A plan of the Precinct, with drawings of the church, within and without, and of the monuments in the church, may be found in Lysons. The obscurity of the Hospital, and the neglect into which it fell during the 18th century, are shown by the small attention paid to it in the books on London of the 18th century and the early years of the last century. The Hospital buildings consisted of a square, of which the north side was occupied by the Master’s house, with a large garden behind, and the Master’s orchard between his garden and the river; on the east and west sides were the Brothers’ houses, and on the south side of the square was the church and the Chapter House. On the east of the church was the burying-ground. South of the church was the Sisters’ close, with the houses occupied by the Sisters and the Bedeswomen. The old Brothers’ houses were taken down and rebuilt about the year 1755, and the Master’s house, an ancient building, full of carved timber work, had also been taken down, so that in the year 1825, when the Hospital was finally destroyed, the only venerable building standing in the Precinct was the church itself. To look at the drawings of this old church, and to think of the loving care with which it would have been treated had it been allowed to stand till this day, and then to consider the “Gothic” edifice in Regent’s Park, is indeed saddening. The church consisted of the nave and chancel, with two aisles built by Bishop Beckington, formerly the master. The east window, thirty feet high and twenty-five wide, had once been most beautiful when its windows were stained. The tracery was still fine; a St. Katherine’s wheel occupied the highest part, and beneath it was a rose; but none of the windows had preserved their painted glass, so that the general effect of the interior must have been cold. The carved wood of the stalls, and the great pulpit presented by Sir Julius Cæsar, may still be seen in the Regent’s Park Chapel, where are also some of the monuments. Of these the church was full. The finest (now in Regent’s Park), was that of John Holland, Duke of Exeter, and his two wives; there was one of the Hon. George Montague, Master of the Hospital, who died in the year 1681; and there was the monument with kneeling figures of one Cutting and his wife, with his coat of arms. The seats of the stalls are curiously carved, as is often found, with grotesque figures: human birds, monkeys, lions, boys riding hogs, angels playing bagpipes, beasts with human heads, pelicans feeding their young, and the devil with hoof and horns carrying off a brace of souls. There was more than the customary wealth of epitaphs. Thus, on the tablet to the memory of the daughter of one of the brothers was written:
“Thus we by want, more than by having, learn
The worth of things in which we claim concern.”
On that of William Cutting, a benefactor to Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, is written:
“Not dead, if good deedes could keep men alive,
Nor all dead, since good deedes do men revive.
Gunville and Kaies his good deedes maie record,
And will (no doubt) him praise therefor afford.”
On the tablet of Charles Stamford, clergyman:
“Mille modis morimur mortales, nascimur uno: