The mode now resorted to, was turning a court of judgment into a private
chamber, and excluding the hearers from understanding the reasons of
every judge's opinion, and the court themselves from hearing each
other's. It was farther alleged, that in the present case, the Lords
could not be sure that the copies showed to the prisoners were the same
as that which each had before him, or that every Lord had looked into
the same paper which was showed to the fiddlers, so that they might be
condemned for that in which they stood not implicated.--I suppose this
singular case of the _Fiddlers of Staines_, to be unique, and never to
have been perpetuated in any of our law books.

* * * * *


CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, AT HAMPTON WICK.


[Illustration: CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, AT HAMPTON WICK.]

Hampton Wick is a cheerful little village in Middlesex, at the foot of
Kingston Bridge. This Chapel occupies a prominent position on a road
lately formed through the village, having its western front towards
Bushy Park and the road leading to Hampton Court. The character of the
building is the modern Gothic, forming an agreeable elevation, without
any display of ornament. The building is faced with Suffolk brick and
Bath stone. The interior dimensions are sixty-five feet by forty-three
feet, with galleries on three sides, and a handsome recessed window over
the altar-piece at the east end. The principal timbers of the roof are
formed into Gothic perforated compartments, which give an addition of
height to the Chapel, and an airy, decorative ceiling, at a small