Queen Eleanor also provided in a similar manner for her interment in the Temple Church, the formal instrument being expressed to be made with the consent and approbation of her lord, Henry the illustrious king of England, who had lent a willing ear to her prayers upon the subject.[540] These sepulchral arrangements, however, were afterwards altered, and the king by his will directed his body to be buried as follows:--"I will that my body be buried in the church of the blessed Edward at Westminster, there being no impediment, having formerly appointed my body to be buried in the New Temple."[541]
Antiquities in the Temple--The history of the place subsequent to the dissolution of the order of the Knights Templars--The establishment of a society of lawyers in the Temple--The antiquity of this society--Its connexion with the antient society of the Knights Templars--An order of knights and serving brethren established in the law--The degree of _frere serjen_, or _frater serviens_, borrowed from the antient Templars--The modern Templars divide themselves into the two societies of the Inner and Middle Temple.
"Those bricky towers, The which on Themme's brode aged back do ride, Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers; There whilom wont the Templer Knights to bide, Till they decayed thro' pride."
There are but few remains of the antient Knights Templars now existing in the Temple beyond the church. The present Inner Temple Hall was their antient hall, but it has at different periods been so altered and repaired as to have lost every trace and vestige of antiquity. In the year 1816 it was almost entirely rebuilt, and the following extract from "The Report and Observations of the Treasurer on the late Repairs of the Inner Temple Hall" may prove interesting, as showing the state of the edifice previous to that period.
"From the proportions, the state of decay, the materials of the eastern and southern walls, the buttresses of the southern front, the pointed form of the roof and arches, and the rude sculpture on the two doors of public entrance, the hall is evidently of very great antiquity.... The northern wall appears to have been rebuilt, except at its two extremities, in modern times, but on the old foundations.... The roof was found to be in a very decayed and precarious state; many timbers were totally rotten. It appeared to have undergone reparation at three separate periods of time, at each of which timber had been unnecessarily added, so as finally to accumulate a weight which had protruded the northern and southern walls. It became, therefore, indispensable to remove all the timber of the roof, and to replace it in a lighter form. On removing the old wainscoting of the western wall, a perpendicular crack of considerable height and width was discovered, which threatened at any moment the fall of that extremity of the building with its superincumbent roof.... The turret of the clock and the southern front of the hall are only cased with stone; this was done in the year 1741, and very ill executed. The structure of the turret, composed of chalk, rag-stone, and rubble, (the same material as the walls of the church,) seems to be very antient.... The wooden cupola of the bell was so decayed as to let in the rain, and was obliged to be renewed in a form to agree with the other parts of the southern front."