by two entrances out of the Strand, just outside the main entrance to the building, that is, just east and west of the entrance to Central Hall. Into the latter, solicitors, or their clients, witnesses and jurors, will pass to reach the six different short flights of steps leading

to their waiting rooms and lavatories, and thence by a staircase either to the jurors' galleries or to the courts. They too, are provided with their corridor, and with all the modern conveniences which indicate the abode of civilized man.

The ground on which the building is erected, slopes from.. north to south with a steep incline towards the river, so that the level of the Strand on the south is eighteen feet below the level of Carey Street on the north.

The courts are on the Carey Street level, so that as one stands on the floor of the Central Hall which is three or four feet above the Strand, the courts on the first floor are some fifteen feet higher. Taking each row of courts as it runs alongside of the Central Hall, we find a corridor for the bar on one side and a corridor for the judges on the other side. That for the bar admits direct to each court; that for the judges is so arranged that on one side of it there are the private rooms occupied by the judges and their personal officers, and on the other are doors giving immediate access to the bench in each court, so that each judge can communicate with every other judge without more trouble than that of sending a message or making a short excursion along a private way. There are entrances to the building on the Carey Street front which are set apart for the judges and which afford a direct and private entrance to their own special corridor. Every court is, as far as possible, removed from the noise of the street traffic outside andao window giving light to a court looks out on the street.

The courts receive light principally through the roof, and where there are windows they look out on a "well" lined with white glazed bricks; and by this means, not only is the greatest amount of light possible obtained, but air for the purpose of ventilation is also afforded.

INTERNAL ARRANGEMENT.-The arrangements of the courts differ considerably. Taking first of all the court which is understood to have been originally intended for the Master of the Rolls, the scheme is as follows:

The judge's' seat is on a high platform, under a graceful oak canopy, and on either side are two oak stalls, probably intended for distinguished visitors to the bench of the Chancery Division.

On a lower platform is a long table, destined for the regis trar and judge's officers. Below this are the solicitors seats, facing the counsel and provided with a long table furnished with inkstands. There is room on shelves behind the seat, for hats, books and papers. The Queen's Counsel seats are immediately in front, within about fourteen feet of the judge, and extremely convenient for addressing him. The desks in front of these seats are sloping and slide forward. They appear to present rare facilities for papers slipping down among the leader's feet. But the worst arrangement in this part of the court is that of the queen's counsel seats, which lift up like the seats of stalls in cathedrals.

"It is not, however," said a barrister to us, "the lifting up but the coming down of the seat which is the point of difficulty." The seats are very heavy and they are apt to come down with a crash which will have a fearful effect upon a nervous judge or counsel. One witty correspondent in writing upon this subject some years ago before the courts were occupied, said: "It will be necessary to put the learned leaders through a course of seat drill, training them to use the utmost caution in the descent of their seats."

The first row of seats for the outer bar in this court is precisely similar to the leader's seat, and behind this are four seats for the bar, ascending by steps, and behind them is the gallery for spectators. The short-hand writers' seats are on the right and left of the registrar's platform on the level of the floor.

The walls are lined with book-shelves, and the court is lighted by three two-light windows on either side and from the roof. The ventilation is secured by open panels in the roof.

Taking next a court intended for one of the courts of the other divisions, we find different arrangements as regards the solicitors seats. Here the solicitors sit with their backs to the counsel and facing the judge. In front of them are two tables. The jury box is on the left of the judge. It contains three rows of seats and there is a separate entrance for the jurymen. The witness box is on the right of the judge, immediately facing the jury. The arrangements as to seats for counsel are similar to those in the court last described, but there are eight