The Templars in France revoke their rack-extorted confessions--They are tried as relapsed heretics, and burnt at the stake--The progress of the inquiry in England--The curious evidence adduced as to the mode of holding the chapters of the order--As to the penance enjoined therein, and the absolution pronounced by the Master--The Templars draw up a written defence, which they present to the ecclesiastical council-- They are placed in separate dungeons, and put to the torture-- Two serving brethren and a chaplain of the order then make confessions--Many other Templars acknowledge themselves guilty of heresy in respect of their belief in the religious authority of their Master--They make their recantations, and are reconciled to the church before the south door of Saint Paul's cathedral--The order of the Temple is abolished by the Pope--The last of the Masters of the Temple in England dies in the Tower--The disposal of the property of the order-- Observations on the downfall of the Templars 239 CHAPTER XI. THE TEMPLE CHURCH. The restoration of the Temple Church--The beauty and magnificence of the venerable building--The various styles of architecture displayed in it--The discoveries made during the recent restoration--The sacrarium--The marble piscina--The sacramental niches--The penitential cell--The ancient Chapel of St. Anne--Historical matters connected with the Temple Church--The holy relics anciently preserved therein--The interesting monumental remains 289 CHAPTER XII. THE TEMPLE CHURCH. THE MONUMENTS OF THE CRUSADERS--The tomb and effigy of Sir Geoffrey de Magnaville, earl of Essex, and constable of the Tower--His life and death, and famous exploits--Of William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, Protector of England--Of the Lord de Ross--Of William and Gilbert Marshall, earls of Pembroke-- Of William Plantagenet, fifth son of Henry the Third--The anxious desire manifested by king Henry the Third, queen Eleanor, and various persons of rank, to be buried in the Temple Church 309 CHAPTER XIII. THE TEMPLE. Antiquities in the Temple--The history of the place subsequent to the dissolution of the order of the Knights Templars--The establishment of a society of lawyers in the Temple--The antiquity of this society--Its connexion with the antient society of the Knights Templars--An order of knights and serving brethren established in the law--The degree of _frere serjen_, or _frater serviens_, borrowed from the antient Templars--The modern Templars divide themselves into the two societies of the Inner and Middle Temple 342 CHAPTER XIV. THE TEMPLE.