itten walls" to public inspection, it is stated that this
Tower was formerly the place of confinement for state prisoners, and that
"Sir William Wallace and Queen Anne Boleyn" were amongst its inmates.

Now, I believe there is no historical authority for saying that "the
Scottish hero" was ever confined in the Tower of London; and it seems
certain that the unfortunate queen was a prisoner in the royal apartments,
which were in a different part of the fortress. But so many illustrious
persons are known to have been confined in the Beauchamp Tower, and its
walls preserve so many curious inscriptions--the undoubted autographs of
many of its unfortunate tenants--that it must always possess great
interest.

Speaking from memory, I cannot say whether the building known as the
Beauchamp (or Wakefield) Tower was even in existence in the time of Edward
I.; but my impression is, that its architecture is not of so early a time.
It is, I believe, supposed to derive its name from the confinement in it of
Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in 1397. Of course it was not the
only place of durance of state prisoners, but it was the prison of most of
the victims of Tudor cruelty who were confined in the Tower of London; and
the walls of the principal chamber which is on the first storey, and was,
until lately, used as a mess-room for the officers, are covered in some
parts with those curious inscriptions by prisoners which were first
described in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries in 1796, by the
Rev. J. Brand, and published in the thirteenth volume of _The Archaeologia_.

Mr. P. Cunningham, in his excellent _Handbook_, says:

"William Wallace was lodged as a prisoner on his first arrival in
London in the house of William de Leyre, a citizen, in the parish of
All Hallows Staining, at the end of Fenchurch Street."

{510}

Mr. Cunningham, in his notice of the Tower, mentions Wallace first among
the eminent persons who have been confined there. The popular accounts of
the Tower do the like. It was about the Feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15)
that Wallace was taken and conducted to London; and it seems clear that he
was forthwith imprisoned in the citizen's house:

"He was lodged," says Stow, "in the house of William Delect, a citizen
of London, in Fenchurch Street. On the morrow, being the eve of St.
Bartholomew (23rd Aug.), he was brought on horseback to Westminster ...
the mayor, sheriffs, a