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prison for crimes at sea, take their trials at
the Old Bailey.
In the same prison is the Palace Court,
the jurisdiction of which extends twelve
miles round the palace of Westminster,
the city of London only excepted; and
the debtors within any part of Westmin-
ster, and twelve miles round, may be car-
ried to this prison for a debt of 40s.
Actions for debt are tried in this court
every Friday, and there are the same
Judges, Counsellors and Attorneys here as
in the Marshalsea court; these are, be-
sides the Judges already mentioned, a
Prothonotary, a Secondary, and Deputy
Prothonotary; four Counsellors, and six
Attorneys. But in this court neither the
plaintiff nor defendant must belong to his
Majesty's houshold.
The buildings are mean and ruinous;
but the court-room is pretty spacious and
convenient.
MARSHAM court, Hog lane, St. Giles's.
MARSHAM street, Market street, West-
minster.
MARTIN'S court, 1. Whitechapel. 2.
Chick lane, Smithfield.
St. MARTIN'S in the Fields, in St. Martin's
lane, Charing Cross. This church
received its name from St. Martin, an
Hungarian, who was sainted for the cru-
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elty with which he persecuted the Arians,
and its being formerly situated in the
fields. Though the present structure is
of a modern date, there was very early a
church upon the same spot, dedicated to
the same saint; for there are authentic
records of a dispute in 1222, between the
Abbot of Westminster and the Bishop of
London, concerning the exemption of the
church of St. Martin's in the Fields from
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London.
How long before this a building for the
service of religion was erected there, is not
easy to determine; but it was probably a
chapel for the monks of Westminster,
when they visited their convent garden,
which then extended to it. However,
the endowments of this church fell with
the monks who possessed it, and in Henry
the VIIIth's reign a small church was built
there at the King's expence, the inhabi-
tants being then too poor to pay for it;
but this structure not being capacious
enough to accommodate the parishioners,
it was greatly enlarged in 1607. At
length, after many expensive repairs, that
structure was taken down in the year
1721, and soon after the first stone of the
present edifice was laid. Five years com-
pleted the building, and in 1726 it was
consecrated.
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