bury are visible in Cheapside.

In 1535 the hospital estate was valued at 305 pounds, 6s. 7d. according
to one authority, and at 371 pounds, 13s. 2d. by another. St
Bartholomew's was then the third hospital in London in order of wealth.
Henry VII.'s Hospital in the Savoy and the New Hospital of Our Lady
outside Bishopsgate were richer (ii., p. 125).

The Act of Dissolution was passed in 1536, and the property of the
hospital was given into the King's hands in 1537. Thus the "old order,
which had existed for more than four hundred years, was at an end, and
the hospital was in the eye of the law vacant and altogether destitute of
a master, and of all fellows or brethren" (ii., p. 126).

"Augustinians, Benedictines, Carthusians, Gilbertines, Franciscans,
Dominicans, and more, all were banished from their ancient homes. . . .
St Bartholomew's Hospital was one of the few places where the injured
tree of charity began to put forth new branches, and soon flourished
again" (ii., p. 148).

The King, after five years' delay, granted, on 23rd June 1544, {150}
letters patent reconstituting the hospital for its original uses.
William Turges, the King's Chaplain, was the first Master, and "the body
corporate was to be called 'The Master and Chaplains of the Hospital of
St Bartholomew in West Smithfield, near London.'" The grant did little
for the poor, but it prevented the destruction of St Bartholomew's and
carried on its existence.

The figure of Henry VIII. is above the Smithfield Gate of the hospital.
A full-length portrait of him hangs at the end of the Great Hall. He is
also represented in a window of the hall handing the letters patent to
the Lord Mayor and citizens. "Thus," says the author, "do we commemorate
this destroying King, who might have taken away all the estate of St
Bartholomew's, but only took a small portion of it" (ii., p. 161).

The constitution under which the hospital is ruled was established in
1547, and confirmed, with an alteration in but one important particular,
in 1782. "Most of the offices created by the Deed of Covenant of
December 1546, and the letters patent of January 1547, exist at the
present day. The treasurer, the almoners, the physician, the surgeon,
the rentar, the steward, the matron and sisters, the porter bearing a
figure of St Bartholomew on his staff of office, and the beadles with
silver badges engraved with the hospital arms, are all parts of the
present life of the hospit