^ <v F F. DALE 
 
 Puttie 
 
 INNS OF COURT 
 
 . . '; AND CHANCEBYj 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTICES OF THEIR ANCIENT DISCIPLINE, 
 
 RULES, ORDERS, AND CUSTOMS, READINGS, MOOTS, MASQUES, 
 REVELS, AND ENTERTAINMENTS; 
 
 INCLUDING AN 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE EMINENT MEN 
 
 OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETIES OF 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN, THE INNER TEMPLE, THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, 
 AND GRAY'S INN, &c.; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 Regulations of tije Jfour finns of OTourt 
 
 AS TO THE 
 
 ADMISSION OF STUDENTS, KEEPING TERMS, LECTURES, 
 EXAMINATION, CALL TO THE BAR, 
 
 Lc. 06c. Me. 
 
 BY ROBERT R. PEARCE, ESQ., 
 
 OF GRAY'S INK, BARRISTER-AT-LAW. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 BUTTERWORTHS, 7, FLEET STREET, 
 
 Hato iJublistirrs to tfir Queen's most excellent /ttajcsts. 
 1855.
 
 DA 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 'A) IT has been my endeavour, in the following pages, 
 to present to the reader every authentic particular 
 known relative to the early history of the Inns of 
 Court, and the houses of Chancery subordinate to 
 ^ them. All the early authorities who have written on 
 this subject, and such statutes and records as illustrate 
 the history of the legal profession in this country, 
 A together with the monuments and tablets in the halls 
 - and chapels of the four Inns of Court, and such manu- 
 ^ script collections as contained matter bearing on my 
 subject, have been carefully reviewed and examined. 
 
 I have been desirous of collecting as copious and as 
 
 exact an account as practicable of the Ancient Readings 
 
 ^ in the Four Inns, as an exhibition of those readings 
 
 rv* cannot fail to stimulate the cause of legal education, to 
 
 A which happily attention has now become alive. In 
 
 the chapters on ' Masques' and * Revels,' the reader 
 
 will find accounts of the recreations with which the 
 
 severer studies of ancient times were tempered. 
 
 All the rules, orders, and regulations now in force 
 respecting admission, keeping terms, calls to the bar, 
 &c., have been ascertained from official documents and 
 personal inquiry in the treasurers' and stewards' offices 

 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 of the Four Societies, where every facility has been 
 most politely afforded me. I have also derived im- 
 portant assistance from the Registers of the Inns in 
 my researches respecting the eminent men of the 
 Middle Temple, Inner Temple, Grays Inn, and Lin- 
 coln's Inn, which form as illustrious a gallery as any 
 university of Europe can boast of; and I am much 
 obliged to members of the four houses who have 
 afforded me suggestions from time to time. 
 
 The substance of every case of importance decided 
 in the superior courts, respecting the jurisdiction, 
 powers, and privileges of these societies, as well as all 
 the remarkable cases illustrative of the internal disci- 
 pline of the Inns of Court, will be found in this 
 volume. I can scarcely hope that I have done full 
 justice to my subject, and that I have omitted no 
 point that ought to have demanded my attention ; but 
 I may be permitted to say, that I have devoted a con- 
 siderable portion of time to the preparation of the 
 work, and have taken some pains to secure fidelity 
 and accuracy ; and that, with a sincere desire for the 
 honour and interests of these ancient, honourable, and 
 learned Societies, I have endeavoured to exhibit the 
 history of each faithfully, and without bias. 
 
 TEMPLE. 
 
 * The Chapters as to the Admission of Students, the Manner of Keeping 
 Terms, the System of Legal Education, and the Calling of Students to 
 the Bar, have been corrected in accordance with the latest Regulations 
 of the Four Inns of Court.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 EARL? SCHOOLS OF LAW IN ENGLAND . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SITES OP THE INNS OF COUBT ; ,-,-.' . . .41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE INNS OF COURT . . .50 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANCIENT READINGS IN THE INNS OF COURT . . 65 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INNS OF COURT MASQUES . ., * . .81 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 REVELS ..-.., 114
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Etncoln'0 Inn. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Early History. Buildings. Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. An- 
 cient Orders and Customs. The Old Hall. Entertainment 
 of King Charles II., at a Masque and a Banquet. Second 
 Banquet to King Charles II. and Duke of York. The 
 Chapel. Eminent Men of Lincoln's Inn. The New Hall. 
 
 Banquet to Queen Victoria and his Royal Highness 
 Prince Albert. The Library. Bequests to the Inn. Tan- 
 cred Students. FURNIVAL'S INN, and THAVIE'S INN. . 129 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Inner temple. 
 
 Early History. Knights Templars and Knights Hospi- 
 tallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Buildings. Notices of 
 celebrated Residents. Ancient Customs. Christmas. St. 
 Stephen's Day, &c. Letters from the Star Chamber touch- 
 ing Religion. The Lord Mayor of London's Complaint to 
 the King in Council against Gentlemen of the Inner Tem- 
 ple. Banquet to King Charles II. and the Duke of York. 
 
 The Hall. Arms of the Society. Eminent Men of the 
 Inner Temple. Serjeants' Feasts The last of the Inns of 
 Court Revels. The Library. CLIFFORD'S INN. CLEMENT'S 
 INN. LYON'S INN. . . . . .213 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Cnnple. 
 
 Boundaries. Buildings. Notices of Celebrated Residents. 
 Ancient Rules, Orders, and Customs. Ancient and 
 Solemn Revels. Serjeants' Feasts. Petition of the Four 
 Inns of Court to the Parliament, temp. Car. I. Enter-
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 tainment of King William Til. at a Masque. The Hall. 
 Eminent Men of the Middle Temple. Arms of the Society. 
 Lectures. The Library. NEW INN. . . .260 
 
 CJ)e emple Olijutci). 
 
 Masters of the Temple, from the Suppression of the 
 Hospitallers . . . . . .311 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Inn. 
 
 Early History. Buildings. Notices of celebrated Resi- 
 dents. Ancient Orders and Customs. The Hall. The 
 Chapel. The Library. Commemoration of Queen Eliza- 
 beth in the Inn. Eminent Men of Gray's Inn. Bequests 
 to the Inn. STAPLE INN. BABNARD'S INN. . 314 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 REGULATIONS OF THE FOUR INNS OP COURT. 
 
 Admission of Students. Keeping Terms Exercises. 
 Call to the Bar. Refusal to call to the Bar. Screening. 
 Expulsion and Disbarring. Appeal. . . . 384 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DEGREES IN THE INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Students. Special Pleaders, &c. Barristers. Benchers. 
 Serjeants. SERJEANTS' INN. . . . . '421
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OP 
 
 THE INNS OF COURT, 
 
 <fec. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW IN ENGLAND. 
 
 IT is impossible to fix with certainty the period 
 when the professors and students of the common law 
 first began to associate themselves together as a 
 society, and form themselves into collegiate order; 
 or to assign an exact date to the foundation of the 
 Inns of Court, the original institution of which no- 
 where precisely appears. There were persons learned 
 in the law, and skilful in pleading causes, profession- 
 ally employed as early as the reign of William Rufus ; 
 and in the time of Stephen the municipal laws were, 
 we are informed, studied in monasteries, seminaries, 
 and families of distinction. The civil law, which the 
 clergy had exerted themselves to introduce into 
 England, being unpalatable to the nation, many per- 
 sons, at a very early date, devoted themselves with 
 
 B
 
 z INNS OF COURT. 
 
 zeal and diligence to the study of the common law, 
 or, as it was called emphatically, the law of the land ; 
 which we know was taught in the city of London, 
 prior to 19 Hen. III., by learned men of the law, who 
 set up schools for that purpose. After the fixing of 
 the Court of Common Pleas by Magna Charta, the 
 practitioners of the municipal law took up their 
 residence in houses between the king's courts at 
 Westminster and the city of London, forming then 
 one community; and before the end of the reign of 
 Edward II., they appear to have divided themselves 
 into separate inns or colleges, at Temple Bar, Lin- 
 coln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. 
 
 In the time of the republic in ancient Rome, it was 
 the practice for youths who designed to study ju- 
 risprudence, and adopt the profession of the law, 
 after finishing the usual course of study in grammar, 
 Grecian literature, and philosophy, to attach them- 
 selves as pupils to some of the eminent lawyers of the 
 day, whose houses they frequented, and whom they 
 attended in public, in order to profit by their example 
 and experience, nearly in the same way as students 
 of the English law, at the present day, enter the cham- 
 bers of barristers and special pleaders, whose precedents 
 they copy, and whose practice they observe. Those law- 
 yers who were distinguished for their legal knowledge 
 were consulted at their own houses ; they frequently 
 delivered their opinions viva voce, sometimes in writ- 
 ing. In difficult cases they were accustomed to meet 
 in deliberation near the temple of Apollo, in the
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 3 
 
 forum, and after consultation pronounce a joint 
 opinion. Students of the Roman law were called 
 studiosi juris, vel jurisprudentice. Lawyers were 
 termed advocatus, causidicus, jurisconsultus, juris- 
 peritus, &c. Under the emperors, lawyers were per- 
 mitted to take fees from their clients after the con- 
 clusion of the cause honorarium, certain justamque 
 mercedem ; to which practice may be traced the mode 
 of remunerating counsel which has been customary 
 in England for many centuries. Schools for instruc- 
 tion in the law were opened by Cassius and other 
 eminent lawyers, the students being called auditores. 
 Notwithstanding the occasional intrusion of base and 
 venal men into the profession of jurisprudence in Rome, 
 it was held in high respect. Cicero describes the 
 house of an eminent lawyer as the oracle of the city ; 
 Pliny terms the profession of the law the most honour- 
 able of all professions; and the Emperor Justinian 
 immortalised his name by promoting its study, con- 
 ferring upon its professors numerous rewards and 
 distinctions. Schools of law were founded by the 
 emperors in Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus, the 
 latter of which was much celebrated in the East from 
 the third to the sixth century. The period of study 
 at those schools was five years ; after which probation 
 the students were scattered through the various 
 provinces practising the law, and frequently rising 
 to posts of trust and dignity. Students were during 
 the first year called Dupondii or Justinianei novi; their 
 
 studies being confined to the 'Institutes' and the first 
 
 B 2
 
 4 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 four books of the ' Digests.' The second year they were 
 called Edictales ; and studied the second and third 
 parts of the * Digests.' Students in the third year were 
 called Papinianista, being occupied with the fourth 
 part of the ' Digests.' The fourth year they were styled 
 Lytce, taking the remainder of the ' Digests ; ' and the 
 fifth and last year Protytce, studying the code. In 
 every colony into which the Roman laws and customs 
 were introduced, the study of jurisprudence was culti- 
 vated, and the law practised by professional advocates. 
 Juvenal points to Gaul and Africa as places which 
 had already given birth to lawyers : 
 
 " Accipiat te 
 
 Gallia, vel potius nutricula causidicorum 
 Africa, si placuit mercedem imponere linguae." 
 Under the Emperor Claudius Caesar, A. D. 49, the 
 Roman system of jurisprudence was introduced into 
 Britain. The inhabitants soon began to adopt the 
 manners of their invaders; they affected Roman 
 dress, Roman language, Roman rhetoric, arid Roman 
 pleasures : 
 
 " Nunc totus Graias nostrasque habet orbis Athenas. 
 Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos : 
 De conducendo loquitur jam rhetore Thule." 
 For the space of about three hundred and sixty 
 years, from Claudius Caesar to the withdrawal of the 
 Romans from Britain in the reign of the Emperor 
 Honorius, the Roman law flourished in this island ; and 
 its study was promoted under some of the most eminent 
 lawyers; among others Papinian, Paulus, and Ulpian, 
 whose decisions are collected in the body of the civil
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 5 
 
 law, and the former of whom sat as a minister of 
 justice at York. 
 
 After the withdrawal of the Romans and the settle- 
 ment of the Saxons in this country, all traces of the 
 laws of Rome were obliterated, and they were suc- 
 ceeded by Saxon, Danish, and Norman customs. 
 Justice was administered in each county by the 
 sheriff, or alderman, of the county, in conjunction 
 with the bishop of the diocese, who was associated 
 with him as his monitor and assistant. At certain 
 intervals they held jointly in every hundred, the 
 Tourn, the grand criminal court, in which all of- 
 fences both lay and ecclesiastical were tried. Every 
 fourth week a county court was held for the dispatch 
 of civil causes. The freeholders of the county were 
 the judges in this court; the sheriff presiding, assist- 
 ed, when necessity required, by the bishop. No stated 
 form of pleading appears to have been in use at this 
 time : some of the legal formulae of the Anglo-Saxons 
 are said to have been in verse, and the conveyance of 
 land was effected by the delivery of horns and similar 
 symbols, one of which interesting relics is still pre- 
 served among the muniments in York Minster. 
 There were, however, some who possessed intimate 
 acquaintance with the laws of the land, in behalf of 
 which they exhibited their zeal and attachment on 
 the introduction of the Norman customs; and the 
 office of counsel, there is reason for presuming, was 
 not unknown to the Anglo-Saxons.* 
 
 * " Quisque causam suam sine solennioribus juris formal is,
 
 6 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 In the 'Miroir Aux Justices,' a book of great 
 authority, compiled about the time of Edward I., 
 from a work supposed to have existed before the 
 time of Edward the Confessor, to which it will be 
 necessary to refer more particularly hereafter, it is 
 recorded, that the following was set forth in the rolls 
 of the time of King Alfred as a ground of an appeal, 
 i. e. accusation of treason: "Whereas he ought to 
 have spoken truly for him in such a case, the said 
 Dirling did ill advise him, or speak against him in 
 such a point." And the ' Miroir,' in another place, 
 treating of the crime of majesty, or imagining the 
 king's death, says: "And in full parliament let the 
 accuser, by himself or by a serjeant, prefer his ac- 
 cusation, according as it was done in the time 
 of King Edmond, when Rocelyn appealed Wal- 
 ligrot." 
 
 Among the Lombards and the Franks, and through- 
 out the German tribes generally, in the middle ages, 
 the use of professional advocates or pleaders prevailed. 
 There was a law among the Lombards, that, if any 
 person from incapacity knew not how to plead his 
 own cause before the legal tribunals, the king or the 
 judge was empowered, at his discretion, to assign to 
 him an advocate " dare ei hominem qui causam 
 ipsius agat." In the ' Assizes du Royaume de Jeru- 
 
 vel ipse agebat, vel causidicum et patronum sibi adscivit ; quern 
 amicitia, quern propinquitas, quern charitas, aut benevolentia 
 vel denique quern sors ipsa nonnunquam obtulerit." Hickes, 
 Thes. Diss. Epist., p. 8.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 7 
 
 salem,' compiled from the laws of France about the 
 year of our Lord 1099, and exhibiting a state of 
 things anterior to that date, a most interesting and 
 curious account of the duties and qualifications of 
 counsel occurs. It appears from this authentic record 
 of the jurisprudence of the mediaeval era, that the 
 names of counsel (conseil) and pleader (pleidoir) were 
 known and in general use in those early times, and 
 that the ofiice of counsel, nearly as it is now prac- 
 tised, was exercised in Normandy before the Conquest : 
 " Every person about to plead in the supreme court 
 ought, before he begins, to pray the lord to appoint 
 him counsel. He ought to pray for his counsel the 
 best pleader in the court; and this whether he is 
 himself a pleader or not; because in the latter case 
 he will need counsel to defend his right and establish 
 his claim or defence : and even in the former he will 
 do well to have counsel ; since there is no pleader so 
 wise that he may not be often advised on his pleading 
 by another pleader; as two pleaders know more than 
 one, &c. He who has counsel, and wishes to make 
 claim on some man or woman present in court, ought 
 to say by his counsel to the lord, so that the other 
 party may hear, * Sir, such an one makes before you 
 such a claim, and hopes to obtain justice in that 
 behalf from you and the court;' and then he should 
 say what he claims, and in the shortest way possible, 
 &c. A good pleader ought to have good sense, a 
 sound understanding, and a subtle genius ; he should 
 be free from the faults of indecision, timidity, false
 
 8 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 shame, haste, and nonchalance; while he pleads he 
 should keep his attention from wandering to any 
 other subject, and should also take care to avoid 
 undue heat and asperity."* 
 
 After the accession of William of Normandy to the 
 throne of England, an extensive change took place in 
 the laws of this island. The Norman system of juris- 
 prudence was transferred to this country ; all the pro- 
 ceedings in the King's courts were carried on in the Nor- 
 man French, instead of the English language ; a prac- 
 tice that prevailed till the statute of 36 Edward III.; 
 the constitution of the courts of justice was remodeled ; 
 the tenure of landed property was entirely changed ; the 
 rules by which personal property was governed were 
 extensively modified ; and a new order of things with 
 respect to the rank and condition of every class in the 
 nation was established. The nature of feudal services 
 and tenures, with their long train of appendages, the 
 consequences of neglecting the various duties apper- 
 taining to them, and the method of enforcing the 
 duties and services due from the tenant to the lord, 
 became the most material and intricate part of 
 legal learning ; and the technical rules of the Norman 
 lawyers were rigidly enforced by the Norman justiciars 
 appointed by the Conqueror. Fines were inflicted 
 pro stultiloquio and faulty pleading; which were at 
 length suppressed by the statute of Marlbridge, which 
 prohibited exactions for beau pleader. 
 
 * " Assizes de Jerusalem ; Obs. sur 1'Hist. de France," Mably, 
 vol. ii. p. 346 : cited in Steven's PL n. 8, xv.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 9 
 
 A few scattered notices exist of the lawyers of 
 England at the time of the Conquest. In a suit 
 between Odo Earl of Kent and Lanfranke Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, Algerc Bishop of Chichester appear- 
 ed as a proficient in the common law legum terrse 
 sapientissimus to discuss and instruct the court in 
 the ancient laws and customs of the land.* In the 
 fourth year of the Conqueror's reign, we are told by 
 Hoveden and the Litchfield Chronicle, that William 
 solemnly swore in the presence of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury at Berkhampstead, that he would ob- 
 serve the good and approved ancient laws of the 
 kingdom, particularly those of Edward the Confessor. 
 He appointed in each county a commission of twelve 
 Saxons, nobles, wise men, and men learned in the 
 Saxon laws, Anglos nobiles et sapientes et sua lege 
 eruditos.f These lege sua eruditi were, according to 
 Selden, the common lawyers of that time. In the 
 same reign there were several monks living at Abing- 
 don, distinguished for their legal attainments, legibus 
 patriae op time instituti, among whom three are 
 especially mentioned by name in the book of Abing- 
 don, Alfwin, Sacolus, and Godric,J who were con- 
 sulted by persons from different parts of the country. 
 " These, and divers other common lawyers," observes 
 Selden, "then lived in the abbey of Abingdon;" 
 adding, " You must know that in those days every 
 monk here in England that would, might remain 
 
 * Ex text. Roff. Dug. Orig. t Kale's Hist. C. L. 
 
 t Dug. Orig. et Seld. Op. Seld. Op. vol. iii., 1334.
 
