Part 5

About the year 1540, Henry VIII. suppressed all the larger monasteries and private religious houses in England, and the venerable priory fell with the others. This was a severe blow to the prosperity of the order, and is said to have broken the heart of the valiant old L’isle Adam, the grandmaster, who held Rhodes till he could hold it no longer, and then, obtaining honourable terms from the Sultan Solyman, removed to the island of Malta, where the knights continued to be a powerful enemy to the Turks until 1798, when, ‘through the treachery of the Maltese, and the cowardice of D’Hompesch the grandmaster, the island was surrendered to the French;’ and soon after this, most of the property still belonging to the order in many parts of Europe was confiscated by the various governments. Since then, the order, which had been gradually degenerating, has not had any political importance.

The priory, however, was not destroyed, like most of its kindred buildings, at the Reformation, for even the bluff, matter-of-fact King Henry had some respect for the venerable old building; and so, instead of destroying it, we are told that he used it for a military storehouse. In Edward VI.’s reign, however, a more ruthless and sweeping hand came to deal with it. The proud and ambitious Seymour, Duke of Somerset, at that time Lord Protector, had no kindly feeling for such places; and the church and all the rest of the priory, with the exception of the gate, were blown up with gunpowder. The large blocks of stone were used to build Somerset’s palace in the Strand in 1549. It remained till the year 1776, when it gave place to the present one, a building erected after the Palladian style, from the designs of Sir William Chambers.

We hear nothing more of the gate till the reign of James I., when that monarch bestowed the building on Sir Roger Wilbraham, who lived there for many years. Long after this, Cave the printer rented the old gate for a small sum, and here was first printed and published the _Gentleman’s Magazine_. This was one of the first places to which Dr Johnson, then poor, and almost unknown, came, when he settled in the great city. Here he made his first literary efforts by helping Cave in his publication. Here also Garrick the actor first played, some of Cave’s interested workmen taking the other parts of the pieces.

The old gate is now turned into a tavern, called _Old Jerusalem Tavern_, and inside may still be seen some interesting relics of the former days of the gate, when it was the chief entrance to the priory of one of the most powerful religious bodies in Europe. Who can look upon such a relic without being reminded of the great spirit of chivalry, that strange compound of barbarity and courtesy; of the crusades, and the great changes which have taken place since the time of the prosperous days of the old priory? and we cannot but feel thankful that we live in a happier, less troubled, and more enlightened age; and as we gaze upon the grim old gate, think of the words of Shakspeare: ‘To what base uses may we return.’

’TWIXT DAYBREAK AND DAYLIGHT.

The glint and glimmer of the daybreak shows In the fast-reddening east; the sable clouds With roseate streaks and golden threads are lined; And the first early cock, awakening, rings His shrill clear challenge on the breaking morn!

A voiceless stir of many murmurings, From woodland, hill, and dale, and meadow, tells The flight of slumber: now the cricket chirps Amid the barley, and the skylark plumes His wing for early rising; passes by The milkmaid to the pasture; and the farm Grows noisy with the many-varied sounds Of rustic labour, telling that hath fled The drowsy sweet forgetfulness of night!

Shadows of dreamland pass from earth away Into the mystic world of things unseen; The stern necessities of daily life Again their round commence, as, one by one, Toilers awaken to the coming day!

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Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH.

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