[To TS: EDITOR Or TIM SPECTATOR:1 SIR, .—There are other Irish
people besides Mr. Steele and Mr. Roney who are unwilling to abandon their early belief that the roof of Westminster Hall was built of Irish oak, which successfully repelled the invasion of the English spider. Stanihurst as quoted by Hanmer, after describing the woods of Ostmanstown, near Dublin, adds the following words : " from thence (anno 1098) King William Rufus by license of Murchard (King of Leinster) had that frame that made the roofe of Westminster Hall." The Times asserts that the oak of the present roof came from Kingston-on-Thames and St. Albans. The question, therefore, is whether the present roof (tempo Richard IL) is a completely new construction or William Rufus's roof merely patched up. It is bard to say in what state of ruin Richard IL found the Hall when, as some say, be rebuilt it. Even if he did so, it is difficult to believe that the old material was entirely discarded.—I am,
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