 10 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 so secular, that he might get money for himself, 
 purchase or receive by descent to his own use : and 
 therefore it was fit enough for practising lawyers 
 to live in monasteries. But what had those prceteri- 
 torum memoria cventorum (that is, reports and 
 adjudged cases of the Saxon times) availed in their 
 skill, if the former laws had not continued. 1 ' 1 
 
 The observation of William of Malmesbury* re- 
 specting the union of the ecclesiastical and legal pro- 
 fessions in the reign of William Rufus has passed into 
 a proverb: Nullus clericus nisi causidicus. The 
 venerable historian speaks with contempt of a lawyer 
 of the clerical order named Ranulfus, whom he calls 
 inmctus causidicus ; censuring with some severity 
 the manners of the age " Nullus dives nisi nummula- 
 rius, nullus clericus nisi causidicus, nullus presbyter 
 nisi (ut verbo parum Latino utar) firmarms." f Many 
 of the judges of the king's courts were also selected 
 from the Church. Hugh de Bocland, Justice of 
 England in the reign of King Henry the First, was a 
 canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Henry, who 
 acquired the name of Beau-clerc, or the scholar, 
 confirmed the laws of Edward the Confessor, as ac- 
 cepted by the Conqueror; and is also supposed to 
 have published a collection of laws, still called the 
 laws of King Henry I., which are entered in 
 the Red Book of the Exchequer. Law had now 
 become a science, which required much study and 
 application, and it was chiefly in the hands of 
 
 * De Will. Sec. lib. iv. p. 123. t A farmer.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 11 
 
 Normans, who introduced into this country the subtle- 
 ties current in the courts of Normandy. 
 
 In the turbulent reign of Stephen, the Roman, 
 or civil law, the study of which was zealously pro- 
 moted by the clergy, after the finding of a complete 
 copy of the Pandects at Amalfi, A.D. 1137, was intro- 
 duced into England; and Vaccarius, who appears to 
 have studied at Bologna, about the date A.D. 1149, 
 began to read lectures at Oxford on the canon and 
 civil law, which were now very generally allied together. 
 The new doctrines met with strong opposition from 
 the barons and laity, including the citizens of Lon- 
 don, an opposition which was never relaxed till the 
 parliament of Merton solemnly repudiated the civil 
 law, declaring they were unwilling that the ancient 
 laws of England should be changed. King Stephen, 
 who was probably influenced by the representations 
 of the professors of the common law, issued a prohi- 
 bition against the teaching of the civil law. This 
 fact is stated by Eoger Bacon, the friar, in his ' Conir 
 pendium Theologise,' as well as by John of Salisbury 
 in his ' De Nugis Curialium.' Notwithstanding the 
 king's prohibition, the study of the civil and canon 
 law was universally promoted by the churchmen. 
 The study of the laws of the land appears to have 
 been cultivated with equal ardour by the laity and 
 the more patriotic portion of the clergy.* 
 
 * " Viri, alias etiam bonis literis imbuti, legibus moribusque 
 vetustis Anglicanis qui ad regimen attinuere Publicum et Civile, 
 serio incubuere ; atque ex eis in foro Advocati Judicesque se-
 
 12 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 In the succeeding reign an important change was 
 effected in the administration of justice in England. 
 Henry II., by the advice of his parliament, held 
 at Northampton, divided the kingdom into six cir- 
 cuits, and appointed three judges to each circuit.* 
 These judges were called Justices in Eyre, and to 
 them was committed conusance of all civil and cri- 
 minal pleas happening within their districts, with- 
 out, however, interfering with the jurisdiction of 
 the king's superior courts. 
 
 The following was the distribution of the justices 
 made by Henry II. in the twenty-second year of his 
 reign : 
 
 First Circuit: Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge. Hun- 
 tingdon, Bedford, Buckingham, Essex, and Hertford 
 counties. 
 
 Justices: Hugo Cressy, Walterus filius Roberti, 
 et Robertus Maunsel. 
 
 Second Circuit : Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Staf- 
 ford, Warwick, Northampton, and Leicester counties. 
 
 Justices : Hugo de Gundevilla, W. filius Radulphi, 
 et W. Basset. 
 
 Third Circuit : Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, 
 Berks, and Oxon counties. 
 
 lecti. In Monasteriis, Academiis, Antistitum Clariorum familiis, 
 CoUegiis, alibique pro educationis, qualitatis, dignitatis, oppor- 
 tunitatis discrimine ii degebant." Seld. in Fletam, 7. 
 
 * There is a very ancient precedent of judges going circuit, 
 1 Samuel, chap. vii. v. 16. " And he went from year to year 
 in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel 
 in all those places."
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 13 
 
 Justices : Robertas filius Bernard!, Richardus Gif- 
 ford, et Rogerus filius Ramfrey. 
 
 Fourth Circuit: Hereford, Gloucester, Worcester, 
 and Salop counties. 
 
 Justices: W. filius Stephani, Bertein de Verdun, 
 et Turstavi filius Simonis. 
 
 Fifth Circuit : Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and 
 Cornwall counties. 
 
 Justices: Randulphus filius Stephani, W. Ruffus, 
 et Gilbertus Pipard. 
 
 Sixth Circuit: York, Richmond, Lancaster, Cop- 
 land, Westmoreland, Northumberland, and Cumberland 
 counties. 
 
 Justices: Robertus de Watts, Radulphus de Glan- 
 villa, et Robertus Picknot. 
 
 These men were known for their proficiency in 
 the common law ; one of their number, R. de Glan- 
 villa, being the distinguished lawyer, afterwards Jus- 
 ticiarius Angliae, and the author of a work on the 
 laws of England, which has made his name celebrated 
 throughout Europe. In the reign of King John, the 
 Normans made a digest of their laws in imitation of 
 the English compendium by Glanville, which is called 
 the ' Grand Costumier of Normandy; 1 and, from the 
 similarity between the two works, it is supposed to 
 have been formed on the model of, if not compiled 
 from, Glanville. 
 
 The work of Glanville, several circumstances satis- 
 factorily prove, was written about the thirty-fourth 
 year of King Henry the Second, or A. D. 1187. The
 
 14 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 circumstance of a layman filling so eminent an 
 office as that of Chief Justice of England, as well as 
 the profound knowledge of the common law evinced 
 in the ' Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus, 1 
 which was one of the first treatises on jurisprudence 
 that had appeared in Europe since the dissolution 
 of the Roman empire, strongly indicate the pro- 
 gress which the study of the municipal law had 
 made under the influence of the schools of common 
 law, which began to rise into importance in the 
 reign of Stephen, stimulated by the national anti- 
 pathy to the teaching of the civil code. Glanville 
 opens with a preface in imitation, almost verbatim, of 
 the procemium of the 'Institutes' of the Emperor Jus- 
 tinian. In two or three passages he adopts phrases 
 and definitions from thence, and twice expressly men- 
 tions the Roman code, pointing out the difference in 
 the law of dower and the law of inheritance which 
 prevailed in England, and the rule of the civil law 
 on those subjects, while the independence and pre- 
 eminence of the law of the land is upheld. It 
 hence appears that the Roman system of jurispru- 
 dence was studied and appealed to; from which it 
 may be inferred, that the regulations of Justinian 
 respecting the study and practice of the law 
 would be carefully observed and adapted to the cir- 
 cumstances of this kingdom. As the work from 
 which he avowedly copied was addressed to the stu- 
 dents of the Roman l&w,cupid& tegum juventuti, 
 Glanville's ' Tractatus, 1 it may be presumed, was de-
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 15 
 
 signed for, and dedicated to the same class in Eng- 
 land. The extent and intricacy of the juridical sys- 
 tem with which the lawyers of the time of Henry II. 
 were conversant are pointed out by Glanville, who 
 declares that it would be absolutely impossible to 
 reduce, in every instance, the laws and constitutions 
 of the realm into writing. In the chapter on lawful 
 heirs,* he gives us as an example the following com- 
 plicated case : " By reason of the liberality which 
 parents are in the habit of exercising towards their 
 sons, or even towards other persons, questions of law 
 frequently arise concerning donations of this descrip- 
 tion. Let us suppose that a knight, or a freeman, 
 having four or a greater number of sons, all born 
 in wedlock of one mother, should, with the consent of 
 the heir previously obtained, (in order to prevent 
 disputes,) give to one of his sons let us say to the 
 second and his heirs a certain reasonable part of the 
 inheritance. Let us suppose that the son to whom 
 the gift has been made received seisin, and during 
 his life took the profits and proceeds, and that he 
 died in such seisin, leaving not only his father but all 
 his brothers yet living. Very obscure indeed is the 
 law and considerable the debate and contention among 
 the most skilful of that profession when this point 
 occurs, or may occur, in the king's court, in order to 
 ascertain who ought by law to succeed to the inherit- 
 ance." 
 
 Glanville devotes the eleventh book of his treatise 
 * Book VII.
 
 16 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 to the office of attornies, who were put in the place of 
 their principals in court, " to gain or to lose for 
 them " ad lucrandum vel perdendum. The name of 
 attorney indicates one who stands in turn for an- 
 other ; and at this early period the practice of appear- 
 ing by an authorised proxy was established. A father 
 might constitute his son his substitute, and vice versa; 
 one stranger might substitute another; and a wife 
 might, in a suit concerning her dower, appoint her 
 husband her attorney. A writ from the king was 
 necessary in each case, and it was in the following 
 terms : 
 
 " The King to the Sheriff, or to any other presiding 
 in his court, health. Know that N. hath before me, or 
 my justices, put R. in his place to gain or to lose for him, 
 in the plea which is between him and P. concerning one 
 ploughland [or concerning any other thing (naming it)], 
 and therefore I command you that you receive the afore- 
 said R. in the place of the said N. in such plea to gain or 
 to lose. Witness," &c. 
 
 The 'Miroir Aux Justices' says, "All may be 
 attornies which the law will permit." Any man might 
 appoint another in his turn, for certain purposes, that 
 lay under no legal incapacity, with the following excep- 
 tions : "Women may not be attornies, nor infants, nor 
 villeins, nor any who are in custody, or any who is 
 not free of himself, nor any who is criminous," &c. 
 The practice soon, however, grew up of appointing 
 professional lawyers as attornies in certain cases ; and
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 17 
 
 in the time of Edward I., pleaders or counsel below 
 the degree of Serjeants were not unfrequently con- 
 stituted the proxies or ' attornies" of parties to suits. 
 In the reign of Eichard L, who succeeded his father 
 Henry, owing to the multiplicity of business in the 
 Aula Regia, or chief court of the kingdom, the Court of 
 Common Pleas seems to have been erected into a dis- 
 tinct court; although there are some, including Lord 
 Coke, who contend that the Court of Common Pleas 
 has existed from the Saxon times. The Court of 
 King's Bench, the Exchequer of Pleas, the Court of 
 Common Pleas, and the Court of Chancery at this 
 period exercised separate jurisdictions, and were fre- 
 quented by a considerable number of professional 
 counsel, who, after the fixing of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas at Westminster Hall, pursuant to the 
 article in the great charter of King John, established 
 themselves on the slope of Holborn, then part of the 
 open country, beyond the walls of the city of London, 
 and separated by fields and gardens from the royal 
 palace at Westminster, in the great hall of which, 
 then, as now, the judicial business of the kingdom 
 was chiefly transacted. John's reign was also distin- 
 guished by the division of the legal year into four 
 Terms, Hilary, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas, 
 which division has, with little variation, been ob- 
 served to the present day. The treatise of the 
 learned Bracton, * De Legibus et Consuetudinibus 
 Anglise,' which was written in the time of John's 
 successor, Henry III., affords a striking proof of the 
 
 c
 
 18 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 advancement of the science of the law, A. D. 1216. 
 In this work, which is a systematic and elaborate 
 dissertation on the law as it then stood, the practi- 
 tioners of the law are termed counsel, pleaders, and 
 advocates. It appears from the ' Placitorum Abbrevia- 
 tio,' * a compilation from the early judicial records of 
 this country, made by royal authority, that at this 
 period the rule was established that none but regular 
 advocates should be permitted to appear as counsel to 
 plead in causes in which they were not personally con- 
 cerned. The same fact is mentioned by Matthew Paris. 
 In the nineteenth year of King Henry III., that 
 sovereign by writ, addressed to the mayor and sheriffs 
 of London, ordered the suppression of schools of 
 law within the city of London, for the better encou- 
 ragement, it is supposed, of the Inns of Court in the 
 suburbs, in which exercises were now performed, lec- 
 tures delivered, and degrees in common law conferred, 
 as degrees in the civil and canon law were given in 
 the various universities of Europe. The king com- 
 manded 
 
 " Quod per totam civitatem London clamari faciant 
 et firmiter prohiberi, ne aliquis scholas tenens de le- 
 gibus in eadem civitate de caetero ibidem leges doceat, 
 et si aliquis ibidem fuerit hujusmodi scholas tenens, 
 ipsum sine dilatione cessare fac'; teste rege, &c., 11 die 
 Decembris, anno regiii sui decimo nono."f 
 
 This interesting record establishes the fact, that 
 prior to this date there were schools of law in the city 
 * Kane. Rot. 22 temp. 32 Hen. III. t 2 Inst. Prooem.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. li) 
 
 of London, whatever difference of opinion there may 
 be as to the precise object of the prohibition. 
 " Divers learned men in the laws, that I may use 
 the words of the record," says Lord Chief Justice 
 Coke, " kept schools of the law in the city of London, 
 and taught such as resorted to them the laws of the 
 realm." Selden is of opinion that the ' leges' pointed 
 at in the royal writ were the civil laws; but there 
 seems to be little to support such a conjecture. Both 
 the record quoted by Lord Coke and other authorities 
 shew that the common law was taught in schools 
 in London. There is no proof whatever that the 
 civil law ever was so taught. It had been discounte- 
 nanced by King Stephen; and from that time was 
 restrained to the universities and ecclesiastical semi- 
 naries. Sir William Blackstone thinks that King 
 Henry III. issued the above order the more effec- 
 tually to foster the infant seminary of the law, the 
 crown having taken the newly instituted university 
 of the common law, or Inns of Court, under its 
 protection. That this common law university now be- 
 gan to rival the seminaries, where, under the patro- 
 nage of the clergy, the study of the civil and canon 
 law was pursued, is evident from the prohibitions 
 issued to the clergy, restraining them from practising 
 as advocates in the secular courts, and the regulations 
 issued respecting the cultivation of the civil and 
 canon laws by those clergymen who were admitted 
 to practise as advocates in the courts ecclesiastical. 
 In the second year of the reign of King Henry 
 
 c2
 
 20 INNS, OF COURT. 
 
 Ill, A. D. 1217, Richard Poor, then Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, in his ( Constitutions/ under the title of ' De 
 bono Pads,' addressed the following injunction to 
 his clergy, which was probably adopted by other 
 diocesans : " Nee advocati sint clerici vel sacer- 
 dotes in foro seculari, nisi vel proprias causas, 
 vel miserabiliura personarum prosequantur." The 
 Papal Legate Otho followed up these prohibitions. 
 In his celebrated * Constitutions, 1 promulgated from 
 St. Paul's, London, he ordained that no clergyman 
 should appear as an advocate (in foro seculari) in 
 a case of blood, or in any case whatever, except 
 in cases allowed by the law of the Church. At the 
 same time Otho regulated the practice of the advocates 
 in the courts Christian. Reciting that justice had 
 been withheld from the people by means of the craft 
 of advocates, and the ignorance of the ecclesiastical 
 judges, he directed that an oath should be taken 
 by every advocate, admitted to practise in those 
 courts, to be faithful to his client. Advocates were to 
 be guilty of no malpractices, on pain of suspension. 
 According to the ' Constitutions ' of Johannes Peck- 
 ham, A. D. 1281, no person was to be admitted as an 
 advocate in the spiritual courts, till he had heard 
 canon and civil law three years at least, " cum debita 
 diligentia." Clergymen were also cautioned against 
 accepting appointments as judges; but this part of the 
 ' Constitutions ' was generally evaded, the following ca- 
 nons of St. Paul's Cathedral, after the date of the ' Con- 
 stitutions ' of Otho, and before the end of the reign of
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 21 
 
 Henry III., having filled the offices of judges of the su- 
 perior courts of Westminster, or of justices in Eyre : 
 
 John de Gatesden, 34 Hen. III. 
 Gilb. de Segrave, 35 Hen. III. 
 Egid. de Erdinton, 36 Hen. III. 
 Rog. de Wyrecestre, 38 Hen. III. 
 Hervius de Borham, 49 Hen. III. 
 
