The south wall of the present chapel formed part of the old church in which were buried Sir Walter Manny, and Margaret his wife, and many other knights and dames. Prior Houghton's remains are supposed to be buried somewhere within the wall now marked by a cross and a huge I. H. It is recorded of him that he was so meek and humble that if any one addressed him as "my lord," or with any unusual deference, he immediately rebuked him, saying: "It is not lawful for poor Carthusian monks to make broad their phylacteries, or to be called rabbi by their fellow-men."
The Charter House was given to John Bridges, yeoman, and Thomas Hale, groom, as a reward for the safe keeping of the king's tents and pavilions which had been deposited here, but it afterwards passed through several hands. While owned by Lord North, Queen Elizabeth spent four days here, which so diminished his lordship's resources that he was obliged to live in retirement the rest of his life. James I. also passed a few days here when it was in possession of Lord Thomas Howard, in order to show his respect for a family that had aided and suffered for his mother. While here, he knighted more than eighty gentlemen—let us hope less awkwardly than he knighted Sir Richard Monopilies, of Castle Collop!
The Charter House was finally purchased by Thomas Sutton, the founder of the hospital. It is delightful to step from the noise and bustle of the streets into these secluded courts with grass-plots to refresh the eye, lime-trees to give shade, here a fountain in the midst of a garden, and there some old tombs, perhaps of the monks; on this wall some holy symbol left here ages ago, but not in vain, for it still speaks to the heart; and scattered around are seats for the pensioners to enjoy the sun and air.
The kitchen fireplace is capacious enough to roast fifteen surloins. What extensive means are always used to provide for the body which perisheth! If at least equal provision were made, as in the times of the old monks, to supply the needs of the soul! Does that get its three meals a day, and now and then a lunch or some refreshing draught? Are there none who labor day after day to supply the soul's hunger, as multitudes do to satisfy the cravings of the body? Yes, thank God! there is still an army of such spiritual people in the cloister and in the world, who only live to feed their higher natures. If they care for the body, it is merely enough to enable it to serve the soul. The world may call them "drones," but they are necessary in order to preserve the moral balance of the world, as an offset to the materiality of the day. Yes, the hermit, the contemplative, contributes in his degree to sustain the world, and this is why the suppression of such a class is an irreparable loss to society.
A BLOCK OF GOLD.
"France paid the Prussian indemnity like a proud debtor; it seemingly did not cost her any trouble to do so. Few nations could do as France has done within the past two years; none have ever excelled her in cancelling a monetary obligation." One hears such remarks occasionally; they were quite common a few months past. But what was the French indemnity? Five milliards of francs—that is, five thousand millions of francs, or one thousand millions of dollars in gold! To think of the sum is to make one feel covetous of a chip of the block; to see the whole sum in one block of gold is almost enough to make one cry out with Timon—
... "Thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer."
"Ce que c'est que cinq milliards en or monnaye!"
Well, we did not exactly know what five milliards of francs in gold or copper were. The cool February evening in the year of grace 1873, we were accosted in front of No.— Boulevard St. Denis by the above question. At the same time a polite French boy hands us a handbill, which told us that un bloc d'or, eight metres long, five metres high, and three and two-third metres deep, could be seen for fifty centimes—ten cents. This cube of one hundred and fifty metres contained one hundred thousand rouleaux of fifty thousand francs each; each one of the rolls—rouleaux—contained two thousand five hundred pieces of twenty francs, and the whole two hundred and fifty million (250,000,000) pieces.