A SEVEN HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3304, 30 April 1885, Page 3

A SEVEN HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY.

An interesting ceremony was held m the Temple Church, London, on March sth, viz., the 700 th anniversary of the consecration of the building. The legend, or rather the history, is that Heraclius, Patriarch, of Jerusalem, visited England m the year 1185. He was accompanied by the Masters of the Temple, and the object of his mission was to get funds from Henry 11. to carry on war against Saladin. In those days the present seat of the men of law was a great monastery, where war and religion divided the studies of the Templars. There was a terrace along the river "for meditation," and cloisters, of which the name still survives, and barracks and refectories long since lost sight of, and a church which had been built but had not been consecrated. The- irony of fate decreed that the earliest inhabitants of the Temple should strangely differ from the latest. All the "Knights were to wear white garments — they don't do that now. They were to abstain from foolish sayings — they don't do that now. They were not to despatch or receive a single letter without leave of the Master of the Temple— they don't do that now ; and " they were to shun feminine kisses, whether from mother, aunt, sister^ or any other woman " — and they certainly don't do that now. Few buildings m London can point to so early, so interesting, - and so undoubted an origin. Even the music of the Temple has special interest. The organ is said to have the sweetest tone of any instrument m the world. It was built toward the end of Charles ll.'s reign, and a terrible rivalry there was about it. The competition was between two builders. Each erected his instrument, and the contract remained open for a year. Blow and Purcell played upon the one which was selected, as m year 3 after Handel used to compose most of his oratories at hiß keyboard. The choice between the two instruments was ultimately made by the famous, or rather infamous, Lord Chief Justice Jefferies— a bad lawyer, a bad judge, a bad man, but reported to be a great musician. It is the only one of his judgments which has never been impugned.