 A circumstance is mentioned by Matthew Paris, 
 which took place in the 43 Hen. III., which proves 
 that the clergy had then ceased to practise openly as 
 advocates in the secular courts. William de Bussy, a 
 knavish priest, who had concealed his tonsure by a coif, 
 (which it is generally supposed was invented about 
 this period, for the purpose of disguising those of the 
 clerical order who were desirous of eluding the canon 
 restraining the clergy from practising as counsel in the 
 secular courts,) being detected in some malpractices, 
 was taken by the throat and carried off to prison, 
 notwithstanding that he claimed the benefit of his 
 orders. But the variance between the clergy and 
 the profession of the common law was not confined to 
 mere rivalry in the study of the civil and canon 
 law by the one, and of the lex terrce by the other. 
 The clergy claimed, jure divino, exemption from 
 the authority of the temporal courts, and exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction over all things which savoured of 
 spirituality. To such a height did this animosity 
 attain, that, in the 42 Hen. III., A. D. 1258, Boniface, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, who was son of the Earl of 
 Savoy, the uncle of Eleanor, Queen of England,
 
 22 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 published ' Constitutions,' in which he usurped and 
 encroached upon many matters which were within 
 the jurisdiction of the courts of common law ; thun- 
 dering out excommunication against the judges of 
 the realm if they violated, or failed to obey, those 
 canons and constitutions. " But notwithstanding the 
 greatness of Archbishop Boniface," observes Lord 
 Coke, "and that divers of the judges of the realm were 
 of the clergy, and all the great officers of the realm, 
 as chancellor, treasurer, privy-seal, &c., were prelates, 
 yet the judges proceeded according to the laws of the 
 realm, and still kept, though with great difficulty, the 
 ecclesiastical courts within their just and proper 
 limits." Till the period of the Reformation a strong 
 spirit of jealousy continued to exist between the 
 clergy and the lawyers. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, there are several circum- 
 stances, even at the present day, to remind us of the 
 ecclesiastical origin of the legal profession in this 
 kingdom the terms on the festivals of St. Hilary,* 
 Easter, the Holy Trinity, and of the blessed Michael 
 the Archangel the habits of the judges their 
 appearance in court in scarlet, purple, or black, at 
 particular seasons the use of the words brother to 
 denote a Serjeant, and laity, to distinguish the people 
 at large from the profession the coif of the ser- 
 jeants, the bands worn by both judges, Serjeants, 
 and counsel, and the gown and hood worn by gra- 
 duates of the Inns of Court many of which cir- 
 
 * Bishop of Foietiers, in France, who died about the year 367.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 23 
 
 cumstances raise a strong presumption that the legal 
 university was founded before the time of the en- 
 actment of the canons in the reign of King Henry 
 III., compelling the clergy to abandon the practice 
 of the law in the secular courts. 
 
 At this period the pleadings, or conflicting allega- 
 tions, by which a single and material issue, or the 
 real matter in dispute between litigating parties, is 
 evolved, which are now conducted on paper, before 
 submitting either a question of fact or of law for 
 trial, were conducted ore tenus in open court; a 
 mode of proceeding which, while it was attended with 
 innumerable inconveniences, threw a double respon- 
 sibility on counsel. All proceedings were then com- 
 menced by original writs, which have lost nearly 
 all their practical importance since the recent 
 abolition of original writs in personal actions; and 
 great nicety was requisite in allotting to each ground 
 of complaint, or cause of action, a proper and appro- 
 priate formula, more especially as it was a rule 
 from the earliest times, " The count must be agree- 
 able to the writ, the bar to the count, and the 
 judgment to the count, for none of them must be 
 broader or narrower than the other:" Lord Coke 
 compares the writ to logic, and the count or declara- 
 tion to rhetoric. After the reading of the original 
 writ in court, the counsel for the complainant narrated 
 the case more fully in what was called the count. 
 The advocate for the defendant then put in his plea; 
 and so they proceeded to reply, rejoin, rebut, and
 
 24 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 sur-rebut, till some distinct question or ISSUE, in 
 law or in fact, was raised on which a court or a 
 jury could adjudicate. These altercations were con- 
 ducted viva voce in court; and the counsel, or the 
 prothonotaries, noted down the points on which the 
 parties at length agreed to go to trial. 
 
 From the practice here explained originated the 
 names employed to designate counsel in those early 
 times. As it has been already shewn, the name 
 of ' counsel 1 was the most ancient, and was a generic 
 expression. When a lawyer gave advice, he was 
 termed a counsellor; when he appeared in public 
 to speak for a client, he was an advocate; when 
 he put in a plea for a defendant, he was a pleader ; 
 when he stated the counts in the plantifTs case or 
 declaration, he was called countor or, in Latin narra- 
 tor, narratio being the Latin for the French term 
 1 count.' These expressions were used to denote the 
 different functions of one individual ; but, again, the 
 practitioners of the common law were divided into 
 serjeant countors, and apprenticii ad leaem or ad bar- 
 ras, (barristers), a distinction which appears to have 
 arisen after the establishment of degrees in the Inns 
 of Court. The word 'serjeant 1 being a general ex- 
 pression, its signification was restrained by the addi- 
 tion of the word ' counter,' who in Latin was denomi- 
 nated serviens ad legem. 
 
 In the ' Miroir Aux Justices,' one of the most 
 valuable expositions of the common law extant, 
 which appears to have been compiled by Andrew
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 25 
 
 Horn, in the reign of King Edward II., though the 
 substance of the book was evidently the production of 
 a much more remote time, the following interesting 
 description of the office of pleaders is to be found ; it 
 is entitled 
 
 OF COUNTORS, OR PLEADERS. 
 
 There are many who know not how to defend their 
 causes in judgment, and there are many who do, and 
 therefore pleaders are necessary, so that what the plain- 
 tiffs or actors cannot, or know not how to do by them- 
 selves, they may do by their Serjeants, attornies, or friend. 
 
 Counters are Serjeants skilful in the laws of the realm, 
 who serve the common people to declare and defend 
 actions in judgment for those who have need of them, 
 for their fees. 
 
 Every pleader of others' causes ought to have regard 
 to four things: 1, that there be a person receivable in 
 judgment, that he be no heretic, excommunicate person, 
 nor criminal, nor a man of religion, nor a woman, nor 
 within the orders of a sub-deacon, nor a beneficed clerk 
 who hath cute of souls, nor under the age of twenty-one 
 years, nor judge in the same cause, nor attainted of 
 falsity in his place. 
 
 2. Another thing is, that every counter is chargeable 
 by the oath that he shall do no wrong or falsity con- 
 trary to his knowledge, but shall plead for his client the 
 best he can according to his understanding. 
 
 3. The third thing is, that he put no false dilatories 
 into court, nor false witnesses, nor move or offer any 
 false corruptions, deceits, leasings, or false lies, nor con- 
 sent to any such, but truly maintain his client's cause, 
 so that it fail not by any negligence or default in him; 
 nor by any threatening, hurt, or villany, disturb the
 
 26 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 judge, plaintiff, Serjeant, or any other in court, whereby 
 he hinder the right or the hearing of the cause. 
 
 4. The fourth is his salary, concerning which four 
 things are to be regarded : 1, the greatness of the cause ; 
 2, the pains of the Serjeants ; 3, his worth, as his learning, 
 eloquence, and gift ; 4, the usage of the court. 
 
 A pleader is suspendable when he is attainted to have 
 received fees of two adversaries in one cause ; and if 
 he say or do anything in despite or contempt of the 
 court; and if he fall under any of the points aforesaid, 
 besides the exceptions which are to the person of the 
 pleader; for no man can be a pleader who cannot be a 
 plaintiff or actor. 
 
 There are several passages in other parts of the 
 ' Miroir' which illustrate the office of pleaders in 
 the reign of Edward II., and shew that it was then 
 considered part of the common law of this kingdom. 
 In the section on larcenies it is laid down, "Into 
 this offence fall those who by extortion take monies or 
 fines for beaupleader, or for which the jurors are not 
 charged. Into this offence fall counters who take 
 outrageous salary, or not deserved, or who are at- 
 tainted of ill-defence, or of other discontinuance." 
 In the section on the abuses of the c'ommon law the 
 following are enumerated : " xxxix. It is an abuse 
 that the salaries of pleaders be not certain. XLI. It is 
 an abuse that pleaders are spared of oaths according 
 to the points. XLIL It is an abuse to suspend a 
 pleader if he be not attaint of a trespass for which he 
 is condemnable to corporal punishment." In the 
 section concerning rewards the following scale of fees
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 27 
 
 is given : " But the judges who serve the king it is 
 lawful for them to take twelvepence of the plaintiff 
 after the hearing of the cause and no more, although 
 there be two judges, or two plaintiffs in one action ; 
 and the pleader sixpence, and a knight sworn a wit- 
 ness fourpence, and every juror fourpence, and the 
 two sumners fourpence." Horn, the compiler of the 
 'Miroir' prefixes the following verses to his work: 
 
 " Hanc legum summam, si quis vult mira tueri, 
 Perlegat, et sapiens si vult orator haberi ; 
 Hoc APPRENTICIIS AD BARROS ebore munus, 
 Gratum juridicis utile mittit opus 
 Horn mihi cognomen, Andreas est mini nomen." 
 
 The poet, John Gower, who was born about A.D. 
 1340, and was a contemporary of Chaucer, describes 
 the degrees in the legal profession in the following 
 lines in his ' Vox Clamantis ' 
 
 " Et apprenticius, sergandus post et adultus, 
 Judicis officium fine notabat eum." 
 
 The father of English poetry thus describes the 
 ' man of lawe,' of his day, in the prologue to the 
 'Canterbury Tales.' Chaucer was himself a student 
 in the Temple: 
 
 " A Serjeant of law ware and wise 
 That often hadde yben at the parvis, 
 Ther was also, full riche of excellence, 
 Discreet he was, and of gret reverence, 
 He semed swiche, his wordes were so wise, 
 Justice he was full often in assize, 
 By patent and by pleine coimnissioun, 
 For his science and for liis high renoun,
 
 28 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Of fees and robes he had many on, 
 
 So great a pourchaser was no where non, 
 
 All was fee-simple to him in effect, 
 
 His pourchasing might not ben in suspect. 
 
 No wher so besy a man ther n' as, 
 
 And yet he seemed besier than he was. 
 
 In termes hadde he cas and tomes alle, 
 
 That fro the time of King Will were a falle. 
 
 Thereto he could endite and make a thing, 
 
 There could no wight pinche at his writing, 
 
 And every statute could he plaine by rote. 
 
 He rode but homely in a medlee cote, 
 
 Girt with a seint of silk with barres smale 
 
 Of his array tell I no longer tale." 
 
 Chaucer afterwards describes a franklin, or free- 
 holder : 
 
 " At sessions ther was he lord and sire, 
 
 Full often times he was knight of the shire ; 
 A sherive had he been and a countour, 
 Was no wher swiche a worthy vavasour." 
 
 Spelman thus defines the word 'Apprentice:' "A 
 Gall, apprenti i. e. tyro, discipulus novitius in aliqua 
 facultate: unde apprentissage d'advocas plaidans pro 
 tyrocinio jurisconsultorum." This was probably the 
 meaning of the term primarily ; but as early as the 
 reign of Edward I. it was employed to denote counsel 
 below the state and degree of serjeant-at-law ; one 
 degree corresponding to that of bachelor, and the 
 other to that of doctor in the Universities of Oxford 
 and Cambridge. 
 
 The work on the pleas of the crown by the learned
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 29 
 
 Britton, one of the justices of the Common Bench at 
 the latter part of the reign of Henry III., subse- 
 quently a justice of the Court of King's Bench, and 
 one of the itinerant judges or justices in Eyre, ac- 
 cording to some authorities, also a Doctor of Civil Law 
 and Bishop of Hereford till the year 1275, has 
 been called ' King Edward's Book of Laws.' It is 
 written all through in the manner of a royal edict, 
 addressed in the king's name : " To all his faithful 
 liege people and his subjects of England and Ireland, 
 peace and grace of salvation." It was composed in 
 Norman French by Britton at King Edward's com- 
 mand; who, as it is stated in the second section, 
 caused such laws as had theretofore been used in this 
 realm to be reduced into writing for the instruction of 
 his subjects. Britton directs that when parties ap- 
 pear in judgment the accuser shall make his accusa- 
 tion, then called his appeal, by some Serjeant : " And 
 our will is, that if the appeal be pronounced by the 
 mouth of a serjeant, and be abated on account of its 
 being wrongly set forth, or through other default of the 
 serjeant, who ought to understand the science of plead- 
 ing, the serjeant himself shall be amerced one hun- 
 dred shillings; and if he was wittingly guilty of 
 the offence, and be afterwards convicted thereof, then 
 let him be sent to prison, and after that suspended 
 from his office." 
 
 Champerty is prohibited on pain of severe penalties 
 by the act Articuli super Chartas, 28 Edw. I. c. xi. 
 " But it may not be understood thereby," continues the
 
 30 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 statute, " that any person shall be prohibited to have 
 counsel of pleaders, or of learned men in the law * for 
 his fee, or of his parents and prochein amy ;" expres- 
 sions which leave no doubt that at this date the 
 apprenticii ad barras were actual practitioners. 
 
 The twenty-ninth chapter of the statute of West- 
 minster 3 Edward I. is to the following effect : " It 
 is provided also, that if any serjeant, counter, or other, 
 do any manner of deceit or collusion in the king's 
 court, or consent unto it in deceit of the court, to 
 beguile the court or the party, and thereof be at- 
 tainted, he shall be imprisoned for a year and a day, 
 and from thence shall not be heard to plead in that 
 court for any man ; and if he be no counter he shall 
 be imprisoned in like manner, by the space of a year 
 and a day at least ; and if the trespass require greater 
 punishment, it shall be at the king's pleasure." 
 
 In the treatise on the law, published under the 
 name of ' Fleta,' in this reign, in the chapter De 
 Narratoribus, (i. e. counters or pleaders,) there is a 
 statement of the punishments to which pleaders em- 
 ploying deceit or collusion rendered themselves ob- 
 noxious; the author observing that in the king's 
 courts there were serjeant-countors, (servientes nar- 
 ratwes,} attornies, and apprentices. 
 
 In the ' Placitorum Abbreviatio ' there is an entry 
 of a plea before the king, at Oxford, in the twenty- 
 fifth year of the reign of Edward I. : 
 
 * Counsaile des counters et des sages gents : " the words " sayes 
 de la ley " are employed cap. v. of the statute.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 31 
 
 " And the aforesaid Thomas le Mareschal says that 
 he is a common serjeant-countor, before justices, and 
 elsewhere, wherever he can be most serviceable in his 
 office of a common serjeant-countor, and that he, in 
 the plea of the said assize, stood with the said John, 
 before the said justices, and assisted him herein as 
 much as he could as his serjeant, and as it was law- 
 ful for such Serjeants in such cases to do." 
 
 In the * Placitorum Abbreviatio,' we find Gilbert 
 de Thornton and William de Giselham described as 
 pleaders for our lord the King Edward /., at Stafford. 
 
 It appears from the subjoined extract from the 
 monuments of Parliament, that in the twentieth year 
 of the reign of Edward I., that king directed the 
 Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the other 
 justices of that court, to select a number of appren- 
 tices, who should practise in the courts of assize, &c., 
 in the various counties : " He enjoined John de Me- 
 tingham and his fellow justices, that they, according 
 to their discretion, should provide and ordain, from 
 every county, certain attornies and apprentices of the 
 best and most apt for their learning and skill, who 
 might do service to his court and people; and that 
 those so chosen only, and no other, should follow his 
 court and transact the affairs therein ; the said king 
 and his council then deeming the number of seven 
 score to be sufficient for that employment ; but it was 
 left to the discretion of the said justices to add to 
 that number or to diminish, as they should see fit/' * 
 * Plac. in Parl. Rot. 5 ; Coke's Rep. 9 ; Seld. Op. ; Dug. Orig.
 
 32 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 That the 'learned men in the law' mentioned in 
 the Articuli super Chartas above quoted were ap- 
 prentices, is apparent from an entry in the year-book, 
 Trin. 1 Edw. III. in the year 1327, en Bank le Roy, 
 where it is incidentally said, " Et puis une apprentice 
 demand" &c. In the year-book of the twenty-ninth 
 year of the same reign there is express mention of the 
 apprentices in the Inns of Court. Ingelby having 
 taken an exception at the bar, Wilby and Skypwith 
 answered that that was never an exception taken 
 in that place, but that they had often heard it, 
 entre les apprentices en Hostells.* Fabian, the his- 
 torian, in his ' Chronicle,' A. D. 1363, makes a re- 
 mark which coincides with the authorities alluded to : 
 " About this time there was an ordinance and statute 
 made that the Serjeants and apprentices at law should 
 plead their pleas in their mother-tongue." But per- 
 haps nothing can explain more intelligibly the rela- 
 tive positions of the several members of the legal 
 profession, and the gradations in the Inns of Court, at 
 this time, than an extract from an assessment for a 
 subsidy in the 2 Richard II., A. D. 1379, where each 
 person is assessed according to his station. An entry, 
 3 Rot. Parl. 58, is to the following effect: 
 
 Also every justice, as well of the one bench as s. d. 
 the other, and those who have been justices of 
 those benches and the Chief Baron of the Ex- 
 chequer. ..... each 100 
 
 Also every serjeant and great apprentice at 
 
 law. ..... each 40 
 
 * Dug. Orig.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 33 
 
 Also other apprentices who practice the law *. d. 
 
 each 20 
 
 Also other apprentices of less estate and attor- 
 neys . . . . < . each 6 8 
 
 Also every serjeant and franklin of the county 
 
 according to their estate . . . each 6 8 
 
 The three grades of apprentices here enumerated 
 exhibit the classification of the members in the Inns of 
 Court ; the great apprentices being the benchers ; the 
 apprentices practising, barristers; apprentices of less 
 estate, students; the latter being, it will be observed, 
 assessed equally with the franklin or freeholder. In the 
 year 1381, the Commons prayed the King that two 
 justices, two Serjeants, and four apprentices at law, 
 should be appointed to enquire into grievances in the 
 administration of the law; and subsequently we find 
 an entry of an order to carry the views of the Com- 
 mons into effect, the commission to comprise certain 
 persons 'of the best apprentices of the law.'* Walter 
 
 * There are several cases on record where Apprentices-at-law 
 refused to accept the state and degree of Serjeant, when called 
 thereto. Lord Chief Justice Coke relates the following example : 
 " In the fifth year of Henry V., John Martine, William Bab- 
 ington, William Pole, William Westbury, John June, and Thomas 
 Rolfe, six grave and famous apprentices, having writs delivered 
 unto them to take the state and degree of Serjeants, returnable in 
 Michaelmas Term, when all the means which they had used could 
 not prevail, they at the return thereof in Chancery absolutely 
 refused the same ; whereupon they were called in to the parlia- 
 ment then sitting, and there charged to take the state and degree 
 upon them, which in the end they did, and divers of them after- 
 wards did worthily serve the king in the principal offices of the 
 law, as by our books appear." 
 
