We are on the threshold of the Temple,--a spot than which none in all this
historic metropolis is more replete with memories of the storied past. Nor
does its interest consist solely in its associations with the men and
manners of a by-gone epoch. Despite its antique architecture and its
quaint observances, the Temple still maintains its reputation for
scholarship and legal acumen. Its virility is fitly symbolized in the
venerable and vigorous trees whose branching boughs wave above its walls:
sound to the core, it sends forth new scions with perennial freshness.

The gray gate-way under which we have halted is one of the two chief
entrances to the Temple. It was built in the reign of James I., being
consequently nearly three centuries old. White-aproned porters, with
numbered pewter badge on lapel, stand on either side, ready--for a
consideration--to direct our transatlantic ignorance into veritable "paths
of pleasantness and peace." Access to the Middle Temple from Fleet Street
is had by way of another gate-house, built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1684,
soon after the Great Fire. It is in the style of Inigo Jones, of reddish
brick, with stone pointing. There are several other entrances,--many of
them known only to the initiated,--through intricate courts and passages
debouching on Fleet Street and the surrounding thoroughfares, and one from
the river at Temple Pier; but, chiefly because of their proximity to the
New Courts of Law, these two gate-ways are most frequented.

The boundaries of this famous abode of British wit and intellect may be
roughly sketched as follows: on the north, Fleet Street; on the south, the
Thames and the Victoria Embankment; on the east, Serjeants' Inn and the
Whitefriars region; on the west, Essex Street, Strand. These boundaries
remain substantially as they were six or seven centuries ago. The Middle
Temple lies nearest the river; the Inner Temple is nearer to Fleet Street,
and "inside"--that is, on the "city" side--of Temple Bar. Essex House and