of what age soever, in the said gentlemen's chambers,
upon penalty, for the first offence of him that should admit of any
such, to be put out of Commons: and for the second, to be expelled the
House." The stringency and severity of this order show a determination
on the part of the authorities to cure the evil.

Chapter III.

YORK HOUSE AND POWIS HOUSE.

Whilst the great body of lawyers dwelt in or hard by the Inns, the
dignitaries of the judicial bench, and the more eminent members of the
bar, had suitable palaces or mansions at greater or less distances from
the legal hostelries. The ecclesiastical Chancellors usually enjoyed
episcopal or archiepiscopal rank, and lived in the London palaces
attached to their sees or provinces. During his tenure of the seals,
Morton, Bishop of Ely, years before he succeeded to the archbishopric of
Canterbury, and received the honors of the Cardinalate, grew
strawberries in his garden on Holborn Hill, and lived in the palace
surrounded by that garden. As Archbishop of Canterbury, Chancellor
Warham maintained at Lambeth Palace the imposing state commemorated by
Erasmus.

When Wolsey made his first progress to the Court of Chancery in
Westminster Hall, a progress already alluded to in these pages, he
started from the archiepiscopal palace, York House or Place--an official
residence sold by the cardinal to Henry VIII. some years later; and when
the same superb ecclesiastic, towards the close of his career, went on
the memorable embassy to France, he set out from his palace at
Westminster, "passing through all London over London Bridge, having
before him of gentlemen a great number, three in rank in black velvet
livery coats, and the most of them with great chains of gold about their
necks."

At later dates Gardyner, whilst he held the seals, kept his numerous
household at Winchester House in Southwark; and Williams, the last
clerical Lord Keeper, lived at the Deanery, Westminster.

The lay Chancellors also maintained costly and pompous establishments,
apart from the Inns of Court. Sir Thomas More's house stood in the
country, flanked by a garden and farm, in the cultivation of which
ground the Chancellor found one of his chief sources of amusement. In
Aldgate, Lord Chancellor Audley built his town mansion, on the site of
the Priory of the Canons of the Holy Trinity of Christ Church.
Wriothesley dwelt in Holborn at the height of his unsteady fortunes, and
at the time of his