 D
 
 34 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Askham, who was created a serjeant in the time of 
 Henry IV., was, in the following reign, designated an 
 apprentice in a demise of Serjeants' Inn, Chancery 
 Lane: "Anno 1461, pro Faryndon's Inn, Chancellors 
 Lane, dimissio Kogero Horton, et Will. Cheney jus- 
 ticiariis et Waltero Askham apprenticio legis, ad 
 61. 13s. 4d." * The name of apprentice was kept up 
 for some centuries. The learned Plowden wrote him- 
 self of the Middle Temple, apprentice ; and Sir Henry 
 Finch, in his ' Nomotechnia,' and in his book on the 
 ' Common Law,' describes himself as of Gray's Inn, 
 apprentice del ley. 
 
 A question has been raised by some casuists, how 
 far the practice of the profession, of which the Inns of 
 Court are the seminary and ' alma mater,' is con- 
 sistent with the rules of ethics; and some writers 
 on morals have, in our own times, raised objections 
 against the bar, which, instead of being one of the 
 most distinguished institutions of civil society, as for 
 ages it has been esteemed, is, they allege, an avoca- 
 tion inconsistent with Christian morality.f The ob- 
 jections of those who censure the profession of the law 
 may be compressed into the following argument : 
 In every cause between party and party there is a 
 right and a wrong; yet neither the one party nor 
 the other ever wanted a counsellor to maintain his 
 cause; consequently counsellors wittingly and wil- 
 lingly take upon themselves the defence of bad causes, 
 
 * Dug. Orig. 
 
 t Essays by Jonathan Dymond.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 35 
 
 knowing the same to be unjust, when they are con- 
 sulted with and retained : to defend injustice, is to 
 become a participator with the offender. 
 
 To these objections there are three answers: 
 1. It is the natural right of every man accused of 
 an offence to speak in his defence; and he must 
 be presumed to be innocent till his guilt is estab- 
 lished. Even the vilest criminal is entitled to a 
 fair hearing; he has a right to the benefit of every 
 suggestion that can reasonably be advanced in his 
 favour, of every probability that can be suggested 
 consistent with his innocence, as well as of every 
 weak part in the case of his accuser. To deny this 
 right would be to outrage natural justice, and to 
 establish a tyranny that no civilised society would 
 endure. Now, if an accused person, either by reason 
 of natural incapacity, unacquaintance with rules of 
 law, or agitation of feelings, be unable to speak 
 for himself, he has clearly a right to speak by the 
 mouth of an advocate, and to urge every fact that 
 his witnesses can establish, and every circumstance 
 that can rebut the charge, or mitigate his guilt. 
 Bishop Warburton, in his * Divine Legation,' makes 
 the following observations on this point : " And 
 though some of those, who call themselves casuists, 
 have held it unlawful for an advocate to defend 
 what he thinks an ill cause, yet I apprehend it 
 to be the natural right of every member of society, 
 whether accusing or accused, to speak freely and 
 fully for himself. And if, either by a legal or 
 
 D2
 
 36 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 natural incapacity, this cannot be done in person, 
 to have a proxy, provided or allowed by the state, 
 to do for him what he cannot or may not do for 
 himself. I apprehend, that all states have done it, 
 and that every advocate is such a proxy." If the 
 office of an advocate be essential, as the experience 
 of ages has found it to be, to the due administra- 
 tion of justice, " the queen and lady of all vir- 
 tues," it is scarcely logical to aver that it is at 
 variance with morality. 
 
 2. The objectors lose sight of the very impor- 
 tant circumstance, that courts of justice are bound 
 to decide according to the evidence that is brought 
 before them, and according to that alone. The 
 questions within their province are not to inquire 
 whether, morally, a man is guilty or not guilty; 
 whether such a cause is, morally, just or un- 
 just; for these are questions for the Supreme 
 Judge; but, whether according to the evidence the 
 accused is guilty or not guilty ; whether, according 
 to the established principles of law, a cause is right 
 or wrong. The rules of judicial evidence are the 
 safeguards of individual liberty, and the guarantees 
 against unjust judgment. The voice of all mankind 
 is in favour of their being inviolately observed. 
 Nothing is so repugnant to our notions of justice 
 as the admission of improper evidence into a court 
 of justice, or as the conviction of a man on doubtful 
 and insufficient testimony; many cases in which 
 the rules of evidence were flagrantly disregarded oc-
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 37 
 
 cur in our state trials, and are never read without 
 indignation; it must, therefore, be lawful for an 
 advocate to insist that his client shall have a fair 
 trial, that he shall not be convicted unless it be 
 clearly and manifestly proved, by good and unex- 
 ceptionable evidence, that he is guilty; the jury are 
 sworn to decide according to the evidence, and to 
 dismiss from their minds every other consideration. 
 It, consequently, may be one thing for an advocate 
 to suspect, from some circumstance communicated 
 to him confidentially, that the prisoner whom he 
 defends is morally guilty; it is quite another thing 
 that it should be proved to the court and jury, ac- 
 cording to the rules of judicial evidence, that he is so. 
 He is accounted innocent till he is proved to be 
 guilty. The duty of a counsel, who defends a pri- 
 soner, is to sift and examine the evidence, and, if 
 the evidence against the prisoner be vague and un- 
 satisfactory, to demand his acquittal a verdict ac- 
 cording to the evidence. But a counsel who employs 
 any stratagem, is guilty of deceit, or by falsehood 
 and guile obtains the acquittal of a felon, is not 
 only reprehensible in foro consciencice, but is liable 
 to punishment. Both the * Miroir ' and Lord 
 Coke lay it down, that such a person would be 
 punishable at common law ; and Hawkins, in the 
 'Pleas of the Crown,' expressly says, that all fraud 
 and falsehood, tending to impose upon or abuse 
 the justice of king's courts, are within the purview 
 of the statute of Westminster.
 
 38 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 3. Collier, in his ' Dialogue on the Profession of 
 the Law,' says, " If they knowingly engage in a foul 
 cause they misbehave themselves, and have much 
 to answer for." But counsel do not, and cannot 
 know whether a cause is fair or foul till he hears 
 both sides of the question, which he never does till 
 the case is heard in open court. It is a mistake 
 to suppose that a confession of wrong is made to 
 counsel. The direct contrary is the fact. He re- 
 ceives a written statement of an ex parte case, and 
 has no personal communication with the client. 
 Fuller, in his dissertation on the good advocate, in 
 his celebrated work, the ' Holy State,' says, truly, 
 "many clients, in telling their case, rather plead 
 than relate it; so that the advocate hears not the 
 true state of it till opened by the adverse party." 
 Those who require counsel to refuse their assist- 
 ance to a case which, at the first view, seems to 
 be one that admits of no defence, in effect call upon 
 them to usurp the functions of judge and jury. 
 We might answer such parties in the words of a 
 learned divine, who was not sparing of his censures 
 on what he conceived unwarrantable practices of 
 lawyers: "A cause which has an ill face at first, 
 clears up sometimes in court, and brightens strange- 
 ly upon the pleading." Sir John Davis,* Attorney- 
 General in Ireland, in the learned preface to his 
 ' Keports,' printed A. D. 1628, presses this point 
 
 * The author of * Nosce Teipsurn,' and other highly esteemed 
 poems.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS OF LAW. 39 
 
 with considerable force: "For when doth the right 
 or wrong in every cause appear? When is it dis- 
 tinguished and manifest? Can it be discovered 
 upon the first commencement of the suit, and before 
 it be known what can be alleged and proved by 
 cither party f Assuredly it cannot: and therefore 
 the counsellor, when he is first retained, cannot pos- 
 sibly judge of the cause, whether it be just or un- 
 just, because he hears only one part of the v matter, 
 and that also he receives by information from his 
 client, who doth ever put the case with the best 
 advantage for himself. But when the parties have 
 pleaded, and are at issue, when they have examined 
 witnesses in course of equity, and be descended to 
 a trial in course of law, after publication and hear- 
 ing in the one cause, and full evidence delivered 
 in the other, then the learned counsel of either side 
 may, perhaps, discern the right from the wrong, 
 and not before. But then are the causes come to 
 their catastrophe, and the counsellors act their last 
 part. And yet, until then, the true state of the 
 cause, on both sides, could not possibly be dis- 
 covered.' 1 '' Still a grave responsibility must always 
 rest upon a barrister, and he must be careful not 
 to lend himself to injustice or oppression. In 
 doubtful cases, we say, with the author of the 
 'Holy State,' he ought to warrant nothing but 
 his own diligence. In criminal cases, he ought to 
 use no fraud, but require a verdict according to 
 the evidence, and nothing but the evidence; and,
 
 40 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 should he engage in a civil cause, which, on ex- 
 amination, he is thoroughly satisfied in his con- 
 science is a case of injustice and iniquity, (though, 
 as it has before been observed, it is most difficult 
 ever to make such a discovery till the whole case 
 be sifted in open court,) we agree with the opinion 
 of Aquinas, that he ought not to betray the cause, 
 by revealing the secrets confided to his keeping, 
 but that he should either abandon the case, or in- 
 duce his client to arrange the matter without in- 
 jury to his adversary: 
 
 " To virtue and her friends a friend, 
 Still may my voice the weak defend ! 
 Ne'er may my prostituted tongue 
 Protect the oppressor in his wrong ; 
 Nor wrest the spirit of the laws, 
 To sanctify the villain's cause ! " * 
 
 Let him act in the spirit of the admonition of the 
 distinguished Bishop Sanderson : " Like a good man 
 as well as a good orator, to use the power of his 
 tongue to shame impudence and protect innocency, to 
 crush oppressors and succour the afflicted, to advance 
 justice and equity, and to help them to right that 
 suffer wrong, and to let it be as a ruled case to him 
 in all his pleadings, not to speak in any cause to wrest 
 judgment." 
 
 * Blackstone's Lawyer's Prayer.
 
 SITES OF THE INNS OF COURT. 41 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SITES OF THE INNS OF COURT. 
 
 THE situation of the Inns of Court was admirably 
 chosen with reference to the objects of those institu- 
 tions ; being fixed in a locality free from the noise and 
 bustle of the town, adapted for healthful retirement 
 and uninterrupted study, at the same time in the 
 " neighbourhood " of the city of London, and at a con- 
 venient distance from Westminster Hall. " For this 
 place of study," observes Sir John Fortescue, writing 
 in the reign of Henry VI., " is situate nie to the king's 
 court, where the same laws are pleaded and argued, 
 and judgements on the same given by judges, men 
 of gravity, ancient in years, perfect and graduate in 
 the same laws ; wherefore every day in court the 
 students in those laws resort by great numbers into 
 those courts, wherein the same laws are read and 
 taught, as it were in common schools. This place of 
 study is set between the place of the said courts and 
 the city of London, which of all things necessary is 
 the plentifullest of all the cities and towns of the 
 realm. So that the said place of study is not situate 
 within the city, where the confluence of people might
 
 42 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 disturb the quietness of the students, but somewhat 
 several in the suburbs of the same city, and nigher to 
 the said courts, that the students may dayly at their 
 pleasure have access and recourse thither without 
 weariness." In early times the western boundary of 
 the city of London extended no farther than Ludgate, 
 which was one of the gates or bars of the city ; the 
 wall extending, on one side, to a fort near the present 
 Blackfriars Bridge, and on the other side sweeping from 
 Lud Gate to New Gate ; from thence to Creple Gate ; 
 from Bishop Gate to Aid Gate; the eastern wall 
 running from thence to a fort on the banks of the 
 Thames. A river separated the Inns of Court from 
 the city, flowing from Battle Bridge, past the foot 
 of Holborn Hill, and joining the Thames at Black- 
 friars. This river was called the Fleet, or Swift 
 River, and gave their names to Fleet Street and the 
 Fleet Prison. It was called ' The River of Wells, 1 in 
 a charter granted by William the Conqueror to the 
 College of St. Martin-le-Grand. It appears from a 
 record of a parliament held at Carlisle in the 35th 
 Edward I., A. D. 1307, that a complaint was preferred 
 to the king by the Earl of Lacy, complaining of en- 
 croachments on this river, and that in times past 
 ten or twelve ships laden with merchandise had been 
 wont to be at the Bridge of Fleet,* and some to 
 come as far as Old Bourne (Holborn) bridge. 
 
 * One of the editions of Littleton, printed by Machlinia, 
 has the imprint of the city of London, "juxta pontem qui vul- 
 yariter dicitur Flete Brigge"
 
 SITES OF THE INNS OF COURT. 43 
 
 The two societies of the Temple were located on the 
 banks of the river Thames : 
 
 " Those bricky towers 
 
 The which on Themmes brode aged back doe ride, 
 Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers, 
 There whilom wont the Templar Knights to bide, 
 Till they decayed through pride." * 
 
 It would have been impossible to have selected a 
 more delightful or more dignified situation, with that 
 majestic river in its original purity, a free atmo- 
 sphere, open country, and a line of palaces stretch- 
 ing from the Temple to Whitehall. Gray's Inn en- 
 joyed more elevated ground, and what it wanted in 
 the view of the river, it gained in the extent of 
 its gardens, its proximity to the fields, and its pro- 
 spect of the hills of Hampstead and Highgate. Lin- 
 coln's Inn, with its spacious grounds, was also well 
 situated; the adjacent fields, called the Coneygarth, 
 being well stocked with rabbits and game. Even now 
 the gardens of the Temple are exceedingly beautiful, 
 and are deservedly admired by all strangers; what 
 must they have been in the time of Queen Elizabeth, 
 when but one bridge spanned the Thames, when there 
 were no buildings on the opposite banks of the river, 
 and when Essex House, Somerset House, the Savoye, 
 Durham House, York House, and Whitehall, were the 
 only connecting links between the Temple and West- 
 minster. Shakspeare has laid the scene of the first 
 
 * Spenser.
 
 44 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 quarrel of the factions of the red and white roses in 
 the Temple Gardens: 
 
 " Plantagenet. Let him that is a true-born gentleman, 
 And stands upon the honour of his birth, 
 If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, 
 From off this briar pluck a white rose with me. 
 
 " Somerset. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, 
 But dare maintain the party of the truth, 
 Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me." 
 
 ***** 
 
 " Warwick. This brawl to-day 
 
 Grown to this faction in the Temple Garden, 
 Shall send, between the red rose and the white, 
 A thousand souls to death and deadly night." 
 
 The possessions of the Inner and Middle Temples 
 extend from White Friars eastward, to Essex Street, 
 west of Temple Bar. They command a general view 
 of every object moving on the Thames. The pro- 
 spect includes two of the bridges, to the west Lam- 
 beth and Westminster Abbey, and to the east the 
 cathedral of St. Paul's. 
 
 In ancient times, Holboru was a quiet, suburban vil- 
 lage, watered by a little rivulet which descended to the 
 river Fleet, with an extensive prospect of the adjacent 
 country. It was called Old Bourne, from which is de- 
 rived the modern name. It was a favourite residence of 
 the nobility, and was much resorted to by the profes- 
 sors of the law. The community of Knights Templars, 
 before their settlement in the Temple, had originally 
 their house in Holborn; and besides Gray's Inn, there
 
 SITES OF THE INNS OF COURT. 45 
 
 were four lesser inns in this quarter, Furnivars Inn, 
 Thavie's Inn, Barnard's Inn, and Staple Inn ; there was 
 also an inn for Serjeants, called Scroope's Inn, at Ely 
 Place. In Strype's map, A.D. 1633, there are no build- 
 ings described north of Gray's Inn, all being marked 
 as " pasture land." In Bacon's time, Gray's Inn Gar- 
 dens commanded a fine prospect of Hampstead and 
 Highgate Hills. In the 40 Eliz., at a pension of the 
 bench, "the summe of 11. 15s. 4e?. laid out for planting 
 elm trees" in these gardens, was allowed to Mr. Bacon 
 (afterwards Lord Verulam and Lord Chancellor). On 
 the 14th November, in the following year, there was 
 an order made for a supply of more young elms; and 
 it was ordered "that a new rayle and quickset hedges" 
 should be set upon the upper long walk, at the dis- 
 cretion of Mr. Bacon and Mr. Wilbraham; the cost 
 of which, as appeared by Bacon's account, allowed 
 20th April, 42 Eliz., was 60/. 6s. Sd. Mr. Bacon, 
 erected a summer-house on a small mount on the ter- 
 race, in which, if we may be allowed to conjecture, it 
 is probable he frequently mused upon the subjects of 
 those great works which have rendered his name im- 
 mortal. How much he loved gardens, he tells us in 
 his essays, which are dated from his " chamber in 
 Graies Inn." " God Almighty first planted a garden, 
 and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures ; it is 
 the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without 
 which, buildings and palaces are but gross handy 
 works." He gives directions how to have " ver 
 perpetuum" in gardens, and with the ardour of a true
 
 46 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 florist, remarks " And because the breath of flowers 
 is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes like 
 the warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore 
 nothing is more fit for that delight than to know what 
 be the flowers and plants that do best perfume the 
 air." Gray's Inn Gardens are still much frequented, 
 and the elms that Bacon planted afford a refreshing 
 shade. It would add considerably to the beauty and 
 salubrity of the metropolis, if a view of these fine 
 gardens were thrown open from Holborn opposite 
 Chancery Lane, an improvement which might be 
 effected by widening Fulwood's Rents from Holborn 
 into Field Court. 
 
 The elegant gardens of Lincoln's Inn, and the spa- 
 cious enclosure adjoining them, known as Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields, are among the beauties of the metropolis, 
 to the health of which they materially contribute; but 
 it required all the vigilance and influence of this so- 
 ciety to check the ruthless progress of bricks and 
 mortar, and to prevent those fields from being filled 
 with a population as dense as that in the adjoining 
 district of Drury Lane. The following is a copy of a 
 letter sent by the lords of his majesty King James's 
 privy council to certain justices of the peace for the 
 county of Middlesex, to restrain and forbid certain 
 buildings in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the year 1613 : 
 
 " After our hearty commendations it is well known 
 unto you what order hath been taken, as well by pub- 
 lic proclamation as by often addresses from the board, 
 and not long since by delivering unto yourselves his
 
 SITES OF THE INNS OF COURT. 47 
 
 majesty's express pleasure and commandment for the 
 restraint of new-erected buildings, together with the 
 inconveniencies that cannot be avoided by the swelling 
 multitudes of people which by that occasion are drawn 
 hither from all parts of the kingdom; and that as 
 well in regard of the provision of victual, which is 
 now grown to a high rate, as also in respect of govern- 
 ment and order; and yet, nevertheless, such is the 
 liberty as men take herein for the advantage of their 
 private ends, as there is nothing more frequent in the 
 skirts and confines of the city than new-erected build- 
 ings: amongst the rest you shall understand that 
 complaint hath been made unto us by the students of 
 Lincoln's Inn, that some do goe about to erect 
 new buildings in a field near unto them, called 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, with an intent to convert the 
 whole field into new buildings, contrary to his ma- 
 jesty's proclamation, and all other public orders taken 
 in that behalf, and to the great pestering and annoy- 
 ance of that society: forasmuch as it is expedient 
 that some present cause be taken for restraint thereof, 
 we do hereby require you to take notice of the same 
 and to restrain and forbid that building by such ef- 
 fectual means as you shall think meet; and if any 
 person shall refuse to yield thereunto, we do hereby 
 require and authorise you to commit him or them so 
 refusing to the gaol, until they conform themselves 
 accordingly; or otherwise, if you find cause, to take 
 good bond of them to appear before us that such fur- 
 ther order may be taken as shall be meet; whereof
 
 48 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 we require you to have a special care, and to signify 
 unto us your proceedings therein ; and so we bid you 
 heartily farewell. 
 
