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                          THE TOWER OF LONDON

                              AGENTS


        AMERICA        THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
                       64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

        AUSTRALASIA    THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, MELBOURNE

        CANADA         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
                       27 RICHMOND STREET WEST, TORONTO

        INDIA          MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
                       MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
                       309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA


[Illustration: THE WHITE TOWER (KEEP), WITH THE LANTHORN TOWER IN THE
FOREGROUND, FROM THE TOWER BRIDGE]




                                  THE
                            TOWER OF LONDON

                              PAINTED BY
                         JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I.

                             DESCRIBED BY
                             ARTHUR POYSER

                            [Illustration]

                         PUBLISHED BY A. & C.
                       BLACK · LONDON · MCMVIII




                                  TO
                               MY FATHER
                         Thomas Cooper Poyser
                             THIS BOOK IS
                               DEDICATED

         Full in the midst a mighty pile arose,
         Where iron-grated gates their strength oppose
         To each invading step, and, strong and steep,
         The battled walls arose, the fosse sunk deep.
         Slow round the fortress rolled the sluggish stream,
         And high in middle air the warder’s turrets gleam.
                                      _Anonymous._




PREFACE


The history of the Tower of London is so closely bound up with the
history of England, from the Norman Conquest onwards, that it is very
difficult to write a record of the one without appearing to have
attempted to write a record of the other. A full history of the Tower
may read like an attenuated history of England. When the problem has to
be solved within the compass of a single chapter the difficulties are
very considerably increased. Then again, if a detailed account of Tower
annals has been given in a preliminary chapter, there is nothing of any
interest left to say when describing a visit to the several buildings
within the Tower walls. If the dramatic scene in the Council Chamber of
the White Tower, which ended in Lord Hastings being sent, with scant
ceremony, to the block on the Green below by Richard III., be described
in its proper place in the Historical Sketch (Chapter II.) it cannot
again be spoken of in detail when the visit is paid (Chapter III.) to
the room in which the event took place. Yet it is beyond doubt that a
visitor to the Tower would rather be reminded of that tragic Council
meeting when in the Council Chamber itself, than come upon it in the
course of the sketch of Tower history, which he would probably have read
at home beforehand and forgotten in detail. Still, those who read this
book and have no opportunity of visiting the Tower expect that the
characters in the moving drama of its history shall have some semblance
of life as they walk across the stage. Such a reader demands more than
mere names and dates, or he will skip an historical chapter as being
intolerably dull. It is no consolation to him to be told that if he will
take patience and walk through and round the Tower, in imagination, by
keeping his temper and kindly reading Chapters III. and IV., he will
discover that much of the human interest omitted in the “history” will
be found by the wayside in the “walks.”

In former and larger books on the Tower it will be seen that either the
purely historical record under the headings of successive Kings and
Queens dwarfs to insignificance the account of the buildings themselves,
or the description of the several towers and buildings which constitute
the fortress-prison occupies the bulk of the volume, to the exclusion of
any adequate historical record giving names and dates in chronological
order. But like most difficulties, I think this one can be solved by a
judicious compromise; the chapters must be tuned to “equal temperament.”
I have endeavoured to keep the balance of the several sections as even
as possible; and an historic candidate for the honour of the headsman’s
axe, who has been given immortality in the pages of English history by
reason of the manner in which he was put to death, passed over in one
chapter will have some justice done to his memory in another.

I have attempted no pictorial description of the Tower as a whole or in
its several parts. I dared not carry the theory I have just propounded
into the realms of word-painting. Mr. Fulleylove has relieved me of that
duty. He has brought the Tower buildings, as they stand to-day, before
the eyes of all who turn these pages. This he has done with the brush
infinitely better than I could do it with the pen.

Though the pages at my disposal are so few in number, I have had the
temerity to attempt a description of much that is of interest outside
Tower walls. I trust that this boldness may not prove, after all, to be
a misplaced virtue. My wish has been to persuade those who come to visit
the Tower that there is a great deal to be seen in its immediate
vicinity that the majority of visitors have hitherto neglected, either
for want of time or want of guidance. A noble and historic building like
the Tower resembles a venerable tree whose roots have spread into the
soil in all directions, during the uncounted years of its existence, far
beyond the position of its stem.

I tender grateful thanks to Lieutenant-General Sir George Bryan Milman,
K.C.B., Major of the Tower, for much kindness, both to Mr. Fulleylove
and myself; and I can hardly express my indebtedness to the Rev. W. K.
Fleming, who has so ungrudgingly given of his time to the task of
correcting the proof-sheets.

                                       ARTHUR POYSER.

TRINITY SQUARE,

    TOWER HILL, E.C.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER I

PAGE

INTRODUCTION                                                           1

CHAPTER II

HISTORICAL SKETCH                                                     21

CHAPTER III

A WALK THROUGH THE TOWER                                              87

CHAPTER IV

A WALK ROUND THE TOWER                                               134

CHAPTER V

TOWER HILL                                                           158

CHAPTER VI

ALLHALLOWS BARKING BY THE TOWER                                      169

INDEX                                                                215


    When our gallant Norman foes
      Made our merry land their own,
        And the Saxons from the Conqueror were flying,
    At his bidding it arose,
      In its panoply of stone,
        A sentinel unliving and undying.
    Insensible, I trow,
      As a sentinel should be,
        Though a queen to save her head should come a-suing;
    There’s a legend on its brow
      That is eloquent to me,
        And it tells of duty done and duty doing.


      “The screw may twist and the rack may turn,
       And men may bleed and men may burn,
       On London town and all its hoard
       It keeps its solemn watch and ward!”


    Within its wall of rock
      The flower of the brave
        Have perished with a constancy unshaken.
    From the dungeon to the block,
      From the scaffold to the grave,
        Is a journey many gallant hearts have taken.
    And the wicked flames may hiss
      Round the heroes who have fought
        For conscience and for home in all its beauty,
    But the grim old fortalice
      Takes little heed of aught
        That comes not in the measure of its duty.


      “The screw may twist and the rack may turn,
       And men may bleed and men may burn,
       On London town and all its hoard
       It keeps its solemn watch and ward!”
                 SIR WILLIAM GILBERT.




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