recently visited this place; we remember the eagerness with which the mediæval folk ran after every new saint, or every new discovery of relics. However that may be, he had a Vision, in which the Saint appeared to him, and granted his recovery on the conditions promised by the supplicant. Rahere, therefore, on his return, proceeded to found the hospital. But the Saint appeared to him: would he do more? Would he found also a Religious House? The spot—Smithfield, the smooth field—was part of the fenny flat that lay north of London Wall: a barren heath covered with springs and ponds, and set with occasional clumps of trees. Horse races were held here, a weekly horse fair, there were stables and grooms and people to look after the horses, they were a rough and rude folk, living without the jurisdiction of the City, and they had no Church nor any religious people among them; it was the place also on which executions were held, and it was accounted infamous. Rahere obeyed the Saint in this respect as well; he erected his hospital, beginning the building in 1123, with the assistance of Richard de Belmeis, then Bishop of London, and the King himself. [Illustration: CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF THE BUILDINGS OF THE PRIORY CHURCH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE GREAT AS EXISTING IN PRIOR BOLTON’S TIME (ABOUT A.D. 1530)] [Illustration: PART OF THE CHOIR _With the REMAINS of the SOUTH TRANSEPT of the CHURCH of S^t. BARTHOLOMEW the Great_. IN WEST SMITHFIELD London. _Published 25 March 1821 by Robert Wilkinson, 125 Fenchurch Street._]