 " From White Hall, this 4th September, 1613. 
 " Your loving friends, 
 " G-. CANT. 
 
 " T. ELLESMERE, CANC. 
 " H. NORTHAMPTON. 
 "E. STANHOPE. 
 
 "JUL. C^SAR. 
 
 " EDW. FORSETT. 
 "LEWIS LEWKNER, 
 
 " THOMAS FOWLER, 
 
 Knights." 
 
 "WILLIAM SMITH, 
 To this letter we owe the preservation of Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields, the finest square in the metropolis. Three 
 years after this date a commission from the crown was 
 directed to Lord Chancellor Bacon, the Earls of Wor- 
 cester, Pembroke, Arundel, &c., reciting that the 
 ground called Lincoln's Inn Fields was much planted 
 round with dwelling-houses and lodgings of noblemen 
 and gentlemen of quality, but that it was at the same 
 time deformed by cottages and mean buildings, en- 
 croachments on the fields and nuisances to the neigh- 
 bourhood. The commission were charged to reform 
 the grievances complained of, and, with the assistance 
 of Inigo Jones, to frame and reduce those fields, called 
 Cup Fields and Purse Fields, " both for sweetness, con- 
 formity, and comeliness, into such walks, partitions, or 
 other plots, and in such sort, manner, and form both for
 
 SITES OF THE INNS OF COURT. 49 
 
 public health and pleasure as by the said Inigo Jones 
 is, or shall, be drawn by way of map/' In conformity 
 with this authority Jones drew a ground-plan, giving 
 to the fields the exact dimensions of one of the pyra- 
 mids. Several of the buildings, on the west side, 
 were designed by this artist, but he died before his 
 plans were completely carried into execution. As 
 late as the year 1740, Lincoln's Inn Fields were used 
 for breaking in horses; but soon afterwards they 
 appear to have been railed in and laid out, in the 
 order in which they now exist. Lincoln's Inn Fields 
 are memorable as the place where Lord William 
 Russell was beheaded.
 
 50 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE INNS OF COURT. 
 
 THE word ' Inne' was anciently used to denote 
 the town houses in which great men resided when they 
 were in attendance at court ; and it is frequently 
 employed by the elder poets to describe a noble man- 
 sion. The inns of court were in French termed 
 hostells. In all our Latin records the law inns are 
 called hospitia; while diversoria is the name given 
 to public lodging-houses, which are now commonly 
 known as ' inns.' Waterhouse, a writer contempo- 
 rary with Hale, assigns the following reason why the 
 term 'inne' was applied to our legal seminaries ; 
 but it scarcely accounts for the employment of the 
 word in its signification as a nobleman's residence : 
 " Hence it comes to pass that because hospitia 
 militaria are properly intended to receive military 
 men ; the inns of these military men, called Templars, 
 residing in the Temple, London, gave name to the 
 most ancient and eminent* of the inns of court, the 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary to say that these two learned societies 
 themselves claim no such pre-eminence above the other two inns, 
 as Waterhouse's zeal has assigned them ; the contrary appears 
 in several instances mentioned in these pages.
 
 CONSTITUTION. 51 
 
 Temples, which became inns of law." In the reign 
 of Charles the First, an order was made by the 
 visitors " For that the institution of these societies 
 were chiefly ordained for the profession of the law, 
 and in a second degree for the education of the sons 
 and youth of riper years of the nobility and gentry 
 of this realm, and in no sort for lodging or abode 
 of gentlemen of the country, which, if it should be 
 suffered, would be a disparaging of the same so- 
 cieties, and to turn them from hospitia to diversoria ; 
 it is ordered that no knight or gentleman, foreigners, 
 or discontinuers, or others not of the same societies, 
 shall be admitted or allowed to lodge in any of the 
 houses aforesaid." Butler, playing upon the expres- 
 sion hospitium, speaks of 
 
 " The hostess 
 I Of the Inns of Court and Chancery justice." 
 
 A. The Inns of Court are voluntary societies, for ages 
 submitting to government, analogous to that of other 
 seminaries of learning; from time immemorial enjoy- 
 ing the protection of the crown ; by the common law 
 subject to the visitorial power of the judges of the 
 superior courts, who possess a domestic jurisdiction 
 over these bodies, and to whom an appeal lies, in 
 every case, against orders affecting members of these 
 societies; forming a university empowered to grant 
 degrees in the municipal law of England, which con- 
 stitute indispensable qualifications for practice in the 
 superior courts of law ; no corporations, and possessing 
 no charter from the crown; by the policy of the 
 
 E2
 
 52 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 common law, permitted self government (subject to 
 the qualifications mentioned), in order to secure the 
 independence of a body upon whose integrity and 
 freedom from the restraints or influences of the ruling 
 authority, a great deal of the constitutional liberty of 
 Englishmen depends ; and whose duty it has been, at 
 different periods, to oppose the pretensions of the 
 crown, resist the machinations of the court, question 
 the legality of the proceedings of a parliamentary majo- 
 rity, or stand unawed before a subservient judge ; at 
 the hazard of giving deadly offence to the govern- 
 ment of the day, at all risks, appearing as the faith- 
 ful counsellors and fearless advocates of their fellow 
 citizens, no matter how obnoxious, who demanded 
 their services, for the defence of their rights, their 
 lives, or their property. Unlike the canonist, or 
 civilian, the barrister assumes his gown without the 
 acquiescence or approbation of any authority save that 
 of the Bench of the house to which he belongs ; and to 
 the peculiar constitution of the Inns of Court, and to 
 the spirit of independence imparted by that constitu- 
 tion to the legal profession of this kingdom, may be 
 ascribed the fact that, in the worst times of our his- 
 tory, advocates have been found ready to encounter 
 the frowns of power, and to brave its bitterest 
 hostility in behalf of the oppressed or the accused. 
 
 As soon as any member of an Inn of Court is 
 raised by royal writ to the state, degree, and dignity 
 of a serjeant-at-law, he ceases, ipso facto, to be a mem- 
 ber of the society. He removes to a new hall, and
 
 CONSTITUTION. 53 
 
 appears for the future in the Inn of Court as a 
 guest, a usage which has prevailed for several cen- 
 turies, and which seems to have been adopted, in 
 early times, for the purpose of maintaining unim- 
 paired the independence of the parent societies. It 
 may here be observed, that by the common law no 
 one can be appointed a judge of the superior courts 
 who has not attained the degree of the coif, which 
 degree can only be conferred on a barrister of one of 
 the four Inns of Court ; the antiquity of the degree of 
 Serjeant being, according to Lord Chief Justice Tindal,* 
 as high as the existence of the courts themselves. Prior 
 to the reign of Henry VIII. ecclesiastics were fre- 
 quently created Chancellors, Masters of the Rolls, &c. 
 whose offices were not subject to the rules of the 
 common law, but, from facts stated in other parts of 
 this volume, it seems very probable that many of the 
 clergymen, selected in ancient times to fill those situa- 
 tions, were actually members of the Inns of Court. 
 
 " All these Inns of Court and Chancery," says 
 Lord Coke, " do make the most famous university for 
 the profession of the law only, or of any one human 
 science, that is in the world, and advanceth itself be- 
 fore all others quantum inter viburna cupressus." Sir 
 John Fortescue,f to the same effect, says, " And to 
 speak uprightly there is in these greater inns, yea, 
 and in the lesser, too, beside the study of the law, as 
 it were an university or school of all commendable 
 quality." " But after what manner and sort," he 
 
 * 8 Scott Hep. t Fort, de Laud.
 
 54 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 continues, " the laws are learned in those inns, 
 thereof here to make rehearsal it is not needful, for so 
 much as it is not for your estate, most noble prince, 
 to put the same in use ; yet know ye this that it is 
 pleasant and delectable, and in any wise expedient for 
 the learning of the law and worthy with all affection 
 to be embraced. But one thing there is that I would 
 have you know, that neither at Orleans, where as well 
 the canon as the civil laws are taught, and whither 
 out of many countries scholars do repair, nor at An- 
 geo, or at Cane, nor any university of France (Paris 
 only excepted) are found so many students past child- 
 hood as in this place of studies, notwithstanding that 
 all the students there are English born." Selden also 
 observes : " Indeed, the study of the common law 
 hath not place in our universities of Oxford or Cam- 
 bridge, because another university (the Inns of Courts) 
 is appointed for it." Sir John Davis applies the same 
 expression to them. Ducange says : " Cupidus legum 
 adolescens primo se sistit in uno collegiorum juris * 
 (sunt enim quatuor, quse et hospitia vocant), etc." Sir 
 William Blackstone describes the Inns of Court as our 
 judicial university ; and Wynne, in his ' Eunomus,' 
 
 * There is a MS. in the Lansdowne Collection entitled " A 
 View of all the Foure Famous Colledges or Inns of Court and 
 other inferior howses or halls of Learninge, commonly called 
 Inns of Chancery, and other hostels of name and noate, within 
 and neare y e Cittie of London, iustly challenginge the name of 
 an academy wherein and from whence are sent famous learned 
 and profounde persons into y e commonwealth ; together with 
 ancient and moderne tokens or signes armorial appropriate to
 
 CONSTITUTION. 55 
 
 runs a parallel between the Inns of Court and the 
 universities, remarking, " Those writers who have 
 called the Inns of Court and Chancery a university 
 do by no means degrade the term according to its 
 more genuine and strict acceptation. 1 ' 
 
 The earliest reported case respecting the constitu- 
 tion of the Inns of Court is Boorman's case.* Boor- 
 man, a barrister of one of the Temples, having 
 been disbarred, applied for a writ of restitution; 
 but it was refused, because, said the court, the 
 Inns of Court are no corporate bodies but only 
 voluntary societies submitting to government ; and 
 the ancient and the usual redress for any grievance 
 in the Inns of Court was by appealing to the judges. 
 It was mentioned in Townshend's case f as settled 
 law, that no mandamus would lie to the Inns of Court. 
 In the case of Rakestraw v. Brewer,! before the Mas- 
 ter of the Rolls, the principle that the courts will not 
 interfere with the internal management of the Inns 
 was recognised; it being laid down that a bill in 
 equity will not lie to redeem a mortgage of chambers in 
 the Inns of Court, but that the plaintiff must apply to 
 the benchers of the societies, though it is otherwise if 
 the benchers refer the plaintiff to his remedy in equity. 
 Neither will a bill in equity lie against the benchers 
 
 the saide colledges." The anonymous author observes : " First, 
 it is to be understood for the better information of the reader 
 herein that the said fowre colledges, or Inns of Court, may well 
 be termed Collegia Jurisconsultorum, that is to say, Colledges of 
 Lawyers." * March Rep. 
 
 t 2 Sir Thomas Raymond's Rep. 69. t 2 Peere Williams Rep.
 
 56 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 of an Inn of Court relative to a grant of chambers,* 
 Cunningham v. Wegg, 2 Bro. C. C. 241. There is 
 also the case of Levintz v. Randolph,! in which it was 
 decided that the defendant, a barrister of Gray's Inn, 
 who was sued on his bond for certain dues, was bound 
 to conform to the authority of the benchers. But 
 the most celebrated case on this subject is The King 
 against the Benchers of Gray's Inn on the prosecution 
 of William Hart.\ It was an application for a man- 
 damus to compel the benchers to call the prosecutor 
 to the degree of barrister-at-law. It was made to 
 Lord Mansfield, C.J., Justice Willes, and Justice Bul- 
 ler ; and after consultation with the rest of the judges, 
 Lord Mansfield delivered the judgment of the court, 
 refusing to grant a mandamus. He observed, " The 
 original institution of the Inns of Court no where 
 precisely appears, but it is certain that they are not 
 corporations, and have no constitution by charters from 
 the crown. They are voluntary societies, which for 
 ages have submitted to government analogous to that 
 of other seminaries of learning. In every instance their 
 conduct is subject to the control of the judges as visi- 
 tors. From the first traces of their existence to this 
 day no example can be found of an interposition by the 
 courts of Westminster Hall proceeding according to 
 the general law of the land ; but the judges have acted 
 as in a domestic forum. The ancient and usual way 
 of redress is by appeal to the judges." Some cases of 
 
 * Per Lord Keynon. f Lord Raymond Rep. 594. 
 
 t 1 Douglas (Baron Glenbervie) Kep. 353.
 
 CONSTITUTION. 57 
 
 appeal to the judges, in their character as visitors, 
 will be mentioned in a future chapter of this volume. 
 
 In the case of Rakestraw v. Brewer, before Lord 
 King, on appeal,* 12th of July, 1729, his lordship 
 said that this regard was to be had to all the societies 
 of law, that all their disputes and controversies con- 
 cerning chambers may be terminated among them- 
 selves : and that Lord Keeper Wright had refused to 
 hear a cause of this nature (a dispute respecting the 
 mortgage of chambers) and sent it back to the 
 benchers. 
 
 In the case of Lord Rosslyn v. Jordell,f which was 
 an action of debt upon a bond, executed by the de- 
 fendant on his call to the bar by the Honorable So- 
 ciety of Lincoln's Inn, Lord Ellenborough said : " Sit- 
 ting here I am not prepared to enter into a calcula- 
 tion of pounds, shillings, and pence, and to determine 
 whether too much money is raised by the benchers, 
 or whether the money which is raised be misapplied. 
 If there be any abuse apply to the twelve judges. 
 They are the proper visitors of the Inns of Court, 
 and they will grant redress. Sitting here, I will 
 assume (and I doubt not according to the truth) that 
 both the usages and orders of the society are legal 
 and valid. The defence presents itself in no sus- 
 tainable shape. I am not to tear up this society by 
 the roots. Most men who have belonged to it have 
 cheerfully contributed to its support, reflecting on 
 
 * Abridg. Ca. Equity, 162. Moseley's Rep. 189. 
 
 t 4 Lord Campbell Rep. 303, and 1 Starkie Rep. 148.
 
 58 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 the advantages they have derived from it, and the 
 defendant is not called on to pay more than others. 
 His non-attendance can be no discharge to him, since 
 he has chosen to continue a member. I can take 
 upon myself to say that upon presenting the usual 
 petition for that purpose a member is permitted to 
 resign as a matter of course." 
 
 In Wooler's case, reported as The King against the 
 Benchers of Lincoln's Inn ;* the whole question was 
 very fully discussed, and the decision of the judges 
 delivered by Lord Mansfield, in Hart's case, reviewed. 
 Lord Chief Justice Abbottf said, " Lord Mansfield 
 speaking of these societies says, ' they are voluntary 
 societies/ The very term ' voluntary society,' imparts 
 in it a discretion in the individuals composing it 
 to admit or reject members as they please. It is true 
 that the twelve judges are the visitors of the Inns 
 of Court, but in that character they have jurisdiction 
 only over actually admitted members. When Lord 
 Mansfield said they were * voluntary societies, which 
 for ages have submitted to government analogous 
 to that of other seminaries of learning, 1 he must be 
 understood to have meant that they submit to such 
 rules and regulations as they themselves ordained for 
 the internal government of the society ; but not that 
 they submit to any foreign jurisdiction as to the 
 persons whom they are to admit as members.' 11 
 Justice Bayley, in delivering his opinion, said, " Con- 
 
 * 4 Barnwall and Creswell Rep. 855 ; 7- D. and R. 351. 
 t Afterwards Lord Tenterden.
 
 CONSTITUTION. 59 
 
 sidering the nature and institution of this society, 
 I think there is no duty incumbent upon them to 
 admit as members of their society all who think fit to 
 apply. I think that the benchers may by law exercise 
 a discretion on the subject. This case is analogous 
 to that of a college. An individual has no inchoate 
 right to be admitted a member of a college, and there 
 is no obligation upon the college to admit him.'' 
 Justice Holroyd took the same view, " All persons," 
 he remarked, "have not a right to be admitted 
 members of a college. They must be approved of by 
 the college, or by those to whom the college has 
 delegated the power of exercising a discretion as to the 
 persons they admit. I think that no person has a 
 right to be admitted a member of one of these societies 
 unless he be approved by the society, or by those 
 persons who are deputed to exercise the discretion on 
 behalf of the society." Justice Littledale said, " I am 
 of the same opinion. When these are said to be 
 voluntary societies submitting to government, that 
 must be understood to import that they submit to 
 a government to be exercised on the members of the 
 society. In all the cases which have come before the 
 judges, the persons applying have been themselves 
 members of the society. The judges, who are visitors, 
 interfere on the principle of exercising an authority 
 over the members of the society, as to their being 
 called to the bar. This is not a case where the judges 
 could be called on to interfere to make the benchers 
 submit to government. But here the court is called
 
 60 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 upon to control the society in the admission of 
 members. Now as far as the admission of members is 
 concerned, these are voluntary societies not submitting 
 to any government. The masters and fellows of a 
 college cannot be compelled to admit a particular 
 individual a member." 
 
 In the case of Clement's Inn, 1 Keeble, 135, Mich. 
 13 Car. II., B. R. " The master and society moved 
 the Court of King's Bench for restitution to a cham- 
 ber upon a forcible entry, which was granted; but 
 the court would not meddle with the cause, but ordered 
 the young men to submit and appeal to their Inn 
 of Court, and thence to the chief justice, thence to the 
 lord chancellor, and they allowed a society may seize 
 a chamber for non-residence, or want of commons, of 
 any man ; and," continues Keeble, " would have laid 
 one or two of the assistants by the heels till restitution 
 and conformity ; but would not determine the right 
 of any chamber there ; but unless possession were 
 delivered this day, they ordered a tipstaff to do it." 
 
