THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER.

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minster, in that Hall of his which was called the Little Hall—probably this; and the denomination wasapparently given to it to distinguish it from the present Westminster Hall. Sir Edward Coke speaks ofthe apartment as the Court of Requests, or the Whitehall; thus shewing the identity of the place denotedby these means.

According to Stowe , the Court of Requests was instituted in the reign of Henry VII. ; but thedate of its abolition is not precisely indicated. We shall quote the account given hy the writer we havenamed. “ At the upper end of the Great Hall by the King’s Bench is a going up to a great chamber“ called the Whitehall, wherein is now kept the court of wards and liveries.*** And adjoining thereunto“ is the Court of Requests. Both these are now also dissolved. A few words concerning this last named“ court. In this court all suits made to the King or Queen, by way of petition, were heard and ended.“ This was called the ‘ Poor Man’s Court,’ because there he could have right without paying any money.“ And it was also called the ‘ Court of Conscience.’ The judges of this court were called the ‘ Masters of“ Requests;’ one for the common laws, and the other for the civil laws; and I find that it was a court of“ equity, after the nature of the chancery, but inferior to it.*** The chief judge was commonly the“ Lord Privy Seal; and the Court-Bishops and Chaplains, and other great courtiers, were the judges“ and masters.”*

The House of Lords was the scene of many incidents of great importance. Amongst others, in the

last year but one of Richard II. ’s reign, the Duke of Hereford appeared in Parliament , and accused the

Duke of Norfolk of having spoken to him, in private conversation , slanderously and treasonably of the

king and his intentions. Norfolk denied the charge, gave Hereford the lie, and offered to prove his

innocence by single combat with the accuser. The Parliament , thinking it right to take cognizance of

this transaction, but not caring to prolong its session for the purpose, delegated its authority to a\

committee. With the concurrence of the king, and apparently of this committee, every preparation wasmade for a grand duel between the parties, in the presence of the chief authorities of the kingdom: butat the last moment, when the combatants were already front to front, the king, with the advice andauthority of the commissioners, interposed to prevent the effusion of blood; and, to shew his impartiality,sentenced the antagonist Peers to banishment, from which Hereford soon returned to pluck the crownfrom the head of his weak and misguided cousin.

In the early part of the year 1478, King Edward IV . appeared in the House of Lords to plead hisown cause against his brother, the easy Duke of Clarence, against whom no charge was brought, butthat of having used certain free expressions, which, if true, seem to prove nothing more than his carelessand incautious disposition. Although the truth of the charge was proved by no adequate evidence, the dukewas declared guilty hy the Peers, and the Commons petitioned for his execution, and passed a hill ofattainder against him. The king favoured his brother with the choice of the manner in which he shoulddie; and, in pursuance of his choice, he was drowned in a butt of malmsey in the Tower. Hume sayswell in reference to the parliamentary spirit of that period. “ The measures of the Parliament during“ that age furnish us with examples of a strange mixture of freedom and servility; they scrupled to