Star.
London, England, 1824-04-01 00:00:00

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putalidu.or stg.tiiphms
rat MUSTER OF THE ROLLS.
This morning, *few. minates after ten, the remains
of Si, TtWiens Punka, late, Master of the Rolls, who
epined at the Rolls House, at half-past eight o'clock
last evening,.wete deposited in the Rolls' Cha-
pel, in a vault appl.Oprtated to that ptirpose so. long ago
vs the year 1.561, when the body of. Richard Allington,
Esq. who married a sister of the then Master of the
Rolls, was therein interred ,(On Whose coffin that of Sir
Thomas Plumer is now laid), and has been the sepul-
chre of every person who• has since died in the office
of Master of the Rolls, or, having-filled it, bad ex-
pressed a desire to be buried there. The present fune-
ral was entirely private, none but the members and do-_
nie.stics of the Plumer family -attended it.
The last Master of -the Rolls who died in the office
was Sir Tho '.as Sewell; he was buried in the year 1784,
on the coffin of Sir Joseph Jekyll. Lady Sewell, widow
of Sir T. Sewell, by her'own express desire, was buried
there also, on the 26th of September, 1820.
Lord Alvanley, who had been Master of the Rolls
(then Sir Richard Pepper Arden), but who was Chief
Junice ef the Common Picas and a Peer of the realm
when he died, was buried in this vault also, by his own
express desire. This event happened March 26, 1804.
' The vault in which Sir Thomas Plumer was bur ied,
is called Mr. Allington's Vaal, and is supposed to have
been built fur the reception of his remains. It is situated
at the south side of the Chapel, near the altar, and
close by that Gentleman's monument; and is about
six feet wide, and eight feet long. On • the north
side of this vault was discovered a strong leaden
coffin, with square shoidders, supposed to contain the
remains of Mr. Allingtun, as the workmen, from
the estraordinsiry strength and consequent weight
of it, conjectured that the arch of the vault must
have been turned after the coffin was lowered into
its place. Upon thii coffin was a leaden one, of_ the
usual shape, the cover whereof had fallen in through
decay, and it contained morn bones than belonged to the
body it originally contained ; which, i: is apprehended,
nacre colected from the south side of the vault, when
opened in the year-1738, for the reception of the remains
of J seph Jekyll, Knt. At the foot of this coffin
Was an earthen jar (more modern than either of the coi-
f= before mentioned) containing two skulls; which
circumstance con oboxated the conjecture, that more
persons had been buried in this vault than there were
coffins of them remaining, and which must have- been
the case, because the coffins were-of wood, but entirely
decayed.
,On the booth side of this vault was deposited
the coffin containing the remains of. Sir Joseph Jekyll;
the wood from the sides and ends being decayed and
fallen away, but the lead remaining. 'perfect, and the
wooden cover still entire, with a:brass plate, whereon
was leginle the following inscription: 44 The Right
Honourable Sir Joseph Jekyll, Knight, Master of
the Rolls, and one of his Majesty's Most Honour-
able Privy Council, died the ....... day of
1738, aged "—(the dotted parts
'upon this coniii was placed that containing the remains
of Lord Alvanley, still very fresh. It is plain, but re-
markably peat, being covered with black cloth, adorned
-with gilt ornaments, handles, coronets, and a gilt plate,
inscribed —" Richard 'Pepper Arden, Lord 'Alvanley,
Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, one
of his Majesty's Right Honourable Privy Council: died
March the 18th, 1804, aged 59."
In order to make room .for the coffin containing the
remains of Sir Thomas Plumer, the leaden one, 'alien
to decay, on the north side of the vault, and standing on
Mr. Allington's coffin, was removed by the workmen,
and placed on the top of that of Lord Alvanley; so
that the south side of the vault is now full. Sir Thomas
Plumer's remains, alter being lowered into the vault,
wee placed ori the north on the square-shouldered
coffin supposed to contain Mr. Allington's remains.
The office of Master of the Rolls, as well as that of
:Lord High Chancellor of England, was, in days of yore,
often held by an Ecclesiastic ' • the last Priest who-held
the Rol !s was in the reign of Henry VII. when Doctor
Young, who bad been Dean of York, held that office.
He was buried in the Rolls chapel, and has a handsome
monument, of which many engravings have been taken
for private diustratiorw.
From information 'which we are not at liberty to dis-
close, we have no doubt that Lord Gifford is actually
appointed Master of the Rolls,. and is expected to be
sworn in on Saturday : he will take upon himself the
dirties of that office immediately afterwards. It has
been supposed that there is no precedent of a Peer
fining that office, but that is an oversight; there is a
precedent for it, in the person of Lord Bruce, of Kin-
ross, a Scots Peer, who came from Scotland with James
the First, and filled that office to the time of his death,
which happened on the 14th. of January, 1610. And
also of .john Lord Culpepper, in the reign of Charles the
First; he was a Peer of the realm.
It is somewhat curious to observe, that Lord Alvanley
took the office of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
and a Peerage from the Mastership of the Rolls; and'
that Lord Gifford took the Chief Justiceship of the Com-
mon Pleas and a Peerage, and is expected to take the
office of Master of the Rolls. It ii true- that he will
rank higher in processions, &c. as Whiter of the Roils
than he would do as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas;
being, as we understand, stationed between the Chief
Justice of the King's Bench (who is the Chief Justice of
England) and that of the Common Pleas; bnt it is
,Ob-
servable that the Court of Exchequer Chamber is an ap-
pellant jurisdiction from the Court of King's Bench, and
that the President of the Exchequer Chamber is the
Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.- It will,
however, be infinitely more convenient for Lord Gif-
ford, who has to attend in the House of Lords so much
upon appeals in the morning, to be at the Rolls, where
the sittings are, with a few exceptions, not until six in
the evening, thati at the Comutun Pleas, where the sit-
ting.is all day,
Thninas Plumer was made Solicitor-General in
pLace of Sir Samuel Romilly, on the coming in of the
Fercival administration—Attorney-General in 1812, on
the event of Sir Vicary Gibbs being made a Judge of
the CoUrt of Common Pleas—Vice-Chancellor (being
the first in that office) in 1813—and Master of the Rolls
in the latter end of 1818, on the resignation of Sir Wil-
liam Grunt.
It is remarkable that the three leading Counsel of
Mr. Hastings, on his impeachment,
.were advanced to
very high ranks in their profession—Mr. Law, Mr. Dal-
las, and Mr. Plumer. The funt-vints made Chief Justice
of England, and a Peet' of the realm ; the next, Chief ins-
tice
of the Common Pleas; the last, Master of the Rolls.

A new budge is Lo be erected over the Water df Leith,
at the foot of Pitt-street, that the inconvenient angle leading to the
resei.t bridge may he avoided. The new bridge is to consisc of
out arch, of 70 feet span, and afford a road way ut 40 feet.