 There seems once to have been an attempt made 
 to create a barrister by letters patent, without his 
 duly taking his degree in an Inn of Court; for we 
 find that it was ruled by a solemn judicial decision 
 in Ireland, " That by the course of the common 
 law, a man may not give counsel or advice until 
 he hath been called to the bar, not even though 
 he hath letters patent enabling him to do so as fully 
 as if he had been called to the bar."* 
 
 * Duhigg's ' Hist. King's Inns.'
 
 CONSTITUTION. 61 
 
 The four Inns of Court stand upon a footing of 
 equality. No precedence, priority, or superior anti- 
 quity is conceded to, or claimed by, one Inn beyond 
 another; nihil prim aut posterius, nihil majus aut 
 minus. They form together one university; their 
 powers, jurisdiction and privileges are coequal, and 
 upon all affairs of moment the benchers of the four 
 Inns meet in conference. The zeal of individual mem- 
 bers has sometimes ascribed to one Inn eminence or 
 antiquity above its sister-inns; but they are now what 
 they were when Shirley dedicated to them, his masque 
 the ' Triumphs of Peace ' " the four equal and ho- 
 nourable societies of the Inns of Court. 1 ' Beaumont, 
 who was of the Inner Temple, dedicated his masque 
 " to the anciently allied houses of Gray's Inn and the 
 Inner Temple, the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, 1 ' the 
 repetition being intended to obviate any notion of 
 priority or pre-eminence. In the orders cited by Dug- 
 dale from the records of Lincoln's Inn, issued by the 
 authority of the crown, respecting the military exer- 
 cises of the four Inns of Court, in the reign of James 
 I., the following is the third regulation: "Next 
 for priority of place every house give their own 
 gentlemen rank, and that the homes take place first 
 by chance of the dice, and afterwards by course and 
 turn. 11 At the grand masque presented by the four 
 united houses to King Charles I., a committee was 
 appointed to cast lots to decide which of the Inns 
 should have the first place. The lot fell upon Gray's Inn 
 upon that occasion. Sir Simonds D'Ewes mentions
 
 62 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 that at the Serjeants 1 feast, solemnized in the Middle 
 Temple Hall, 1623, the servers were barristers chosen 
 out of the four Inns of Court, and it was decided by 
 lot which Inn was to have seniority for the night ; the 
 lot fell to the Middle Temple. 
 
 The Inns of Chancery were formerly, in reality and 
 fact, what they are now only in name, preparatory 
 seminaries for the study of the grounds and principles 
 of the law. Such men as More, Coke, and Holt were 
 chosen to deliver lectures in those halls to the mem- 
 bers, who, it deserves to be noted, comprised not only 
 students who were preparing to enter the Inns of 
 Court, but the whole body of Attorneys and Solicitors. 
 Mootings and viva voce exercises here occupied the 
 students and prepared them for practice. Those Inns 
 of Chancery were governed by principals and ancients, 
 chosen by the members, holding their government 
 subordinate to the benchers of the Inns of Court to 
 which they belonged. The benchers were required, 
 by the orders of all the judges (the visitors of both 
 houses of court and chancery), " to make laws for 
 governing the Inns of Chancery, as to keeping com- 
 mons and attending and performing exercises accord- 
 ing to farmer usage" but the benchers seem never to 
 have had any control over the election of principal, 
 as appears by the case of the King v. Allen,* and the 
 following letter, which I have extracted from Lord 
 Burghley's papers : 
 
 * 5 B. Adol. 984.
 
 CONSTITUTION. 63 
 
 The Readers and Auncients of Grayes Inne. 
 
 Comendacion of Mr. Tho. Cary to be Principall of Staple 
 
 Inne. 
 
 Right Honorable and o r very good Lorde, wheras by 
 the death of the late Principall of Staple Inne, ther is 
 presently a new election to be made of another, and 
 having had experience of late tyme by reason of the 
 wante of learning and good governement in their prin- 
 cipalls, the howses of Chancery are growen to some dys- 
 order of lyving, and to greate decaye of studie, not re- 
 garding the aucthoritie of their principall, by reason 
 there hath byn no such care of election heretofore hadd 
 as were convenient, being altogether choysen by the 
 voyses of the younge gentelmen, and having hadd good 
 knowledge of Mr. Thomas Cary, a gentleman of o r howse, 
 both for his knouledge in law, being an utter barester 
 of good standing and learning, and for his behaviour, 
 sober and discrete, we are bould to be humble suters 
 unto yo r good L. and to recommende him for a very fitt 
 and able man for that place, humbly intreating yo r L. 
 favour in his behalfe unto the Societie of that howse for 
 the better government and increase of learning ther here- 
 after, to make choyse of him, and thus seasing yo r L. 
 furder troble, we comitt you to the tuission of the Highest, 
 whome we pray longe to pserve. From Grais Inne this 
 presente Mondaie the xith of Maye, 1584. 
 
 Yo r L. most humble to comaunde, 
 Jo. BROGRAVE. RAUF BARTON. 
 THO. COLBYE. JOHN KYTCHYN. 
 
 HR. YELVERTON. RICH. ANNGER. 
 R. KEMP. WILLM. CARDYNALL.
 
 64 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 WLLM. DANYELL. RICHARD SHUTTLEWORTH. 
 MYCHAELL LEWYS. PETER FEASANT. 
 
 To the Righte Honorable and o r very singular 
 good L. the L. Burghley, High 
 
 Treasurer of England, 
 llth May, 1584. 
 
 The Inns of Chancery refuse to acknowledge con- 
 trol in the admission of members, as appears by 
 the case of Barnard's Inn, 5 Ad. and E.; so that, 
 practically, they are under no control of any sort, 
 and they limit their numbers, in each Inn, to some 
 twenty or thirty persons. It is somewhat singular 
 that, although Parliament has twice, within the last 
 forty years, called for the regulations of the Inns 
 of Court, the crown also directing the common law 
 commissioners to inquire into these regulations, no 
 inquiry has been made as to the regulations of the 
 Inns of Chancery, and the state of those houses. 
 
 * MS. Lansdown, No. 40, art. 38.
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 
 
 65 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANCIENT READINGS IN THE INNS OF COURT. 
 
 IN ancient times the studies in the Inns of Court 
 were classified in the following manner : 
 
 House. 
 
 Inns of Chancery. 
 
 Hall. 
 
 Touching 
 
 . / Readings 
 Exercises, \ in the 
 I Moots 
 
 VIZ. 
 
 V in the 
 
 Library. 
 
 Degrees, 
 viz. 
 
 f Bolts. 
 
 I Cases assigned. 
 Readers. 
 Ancients. 
 Barristers. 
 
 The Readings were, from the very foundation of 
 these seminaries, looked upon as a vital part of their 
 constitution. They were delivered in the halls with 
 great solemnity and dignity, and were not only 
 adapted for the improvement of the students who 
 resorted thither, as Fortescue expresses it, to study 
 the grounds and the originals of the law, but formed 
 a most valuable guide to the more advanced pro- 
 fessor in his daily practice, and, being the compo- 
 sition of men experienced in the profession, of tested 
 abilities, who felt it a point of honour to maintain 
 
 F
 
 06 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 the reputation of their respective Inns, they were 
 regarded as authorities, and were cited as expositions 
 of the law in argument at Westminster Hall, where 
 some of them, in our own day, continue to be re- 
 spected. Some important statute, or section of a 
 statute, was selected by the reader, who analysed 
 every member of it, explained its provisions, and 
 exhausted the whole subject, pointing out its rela- 
 tion to the common law, and illustrating his argu- 
 ment by apposite cases. Lord Coke notes the fol- 
 lowing five excellent qualities in the ancient read- 
 ings : "First, they declared what the common law was 
 before the making of the statute; secondly, they 
 opened the true sense and meaning of the statute ; 
 thirdly, their cases were brief, having at most one 
 point at the common law and another upon the 
 statute; fourthly, plain and perspicuous, for the 
 honour of the reader was to excel others in autho- 
 rities, arguments, and reasons for proof of his opi- 
 nions and for confutation of the objections against 
 it; fifthly, they read to suppress subtile inventions 
 to creep out of the statute." Among the readings 
 which deserve especially to be remembered, are the 
 following, nearly all of which are still extant. 
 
 13 Edward I., chap, xii., ' The statute de Donis 
 Conditionalibus,' by Sir Thomas Littleton, Reader in 
 the Inner Temple, temp. Hen. VI.* 
 
 Magna Charta, chap. xvi.,f by Sir Robert Brooke, 
 Reader of the Middle Temple, temp. Hen. VIII., 
 
 * 1 Inst. Pref. t Lend., 1641, and Harl. MS., 5225.
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 67 
 
 Recorder of London, and afterwards Lord Chief 
 Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 3 Edw. I., chap, i., * Religious and Civil Peace,' 
 by Thomas Marrow, Serjeant at Law, temp. Hen. 
 VII. 
 
 27 Edw., st. 1, chap, i., 'Fines,' comprising twenty- 
 three readings, by Sir Edward Coke, Reader of the 
 Inner Temple, temp. Eliz. 
 
 17 Edw. II., st. 1, chap, i., &c., The King's Pre- 
 rogative,' by William Staunforde, Reader of Gray's 
 Inn, temp. Hen. VIII. 
 
 25 Edw. III., chap, ii., ' Treasons,' by Robert 
 Holborne, Reader, Lincoln's Inn, temp. Car. I. 
 
 4 Hen. VII., chap, xxiv., 'Fines, 5 by John Densel,* 
 Reader, Lincoln's Inn, temp. Hen. VIII. 
 
 2 Hen. VII., chap, xx., * Jointures,' by William 
 Daniels, Reader of Gray's Inn, and afterwards one of 
 the Justices of the Common Pleas, temp. Eliz. 
 
 23 Hen. VIII., chap, v., ' Sewers,' by Robert 
 Callis, Reader of Gray's Inn, temp. Jac. I. 1622. 
 
 3 Hen. VIII., chap. iii.,f by John Hearne, Reader 
 of Lincoln's Inn, temp. Car. I. 
 
 27 Hen. VIII., chap, x., * Uses,' by Sir Francis 
 Bacon, Reader of Gray's Inn, temp. Eliz. 
 
 ' Jointures/ by Sir John Brograve, Reader of 
 Gray's Inn, Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lan- 
 caster, temp. Eliz., 
 
 28 Hen. VIII., chap, ii., ' Limitations,' by Sir 
 
 * Sometimes spelt Denshall. 
 
 t Translated from a French MS., 1659. 
 
 F2
 
 68 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Robert Brook, Reader of the Middle Temple, temp. 
 Edw. VI. 
 
 34 and 35 Hen. VIII., chap, xxxii., ' Wills,' by 
 that great and eminent sage of the law, Sir James 
 Dyer, Reader of the Middle Temple, temp. Edw. VI. 
 
 35 Hen. VIII., chap, vi., ' Trials by Jury of 
 Twelve Men/ * by Thomas Williams, Reader of the 
 Inner Temple, temp. Philip and Mary, and some time 
 Speaker of the House of Commons. 
 
 13 Eliz., chap, vii., ' Bankrupts,' by John Stone, 
 Reader of Inner Temple, temp. Jac. I.f 
 
 43 Eliz., chap, iv., ' Charitable Uses,' by Sir 
 Francis Moore, Reader of the Middle Temple, and 
 Serjeant at Law, temp. Jac. I. 
 
 ' Prerogativa Regis,' by Robert Constable, Reader 
 of Lincoln's Inn, temp. Hen. VII. J 
 
 1 De Prerogativa Regis,' by George Willowby, 
 Reader of the Inner Temple, temp. Edw. VI. J 
 
 32 Hen. VIII., by William Symonds, Reader of 
 the Inner Temple, temp. Ph. & M.|| 
 
 21 Hen. VIII., by John Jeflereys, Reader of 
 Lincoln's Inn, temp. Jac. I.^f 
 
 43 Eliz., chap, i., by William Jones, Reader of 
 Lincoln's Inn, temp. Jac. I.** 
 
 Statute of ' Fines,' by Francis North, afterwards 
 
 * These readings are in French, and were printed A.D. 1680. 
 t In the MS. copy of these readings Mus. Brit., the author is 
 described as " John Stone of Grayes Inne, Esq." 
 
 t Harl. MSS., 1692. Ibid. || Ibid. 
 
 IT Harl. MSS., 1691. ** Ibid.
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 69 
 
 Lord Keeper Guildford, Reader of the Middle Temple, 
 temp. Car. II. 
 
 21 Hen. VIII., chap, xix., ' Avowries,' by Thomas 
 Risden,* Reader of the Inner Temple, temp. Eliz. 
 
 8 Hen. VI., chap, ix., ' Forcible Entry,' by 
 Thos. Risden, Reader of the Inner Temple, temp. Eliz.f 
 
 ' Copyholds,' by Charles Calthorpe, Reader of Lin- 
 coln's Inn, temp. Eliz.J 
 
 Magna Charta, cap. xxix. The Reader's speech of 
 the Middle Temple at the entrance into his reading, 
 Feb. 29, 1663-4. 
 
 There is also extant a volume in French, printed 
 1680, entitled 'Les Cases de Grey's Inn,' containing 
 points which had been mooted in that house. 
 
 Sir Anthony Fitzherbert's tract (4 Edw. I.) ' Sur- 
 veyinge,' is usually classed under the head of readings. 
 It may have been read, before publication, in Gray's 
 Inn Hall, but of this I find no certain proof. 
 
 Lord Bacon's readings on the * Statute of Uses,' 
 Callis || on ' Sewers,' and Risden on * Forcible Entry,' 
 are justly esteemed as models of this kind of composi- 
 tion, and are still in high repute in the profession. 
 
 Stow gives the following account of the manner of 
 the readings in his day : " The benchers appoint 
 the eldest utter-barrister to read amongst them openly 
 in the hall, of which he hath notice half a year before. 
 The first day he makes choice of some act or statute 
 
 * In French, Lend., 1680. t Lend., 1648. 
 
 t Lond., 1635. Lond., 1664. 
 
 II An edition of this valuable work was published in 1824, 
 by W. T. Broadrip, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn.
 
 70 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 whereupon he grounds his whole reading for that va- 
 cation. He reciteth certain doubts and questions 
 which he hath devised upon the said statute, and de- 
 clares his judgment thereon. After which, one of the 
 utter-barristers repeateth one question propounded by 
 the reader, and by way of argument doth labour to 
 prove the reader's opinion to be against law. And 
 after him, the senior utter-barrister and reader, one 
 after another do declare their opinions and judgments 
 in the same. And then the reader who did put the 
 case, endeavours to confute the objections laid against 
 him, and to confirm his own opinion. After which, 
 the judges and Serjeants, if any there be, declare their 
 opinions. Then the youngest utter-barrister again 
 rehearseth another case, which is prosecuted as the 
 former was. And this exercise continueth daily three 
 or four hours. The manner of reading both in Lent 
 and Summer vacations, are performed after the same 
 manner ; and usually out of these readers the Serjeants 
 are chosen." The following is one of the last orders 
 that was issued respecting readings : some of its pro- 
 visions will create a smile : 
 
 Orders to be observed in the Houses of Court, subscribed 
 by all the Judges of England, Term. Hill. A. D. 1627. 
 
 1 . That henceforth every year, or at least every second 
 year, there shall be a double reader chosen in every house 
 of court to read. 
 
 2. That the Lent reader shall begin his reading the 
 first Monday in Lent, unless it fall in term, and in such 
 case it shall begin at such day after as hath been used in
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 71 
 
 the several houses. And every summer reader shall begin 
 the first Monday in August. 
 
 The double readers shall continue their reading by the 
 space of one whole week at least, and the single reader 
 shall continue by the space of a fortnight at the least, and 
 in that time to read as often as hath been used in the 
 several houses. 
 
 3. No reader shall have above the number of ten men 
 to attend him during his reading; and every reader, the 
 Sunday before the beginning of his reading, shall repair 
 to the sermon at Paul's Cross, and whilst he is there 
 shall wear his cap in such decent and orderly manner as 
 hath been anciently used. 
 
 4f That no reader shall give exceediiigs throughout the 
 hall above thrice in the week, and that at dinner only. 
 
 5. That every reader shall make and put in his reading 
 so many cases as hath been most commonly used in the 
 same house where he readeth, and not fewer. 
 
 6. That no reader in court shall practise at the bar at 
 Westminster, but with his reader's gown, with the velvet 
 welt on the back ; and that none but readers in court shall 
 at all wear or use any such gowns. 
 
 7. That all readers, benchers, barristers, and other 
 students and fellows, in every house of court and chancery, 
 shall repair to the hall at dinner, supper, and exercises, in 
 their caps, and not in hats ; and shall likewise repair to 
 the church, chapel, and place of prayer in their caps. 
 
 8. That no fellows or students in any houses of court 
 or chancery shall come into the hall, church, chapel, or 
 place of prayer with boots, but orderly and civilly, as 
 anciently hath been used, upon pain that such as wil- 
 fully or contemptuously break these two last orders, or 
 either of them, for the first time shall be put out of 
 commons until he be restored upon suit to the bench; 
 and for the second time fined at the pleasure of the bench ; 
 and the third time shall be expulsed the house.
 
 72 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 9. And such reader as shall contemptuously break any 
 of the orders aforesaid, shall not be suffered to practise 
 at any bar at Westminster or at the assizes. 
 
 NICHOLAS HYDE. JOHN WALTER. 
 
 THO, RICHARDSON. JOHN DENHAM. 
 
 JOHN DODDERIDGE. WILL. JONES. 
 
 RICHARD HUTTON. FRANC. HARVEY. 
 
 JAMES WHITLOCK. THOMAS TREVOR. 
 
 GEORGE CROOKE. GEORGE VERNON. 
 H. YELVERTON. 
 
