ecclesiastics. This identification is in
the main correct. The king and queen are farthest from the door. He is
holding a sceptre, or possibly a roll containing a grant to the Order.
One of the figures by his side--it is difficult to see whether they are
bearded, as Knights Templars would have been--is certainly holding a
roll, perhaps the royal licence for the building of the church. Others
have their hands folded in prayer.

The unique and most successfully restored series of nine marble effigies
on the floor of the church is also of great antiquity. Six are
cross-legged, but not necessarily on that account to be regarded as
Crusaders. One of them has been supposed to represent the notorious
Geoffrey de Magnaville, Earl of Essex, who died excommunicate in 1144,
ten years before the accession of Henry II. Three others probably
represent William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (died 1219), Protector of
England during the minority of Henry III., and his two sons, William
(died 1231) and Gilbert (died 1241). The figure which lies apart cannot
be older than the latter half of the thirteenth century, and according
to tradition is a Lord de Ros. Of the others nothing is known. It seems
certain, however, that the series contains no effigy of an actual Knight
of the Order, since none of the figures are represented as wearing the
red cross mantle. Men of wealth and position were often admitted to the
privileges of the Order without taking the vows, under the title of
"Associates of the Temple." The special exemption from interdicts which
the Templars enjoyed, and the sanctity of their churches as
burial-places, made this associateship attractive to devout men, who
willingly gave benefactions in return for it. It is one of fate's
ironies that of the many Knights Templars buried in the church not a
single name or monument should have been preserved _in situ_. No
separate graves are now marked by the effigies, but during the 1841
restorations stone and leaden coffins containing skeletons were found
below the pavement. These remains have been reburied in a vault in the
middle of the church.

[Illustration: DOORWAY OF THE TEMPLE CHURCH.]

The outline of the Round Church was never probably a perfect circle.
Excavations have been made, and some foundations have been discovered
underground on the east side of the church, which seem to shew that an
apse existed nearly fifty feet long. This, of course, contained the
altar. Even so, however,