f
their chief's hand, recorded by supernatural agency, can be clearly seen.
Every Sunday all the veterans who are not disabled by ill-health or
infirmity take their places in the body of the chapel, almost filling it.
Visitors and the Hospital officials sit in transverse pews of an
old-fashioned shape, which run down the sides of the walls. The organ,
presented by Major Ingram in 1691-92, is in a gallery at the west end,
and immediately beneath the gallery on the right-hand side is the
Governor's pew.

The Chaplain is the Rev. J. H. S. Moxley. The service is short and
simple, and at its conclusion the old men all march out together before
the visitors leave. The service of plate presented by James II. is valued
at L500. It includes three flagons, four chalices, six salvers, and a
pair of candlesticks, all of silver-gilt. After service dinner is the
order of the day, and a visit to the kitchens, fitted with all the latest
modern improvements, is necessary. It does not seem as if the regimen
were very strictly adhered to. Great savoury pies of mutton and kidney,
roast sirloin, and roast pork, with baked potatoes, are allotted to the
various messes, to be followed by steaming plum-puddings.

The men do not dine in hall, as they used to do, but those who are on
orderly duty wait there to receive the rations, and then carry them up to
their comrades in the wards to be divided. The messes vary in number;
some contain eight, some ten, some even fourteen. On either side of the
central gangway in the hall are tables where the old men can sit and
smoke, and play dominoes, cards, and bagatelle. There is a raised dais at
the western end, in the centre of which, facing the door, is a bust of
Queen Victoria, and right across the end of the room, and continuing for
the width of the dais, on the sides is an immense allegorical painting of
Charles II., with the Hospital in the background. This was executed by
Antonio Verrio and Henry Cooke. All round the panels of the hall hang
portraits of military commanders, with the dates and names of the battles
in which they have taken prominent parts. These were collected by a
former Governor of the Hospital, General Sir J. L. Pennefather, G.C.B.
Above them are other standards tattered beyond recognition and hanging
mournfully over the heads of the men below. At the east end is a large
painting of the Duke of Wellington in allegorical style. The
court-martial on the conduct of General Whitelock