 These readings, in lapse of time, became to be 
 attended with costly entertainments, which eventu- 
 ally led to the suspension of these valuable exercises. 
 Some examples will be hereafter given of the mag- 
 nificent profusion of the readers' feasts, the expense 
 of which frequently exceeded 1000 It will be 
 sufficient here to observe, that the original object 
 of the readings was forgotten in the splendour of 
 the table, and that the reader's duty having be- 
 come rather to feast the nobility, judges, bishops, 
 chief officers of state, the principal gentry, and 
 sometimes the king himself, than to instruct his 
 audience in the principles of law; these readings 
 fell .into contempt, and were at length discontinued, 
 much to the regret of every one who wished to wit- 
 ness the advancement of the science of law, and was 
 
 desirous that the Inns of Court should maintain 
 
 ? 
 
 unimpaired, the reputation bequeathed to them by 
 the Littletons, Dyers, Plowdens, Bacons, Fitzher- 
 berts, Finches, Cokes, and other sages of the law. 
 After the lapse of nearly a century, readings were
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 73 
 
 revived in Gray's Inn, by Danby Pickering, Esq., 
 1780; in Lincoln's Inn, by Michael Nolan, Esq., 
 1796; and, after him, by Sir James Mackintosh; 
 and, more recently, in the Inner Temple, by Thomas 
 Starkie, Esq., one of her majesty's counsel; and 
 Lectures on different branches of the law are now 
 established in the Middle Temple, Gray's Inn, the 
 Inner Temple, and Lincoln's Inn, by the benchers of 
 those societies. 
 
 As to the manner of mooting in the Inns of Court 
 and Chancery, Stow gives the following account: 
 "In these vacations after supper, in the hall, the 
 reader, with one or two of the benchers, comes in, 
 to wiom one of the utter-barristers propounds some 
 doubtful case, which, being argued by the benchers, 
 and lastly, by him that moved the case, the bench- 
 ers sit down on the bench at the upper end of the 
 hall; and upon the form in the middle of the hall 
 sit two utter barristers; and on both sides of them, 
 on the same form, sits one inner barrister, who in 
 law French doth declare to the benchers some kind 
 of action; the one being as it were retained for 
 the plaintiff, and the other for the defendant : which 
 ended, the two utter barristers argue such questions 
 as are disputable within the said case; after which, 
 the benchers do likewise declare their opinions, as 
 how they take the law to be in these questions."* 
 
 * Sir Symonds d'Ewes gives a particular account of the 
 niootings and exercises performed by him during his period of 
 study in the Middle Temple. " I had twice mooted in law
 
 74 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Meetings are now conducted in a somewhat dif- 
 ferent manner. Forensic societies, composed of 
 members of the Four Inns of Court, meet weekly, 
 during the greater part of the year, in Lyon's Inn 
 Hall, for the discussion of points of law, and at 
 stated intervals, of questions on general subjects. 
 The questions* are selected by a committee, and 
 references to two cases are usually given ; two speak- 
 ers are appointed to speak in the affirmative, and 
 two in the negative, and, after they have delivered 
 their arguments, the other members follow. A pre- 
 sident is chosen from among the society, and the 
 proceedings are invariably conducted with regularity 
 and decorum. There are three of these societies, 
 each comprising members of the Four Inns ; the num- 
 bers of each being limited. 
 
 French before I was called to the bar, and several times after I 
 was made an utter-barrister, in our open hall. Thrice also be- 
 fore I was of the bar, I argued the reader's cases at the Inns of 
 Chancery publicly, and six times afterwards. And then also, 
 being an utter-barrister, I had twice argued our Middle Temple 
 reader's case at the cup-board, and sat nine times in our hall at 
 the bench, and argued such cases in English as had before been 
 argued by young gentlemen or utter-barristers in law French 
 bareheaded." 
 
 * The questions are usually put in the following shape : 
 Monday, May \Qih. 
 
 Is a freeholder civilly liable for a forcible entry on his own 
 freehold 1 Newton v. Harland, 1 M. and G. 644 ; Harvey v. 
 Lady Bridges, 9 Jur. 759. 
 
 Affirmative. President. Negative. 
 
 B . P . B .
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 75 
 
 It deserves notice that, at periods long anterior 
 to the Reformation, the Holy Scriptures were stu- 
 died in the Inns of Court, a fact which has been 
 overlooked by those who have supposed that, prior 
 to that era, the sacred volume was altogether a 
 < sealed book ' to the laity. The author of the ' Mir- 
 oir Aux Justices 1 having recounted the perversions 
 of the law, which induced him to compile that com- 
 pendium, says, " Taking the same into my serious 
 consideration, and the foundation and original of 
 the usages of England, given by the law, together 
 with the rewards of good judges, and the punish- 
 ment of others, I thought it needful (wherein my 
 companions gave me their assistance), to study the 
 Old and New Testament, and therein we found, that 
 the law is nothing else but rules, delivered by our 
 holy predecessors, in the Holy Scriptures, for the 
 saving of souls from perpetual damnation, notwith- 
 standing that the same were disused by false judges. 
 And we found that the Holy Scripture remained in 
 the Old and New Testament." Fortescue, who lived in 
 the reign of Henry VI., in his account of the ' Stu- 
 dies in the Inns of Court and Chancery,' expressly 
 tells us: "On the working days, most of them [the 
 students] apply themselves to the study of the law; 
 and, on the holy days, to the study of the Sacred 
 Scriptures; and, out of the time of divine service, 
 to the reading of Chronicles; for there, indeed, are 
 virtues studied, and vices exiled." Quotations from 
 the inspired volume occur frequently in Fortescue's
 
 76 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 work, 'De Laudibus,' &c., which shew that he was 
 intimately acquainted with both the Old and New 
 Testaments. When we remember that, at this period, 
 according to Fortescue's computation, there were, at 
 the least, one hundred students in each of the ten 
 lesser inns, and two hundred in each of the Four 
 Inns of Court, it seems to follow, that a large pro- 
 portion of the educated classes among the laity in 
 this country, had opportunities of becoming familiar 
 with the contents of the Bible. In the ' Doctor and 
 Student,' another of our ancient books, the author 
 of which lived A.D. 1460, there are also many re- 
 ferences to the Law, Prophets, and Evangelists : " For 
 a law," it is remarked, "is not properly called the 
 law of God because it was shewed by the revelation 
 of God, but also because it directed a man by the 
 nearest way to the felicity eternal, as being the 
 laws of the Old Testament, that being called morals, 
 and the laws of the Evangelists, the which were 
 shewed in a much more excellent manner than the 
 law of the Old Testament was ; for that was shewed 
 by the mediation of an angel, but the law of the 
 Evangelists was shewed by the mediation of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, God and man. And the law of 
 God is always righteous and just, for it was made 
 and given after the will of God; and, therefore, 
 all acts and deeds of man be called righteous and 
 just, when they be done according to the law of 
 God." 
 
 There was another study pursued by our early
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 77 
 
 lawyers with great zeal, which in modern times has 
 been almost totally neglected, that of Logic. "He 
 was learned, 1 ' says Lord Coke, speaking of Littleton, 
 "in that art which is so necessary to a complete 
 lawyer, I mean logic, as you shall perceive by read- 
 ing of these Institutes, wherein are observed his 
 syllogisms, inductions, and other arguments, &c." 
 Lord Bacon, it is said by those who do not discern be- 
 tween logic and the scholastic subtleties of the school- 
 men, has overthrown logic ; but Bacon himself, in his 
 ' Essay on Studies,' tells us " Histories make men 
 wise ; poets, witty ; the mathematics, subtle ; natural 
 philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, 
 able to contend." My* own view agrees with the 
 poet : 
 
 " If lawes by reason framed were, and grounded on the 
 
 same ; 
 
 If logicke also reason bee, and therefore had this name ; 
 [ see no reason, why law and logike should not be 
 The nearest and the dearest freends, and therefore best 
 
 agree." * 
 
 At the present day the study of the law is pursued, 
 firstly, by silent study in the libraries of the Inns, 
 which are furnished with every work necessary to 
 make an expert lawyer; secondly, by entering the 
 chambers of a practising special pleader or convey- 
 ancer; thirdly, by joining the discussions at the 
 forensic societies, held in Lyon's Inn Hall, and fourth- 
 ly, by attending at the courts ; and from henceforward 
 
 * The Lawier's Logike, 1588.
 
 78 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 every student will be required to attend courses of 
 lectures in one of the Inns of Court. The fee on en- 
 tering a pleader's or conveyancer's chambers, where 
 the pupils draw pleadings and conveyances, is, for 
 one year, one hundred guineas, for six months, fifty 
 guineas; an expense to which every person, seriously 
 intending to practise the law, with very rare excep- 
 tions, feels it necessary to subject himself to. Now 
 it would obviously tend very much to invigorate 
 the Inns of Court, to promote their utility, extend 
 the benefits of the newly-established lectures, and 
 restore the ancient discipline of these houses, if an 
 experienced special pleader and conveyancer, or equity 
 draughtsman were appointed by the bench in each 
 Inn at liberal salaries, with liberty to practise at 
 their discretion; every student being obliged (unless 
 under very special circumstances) to attend the cham- 
 bers of either of such pleaders or conveyancers for one 
 year, paying the sum of fifty guineas to the funds of 
 the society ; an examination being held once a year, 
 and a certain number of successful candidates receiv- 
 ing back the fee paid on entering upon this course 
 of study. 
 
 In the time of Fortescue, temp. Hen. VI., there 
 seem to have been then about eighteen hundred or 
 two thousand students in the Inns of Court and 
 Chancery. "For," he says, "there be ten lesser houses 
 or inns, and sometimes more, which are called Inns of 
 Chancery. And to every one of them belongeth a
 
 ANCIENT READINGS. 
 
 79 
 
 hundred students, at the least, and to some of them 
 a much greater number, though they be not ever 
 all together in the same. Those students for the 
 most part of them, are young men, learning or 
 studying the originals, and as it were, the elements 
 of the law, who, profiting therein as they grow to 
 ripeness, are admitted into the greater inns of the 
 same study, called the Inns of Court, of which greater 
 inns there are four in number. And to the least of 
 them belongeth in form above-mentioned, two hundred 
 students, or there about." 
 
 From a MS. in Lord Burghley's collection, dated 
 April, 1586, the following appears to be the relative 
 number of students in the Inns of Court and Chan- 
 cery at that period, both in and out of term : 
 
 Inner Temple, in term 200 out of term 80 
 
 Clement's Inn, 100 20 
 
 Clifford's Inn, 110 20 
 
 Lyon'slnn, 80 30 
 
 490 150 
 
 Middle Temple, in term 200 out of term 50 
 New Inn, 80 20 
 
 280 70 
 
 Lincoln's Inn, in term 
 Thavies Inn, 
 
 Furnival's Inn, ,, 
 
 200 out of term 50 
 
 40 20 
 
 80 30 
 
 320 100 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 1090 
 
 320
 
 80 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Brought forward . . 1090 320 
 
 Gray's Inn, in term* 350 out of term 229 
 Barnard's Inn, 112 24 
 
 Staple Inn, 145 69 
 
 613 322 
 
 In ter. total, In vac. 
 
 Omn. Dom. . 1703 Omn. Dom. 642f 
 
 * In the same MS. Collection there is a parchment containing 
 the names of each of these 356 students. 
 
 t The number of students in the Inns of Court, admitted in 
 the undermentioned years, was as follows : 
 
 1821. 1831. 1833. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn 61 101 94 
 
 Inner Temple 59 42 70 
 
 Middle Temple 44 61 48 
 
 Gray's Inn 40 64 61 
 
 Rep. Com. L. Com. VI.
 
 MASQUES. 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INNS OF COURT MASQUES. 
 
 IN the infancy of the English drama plays and 
 masques were frequently performed in the halls of 
 the Inns of Court; such performances being deemed 
 polite relaxations, in which even the gravest lawyers 
 and statesmen might participate without loss of dig- 
 nity, and which, while they afforded pleasure as well 
 to the masker as the favoured spectator, tended to 
 elevate the literary taste and cultivate the rhetorical 
 powers of the students, giving strength to the voice, 
 and ease to the gesture. The pieces represented were, 
 with few exceptions, the productions of the gentlemen 
 of the four societies. The performances were sanc- 
 tioned by the ' grave and reverend bench;' and being 
 honoured and singularly favoured by the reigning 
 vereigns, to whom they were often presented as 
 most acceptable tributes of loyal attachment, and 
 who, occasionally, even condescended to sustain parts 
 in masques themselves, they were repeatedly pro- 
 duced with extraordinary splendour, at a great cost, 
 sometimes borne by the four inns jointly, but more fre- 
 quently defrayed at the charge of the inns separately. 
 
 G
 
 82 INNS OF -COURT. 
 
 The first entertainment of this kind, of which we 
 have specific notice, is mentioned by Hall in his 
 ' Chronicles.' Giving an account of the events of 
 the 18th year of Henry VIII., he says : " This Christ- 
 mas was a goodly disguising plaied at Greis inne, 
 whiche was compiled for the moste part by master 
 Jhon Roo serjant at the law, xx yere past, and long 
 before the Cardinall had any aucthoritie ; the efiecte of 
 the plaie was that lord gouernance was ruled by dis- 
 sipacion and negligence, by whose misgouernance and 
 euil order, lady Publike wele was put from gouer- 
 nance: which caused rumor populi, inward grudge 
 and disdain of wanton sovereignetie, to rise with a 
 great multitude to expell negligence and dissipacion, 
 and to restore Publike welth again to her estate, which 
 was so doen. This plaie was so set furth, with riche 
 and costly apparel, with straunge diuises of maskes 
 and morrishes that it was highly praised of all menne, 
 sauyng of the Cardinall, whiche imagined that the 
 plaie had been deuised of hym and in a greate furie 
 sent for the said master Roo, and toke from hym his 
 coyfe, and sent him to the Flete, and after he sent 
 for the young gentlemen, that plaied in the plaie and 
 them highly rebuked and thretened, and sent one of 
 them called Thomas Moyle, of Kent, to the Flete, but 
 by the meanes of frendes, master Roo, and he wer 
 deliuered at last. This plaie sore displeased the Car- 
 dinall, and yet it was never meante to hym, as you 
 haue harde, wherefore many wisemen grudged to see 
 
 * Wolsey.
 
 MASQUES. 83 
 
 hym take it so hartely, and ever the Cardinall said 
 that the kyng was highly displeased with it and spake 
 nothyng of hymself." * Fox, in his ' Acts and Monu- 
 ments/f in his memoir of Simon Fish, Esq,, of Gray's 
 Inn, one of the gentlemen who acted in the piece, gives 
 the following version of the affair, derived, it seems, 
 from a verbal statement made by Fish's wife :J " The 
 authority of the bishop of Rome and the glory of his 
 cardinals was not so high, but such as had fresh wits, 
 sparkled with God's grace, began to espy Christ from 
 Anti-Christ, that is true sincerity from counterfeit 
 religion. In the number of whom was Mr. Simon 
 Fish, a gentleman of Gray's Inn. It happened the 
 first year that this gentleman came to London to 
 dwell, which was about the year of our Lord 1525, 
 that there was a certain play or interlude made by 
 one M. Rpo of the same inn gentleman, in which play 
 partly was matter against the Cardinal Wolsey ; and 
 where none durst take upon them to play that part 
 which touched the said Cardinal this aforesaid M. 
 Fish took upon him to do it. Whereupon great dis- 
 pleasure ensued against him on the cardinal's part, in 
 so much as he being pursued by the said Cardinal the 
 
 * Holinshed, recording the same event, remarks : " But 
 what will you have of a guilty conscience but to suspect all 
 things to be said of him (as if all the world knew his wickedness), 
 according to the old verse : 
 
 " Conscius ipse sibi de se putat omnia dici." 
 
 f Vol. ii. p. 279, ed. 1641. 
 
 t "Ex certa relatione vivoque testimonio proprise ipsius 
 conjugis." 
 
 G2
 
 84 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 same night that this tragedy was played, was compelled 
 of force to void his own house, and so fled over the sea 
 to Tindal." During his residence in Germany Fish 
 composed a work called the ' Supplication of Beg- 
 gars,' attacking the monastic orders in England, 
 which is printed at length by Fox. 
 
 Roo's play appears never to have been printed; 
 and I have not been able to discover a manuscript 
 copy of it. It is not noticed in ' An exact Catalogue 
 of Comedies, Tragedies, Tragico-Comedies, Operas, 
 Masks, and Pastorals, that ever were published 
 till this present year,' printed at the Oxford 
 University Press, A. D. 1680. There can be little 
 doubt that Hall, who was a member of Gray's 
 Inn, has stated the facts accurately; he is con- 
 firmed by Holinshed ; and Fox appears to have hastily 
 adopted the story of Mrs. Fish, which seems to have 
 been rather too highly coloured. 
 
 The Tragedie of F err ex and Porrex (originally 
 called the tragedie of Gorboduc} is the earliest piece 
 extant in English that can properly be termed a tra- 
 gedy. It was the composition of Thomas Sackville, 
 afterwards Lord Buckhurst, and Thomas Norton, both 
 barristers of the Inner Temple, and was played before 
 Queen Elizabeth on the 13th January, 1561, by the 
 gentlemen of the Inner Temple. It had originally 
 been prepared " for furniture of part of the grand 
 Christmas," in the Inner Temple. Gorboduc, king 
 of Britain, divided his realm in his life-time to his 
 sons Ferrex and Porrex. The sons fell to dissention.
 
 MASQUES. 85 
 
 The younger killed the elder. The mother, that more 
 dearly loved the elder, for revenge killed the younger. 
 The people, moved with the cruelty of the fact, rose in 
 rebellion, and slew father and mother. The nobility 
 assembled and most terribly destroyed the rebels ; and 
 afterwards, for want of issue of the prince, whereby 
 the succession of the crown became uncertain, they 
 fell to civil war, in which both they and many of their 
 issue were slain, and the land for a long time remained 
 desolate and miserably wasted. Such is the argu- 
 ment. A dumb show precedes each of the five acts : 
 the first four acts are closed by choruses, and the 
 fifth by a didactic speech of considerable length. 
 There is a curious entry in an old manuscript in the 
 Cottonian collection respecting this performance: 
 '' there was a play in the quens hall at Westmynster 
 by the gentyll men of the Tempull after a grett maske, 
 for there was a grett skaffold in the hall with grett 
 tryhumpe as has bene sene." 
 
 In the year 1582 was printed ' The most excellent 
 Comedie of two the most faithfullest friends Damon and 
 Pithias, as the same was shewed before the Queen's 
 majesty by the children of her grace's chapel, 7 A.D. 
 1571.* It was the production of Eichard Edwards, a, 
 gentleman of Lincoln's Inn, of which society he was 
 esteemed an ornament. It was most probably first pro- 
 duced in Lincoln's Inn Hall. It seems to have been 
 played before Queen Elizabeth at Oxford in 1566; 
 
 * ' Imprinted by Richarde Jones, dwelling neer unto Hol(>ntc 
 Bridge, over against the sign of the Faulcon."
 
 86 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 and is accounted the first English tragedy on a 
 classical subject. 
 
 In the same year two plays, the production of 
 George Gascoyne,* assisted by Christopher Yelverton 
 and Francis Kinmelmersh one the Supposes, a co- 
 medy adapted from Ariosto, the other Jocasta, a 
 tragedy from Euripides, were acted in Gray's Inn 
 Hall. At Shrovetide, 1565, the gentlemen of Gray's 
 Inn, it is recorded, presented her majesty with " divers 
 shows," including probably the play of Diana and 
 Pallas, which was then much in vogue. 
 
 In 1568 a tragedy called Toner ed and Gismunda, 
 the plot of which was taken from an Italian novel, was 
 played before the Queen by the members of the Inner 
 Temple : the fourth act being composed by Christo- 
 pher Hatton, afterwards Lord Chancellory 
 
 There is a paper in the Lansdowne MSS. containing 
 the names of the performers in a piece produced in 
 Gray's Inn Hall on the 16th January, 1587. It is 
 indorsed in Lord Burghley's h and- writing : "xvi, 
 
 * Gascoyne was the author of the masque exhibited before 
 Queen Elizabeth, on the occasion of her visit to the Earl of 
 Leicester at Kenilworth Castle, in 1575. The following is a 
 tribute to his genius by a contemporary poet. 
 " Chaucer by writing purchased fame, 
 And Gower got a worthier name ; 
 Sweet Turney suckt Parnassus' springs 
 And Wiatt wrote of wonderous things. 
 Old Eochfort clambe the statlie throne 
 Which Muses held in Helicone, 
 Then thither let good Gascoiyne go, 
 For sure his verse deserveth so." 
 t See Chap. VIII. INNER TEMPLE.
 
 MASQUES. 
 
 87 
 
 Jan. 1587 the names of the gentlemen of Gray's In 
 that played there a comedy before the Ld. Burghley, 
 L. Tr., Earl of Leicester, Lord Steward, Earl of War- 
 wick, Earl of Ormond, Lord Grey of Wilton : " 
 
 DOMINUS DE 
 
 The Prologue 
 Hidaspis, the sonn . 
 Manilius, madd 
 Pyso 
 
 Lucius . 
 
 Mummius, old man . 
 Byrria, parasite 
 Flamantia, curtezan 
 Sir Delicate 
 Catelyne 
 Clodius . 
 Sallust . 
 Cato 
 Crassus 
 Scilla, dictator 
 Ciniia, 1st consull 
 2nd consull 
 Tribunus plebis 
 Melancoly 
 Epilogue 
 
 censors 
 
 PURPOOLE, HATCLYFF. 
 . ELLIS. 
 . CAMPION.* 
 . ANDERTON. 
 . FARNLEY. 
 . ASHLEY. 
 . TOPHAM. 
 . STAVERTON. 
 . SANDFORT. 
 . SIR PETER SHAKERLEY 
 . RHODES. 
 . STAN FORT. 
 . CRWE. 
 
 f HULTON. 
 
 I WILLIAMSON. 
 . MONTFORT. 
 . DAVENPORT. 
 . STARKEY. 
 . SMYTH. 
 . CAMPION. 
 ELLIS. 
 
 MASQUERS. 
 
 RHODES. Ross. 
 
 LUTTRELL. PENISTON. 
 
 CHAMPRES. DAYE. 
 
 The names inside the MS. are written in a fair, bold 
 
 * There is in the Garrick collection a description of Masque 
 before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on Twelfth Night, 1607, 
 in honour of the Lord Hayes and his bride, by Thomas Campion, 
 described in the tract as a 'Doctor of Phisicke.'
 
 88 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 hand ; the indorsement, apparently in Lord Burghley's 
 hand- writing, is cramped, and the words are contracted. 
 
 A work entitled ' Certaine Devises and Shewes pre- 
 sented to her Majestic by the Gentlemen of Grayes- 
 Inne, at her Highnesse Court in Greenwich, the 
 twenty-eighth Day of Februarie, in the thirtieth Year 
 of her Majesties most happy Raigne,' printed in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, is not contained in any 
 collection with which I am acquainted.* The subject 
 is the misfortunes of Arthur Uther, Pendragon's son; 
 ' reduced into tragical notes, by Thomas Hughes, one 
 of the societie of Grayes Inn;' and preceded by an 
 introduction, penned by Nicholas Trotte, gentleman, 
 one of the society, which, we are informed, was pro- 
 nounced in the manner following: "Three muses 
 came upon the stage, apparelled accordingly, bringing 
 five gentlemen students, with them attyred in their 
 usual garments, whom one of the Muses presented 
 to her majestic as captives; the cause whereof she 
 delivered by speech ;" a copy of which is here given, as 
 a specimen of the ancient masques: 
 " Of conquest, gracious Queen, the signs and fruits, 
 
 Achiev'd 'gainst such, as wrongfully withheld 
 
 The service by choice wits to Muses due, 
 
 In humblest wise, these captives we present. 
 
 And least your highness might suspect the gift 
 
 As spoile of War, that Justice might impeach ; 
 
 Heare and discerne how just our quarrel was 
 
 Avowed (as you see) by good success. 
 
 A Dame there is, whom men Astrea term, 
 
 * At London. Printed by Robert Robinson, 1587.
 
 MASQUES. 89 
 
 She that pronounceth Oracles of Laws, 
 
 Who to prepare fit servants for her train 
 
 As by commission takes up flowering wits, 
 
 Whom first she schooleth to forget and scorn 
 
 The noble skills of language and of arts, 
 
 The wisdom which discourse of stories teach, 
 
 The ornaments which various knowledge yields ; 
 
 But Poesie she hath in most disdain 
 
 And marshalls it next Follys scorned place. 
 
 Then when she hath these worthy prints defac'd 
 
 Out of the minds that can endure her hand, 
 
 What doth she then supply in stead of these ? 
 
 Forsooth some old reports of altered laws, 
 
 Clamours of courts and cavils upon words, 
 
 Grounds without ground, supported by conceit, 
 
 And reasons of more subtlety than sense, 
 
 What shall I say of Moot points strange, and doubts, 
 
 Still argued but never yet agreed? 
 
 And she that doth deride the poet's law, 
 
 Because he must his words in order place, 
 
 Forgets her forms of pleading more precise, 
 
 More bound to words than is the Poet's lore : 
 
 And for these fine concerts she fitly chose 
 
 A tongue that Barbarism itself doth use. 
 
 We noting all these wrongs did long expect 
 
 Their hard condition would have made them wise, 
 
 To offer us their service plac'd so ill, 
 
 But finding them addicted to their choice, 
 
 And specially desirous to present 
 
 Your Majesty with fruits of Province new, 
 
 Now did resolve to double force and skill, 
 
 And found and used the vantage of the time 
 
 Surprised their fort and took them captives all. 
 
 So now submissive, as to their state belongs 
 
 They gladly yield their homage long withdrawn, 
 
 And Poetry which they did most contemn,
 
 90 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 They glory now her favours for to wear. 
 My sisters laught to see them take the pen, 
 And lose their wits all in unwonted walks. 
 But to your highness that delight we leave 
 To see these Poets new their Stile advance. 
 Such as they are, or naught or little worth, 
 Deign to accept and therewith we beseech 
 That novelty give price to worthless things." 
 
 " Unto this speech," we are informed, " one of the 
 gentlemen answered as followeth;" addressing the 
 Muses : 
 
 " Good Ladies, unacquaint with cunning reach, 
 
 And easy led to glory in your power, 
 
 Hear now abasht our late dissembled mindes 
 
 Nor not the first time as your selves best know, 
 
 Ye Muses sought our service to command : 
 
 Oft have ye wandered from Pernassus hill, 
 
 And showed your selves with sweet and tempting grace 
 
 But yet returned your train increased with few, 
 
 This resolution doth continue still. 
 
 Unto Astrea's name we honour bear, 
 
 Whose sound perfections we do more admire, 
 
 Than all the vaunted store of Muses gifts. 
 
 Let this be one (which last you put in ure, 
 
 In well depraving that deserveth praise) 
 
 No eloquence, disguising reasons shape, 
 
 Nor Poetry, each vain affections nurse, 
 
 No various history that doth lead the mind 
 
 Abroad to ancient tales from instant use, 
 
 Nor these, nor other moe, too long to note, 
 
 Can win Astrea's servants to remove 
 
 Their service, once devote to better things. 
 
 They with attentive minds and serious wits, 
 
 Revolve records of deep judicial Acts, 
 
 They weigh with steady and indifferent hand
 
 MASQUES. 91 
 
 Each word of law, each circumstance of right, 
 
 They hold the grounds which time and use have smooth'd 
 
 (Though shallow sense conceive them as conceits) 
 
 Presumptuous sense, whose ignorance dare judge 
 
 Of things remov'd by reason from her reach. 
 
 One doubt in moots by argument encreas'd, 
 
 Clears many doubts, experience doth object : 
 
 The language she first chose, and still retains, 
 
 Exhibits naked truth in aptest terms. 
 
 Our Industry mentaineth unimpeach'd 
 
 Prerogative of Prince, respect to Peers, 
 
 The Commons Liberty, and each man's right : 
 
 Suppresseth mutin force and practicke fraud, 
 
 Things that for worth our studious care deferue. 
 
 Yet never did we banish or reject 
 
 Those ornaments of knowledge nor of tongues: 
 
 That slander envious ignorance did raise. 
 
 With Muses still we intercourse allow, 
 
 T' enrich our state with all their forreine freight : 
 
 But never homage nor acknowledgement 
 
 Such as of subjects alliegance doth require. 
 
 Now here the cause of your late conquest won 
 
 We had discovered your intent to be 
 
 (And sure ye Ladies are not secret all 
 
 Speech and not silence is the Muses grace) 
 
 We well perceiv'd (I say) your mind to be 
 
 T' imploy such prisoners, as themselves did yield 
 
 To serve a Queen, for whom her purest gold 
 
 Nature refined, that she might therein set 
 
 Both private and imperial virtues all. 
 
 Thus (Sovereign Lady of our laws and us) 
 
 Zeal may transform us into any shape. 
 
 We, which with trembling hand the peune did guide 
 
 Never well pleased all for desire to please, 
 
 For still your rare perfections did occur, 
 
 Which are admir'd of Muses and of men.
 
 92 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Oh, with how steady hand and heart assur'd, 
 Should we take up the warlike lance or sword, 
 With mind resolved to spend our loyal blood, 
 Your least command with speed to execute. 
 O, that before our time the fleeting ship 
 Ne'r wandered had in watry wilderness, 
 That we might first that venture undertake 
 In strange attempt t' approve our loyal hearts. 
 Be it soldiers, seamen, poets, or what else, 
 In service once enjoned to ready minds, 
 Our want of use should our devoyer encrease. 
 Now, since instead of art we bring our zeal, 
 Instead of praise we humbly pardon crave, 
 The matter which we purpose to present, 
 Since straits of time our liberty controuls 
 In tragic note the plages of vice recounts. 
 How suits a tragedy for such a time ? 
 Thus, for that since your Majesty 
 In gracious hands the regal sceptre held, 
 All tragedies are fled from State, to Stage." 
 
 NICHOLAS TROTTE. 
 
 The piece is written throughout in blank verse, 
 and, with the exception of Forrex and Porrex already 
 mentioned, is one of the earliest productions of this 
 kind. It is divided into five acts ; a dumb show pre- 
 ceding each act. There is a chorus in rhyme at 
 the close of the first four acts; and the last act 
 is closed by an epilogue. The following is a stanza 
 from one of the choruses : 
 " Ye Princely Peers extolled to feats of state, 
 
 Seek not the fair, that soon will turn to foul : 
 
 Oft is the fall of high and hovering Fate, 
 
 And rare the roome* which time doth not controul. 
 
 * Royame.
 
 MASQUES. 93 
 
 The safest seat is not the highest hill, 
 
 Where winds, and stormes, and thunders thump their ill ; 
 
 Far safer were to follow sound advice, 
 
 Than for such pride to pay so dear a price." 
 
 Two speeches "penned by William Fulbecke, 
 gentleman, one of the Society of Grayes-Inne," which 
 were substituted in the first and fifth acts for speeches 
 written by Hughes, are appended to the play, and the 
 following memorandum closes the piece: "Besides 
 these speeches there was also penned a chorus for the 
 first act and another for the second act, by Maister 
 Frauncis Flower, which were pronounced accordingly. 
 The dumb shews were partly dressed by Maister 
 Christopher Yelverton, Maister Francis Bacon, * 
 Maister John Lancaster and others, and partly by the 
 said Maister Flower, with Maister Penrodocke, and 
 the said Maister Lancaster directed these proceedings 
 at court." 
 
 The Inner Temple Masque is a short production of 
 great beauty, the composition of William Browne, 
 a gentleman of that society, who was born at 
 Tavistock, Devon, in the year 1590. Browne was 
 highly esteemed in the Elizabethean era, and was 
 much valued by the poet Dray ton, who thus alludes 
 to him : 
 
 " Then the two Beaumonts and my Browne arose, 
 My dear companions whom I freely chose 
 My bosom friends ; and in their several ways 
 Rightly born poets." 
 
 * Lord Bacon, it appears, by a MS. in the Cottonian Collec- 
 tion, was in the year 1601 in debt to Trotte, 18001.
 
 94 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Browne dedicates the Masque to the Honourable 
 Society of the Inner Temple, in the following terms : 
 " Gentlemen, I give you but your own : If you refuse 
 to foster it, I know not who will. By your means it 
 may live. If it degenerate in kind from those other 
 the society hath produced, blame yourselves for not 
 seeking a happier muse. I know it is not without 
 faults, yet such as your loves, or at least poetica 
 licentia (the common salve) will make tolerable. 
 What is good in it, that is yours ; what is bad mine ; 
 what indifferent, both ; and that will suffice, since it was 
 done to please ourselves in private by him that is 
 always yours, W. Browne." The subject of the piece 
 is the story of Ulysses and the Syrens ; it opens with 
 the following song : 
 
 " Steer, hither steer, your winged pines, 
 
 All beaten mariners, 
 Here lie Love's undiscovered mines, 
 
 A prey to passengers ; 
 Perfumes far sweeter than the best, 
 Which make the Phoenix urne and nest. 
 
 Fear not your ships, 
 Nor any to oppose you, save our lips, 
 
 But come on shore, 
 
 Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more. 
 For swelling waves our panting breasts, 
 
 Where never storms arise, 
 Exchange ; and he awhile our guests, 
 
 For stars gaze on our eyes. 
 The compass, love shall hourly sing, 
 And as he goes about the ring, 
 
 We will not miss 
 To tell each point he nameth with a kiss."
 
 MASQUES. 95 
 
 This Masque, as the author intimates, was first pro- 
 duced in the hall of the Inner Temple, which was 
 fitted up with appropriate scenery, disco veriug a cliff 
 of the sea, with syrens seated upon it. 
 
 In a letter from Sir Francis Bacon to Lord Burgh- 
 ley not dated, he expresses his regret that a project 
 for a joint masque from the four inns had failed. 
 " Neverthelesse, by cause it falleth owt, that at this 
 tyme Graies Inne is well furnyshed of galant yowng 
 gentlemen yr Lp. may be pleased to know that rather 
 then this occasion shall passe withowt some demon- 
 stration of affection from the Innes of Court thear 
 are a dozen gentlemen of Graies Inne, that out of 
 the honour which they bear to your L. and my L. 
 Chamberlayne to whom at theyr last maske they were 
 so much bounden will be ready to furnysh a maske, 
 wishing it were in their powers to performe it accord- 
 ing to theyr mynds." 
 
 From a diary kept by a barrister, who is conjec- 
 tured to have been John Manningham of the Middle 
 Temple, it appears that Shakspeare's Twelfth Night 
 was performed at the reader's feast, on Candlemas 
 day, in the Middle Temple Hall : " Feb. 2, 1601-(2). 
 At our feast we had a play called Twelve Night, or 
 What You Will, much like the Comedy of Errors, or 
 Menechmi in Plautus, but most like, and neere to 
 that in Italian, called Ingauni. A good practice in 
 it to make the steward believe his widdowe was in 
 love with him, by counterfayting a letter as from his 
 lady ; in generall termes telling him what shee liked
 
 9G INNS OF COURT. 
 
 best in him, and prescribing his gestures, inscribing 
 his apparaile, &c. ; and then when he came to practise, 
 making him believe they tooke him to be mad." About 
 this period Shakspeare's Twelfth Night was also pro- 
 duced at the Blackfriars Theatre. 
 
 " The Masque of the Inner Temple and Grayes 
 Inn: Grayes Inn and the Inner Temple," was com- 
 posed by Beaumont and Fletcher, the former of whom 
 was a student in the Inner Temple. It was presented 
 in the Banqueting-house, Whitehall, on Saturday, the 
 twentieth day of February, 1612, before King James, 
 the Queen, the Prince, Count Palatine, and the Lady 
 Elizabeth. The maskers, with their attendants and 
 "divers others gallant young gentlemen of both 
 houses as their convoy" set forth from Winchester 
 house at seven o'clock at night. The voyage by water 
 was performed in great triumph; the gentlemen 
 maskers being placed by themselves in the king's 
 royal barge, with the rich furniture of state, and 
 adorned with a great number of lights. They were 
 attended by a multitude of barges and galleys, ac- 
 companied with music and several peals of ordinance, 
 the procession being led by two admirals. The king 
 received the maskers with great condescension, and 
 choice room was reserved for the gentlemen of both 
 houses, who were led to their places by the Earl 
 of Northampton, Lord Privy-Seal. The masque 
 concludes with the following song : 
 
 " Peace and silence be the guide 
 To the Man, and to the Bride,
 
 MASQUES. 97 
 
 If there be a joy yet new 
 
 In marriage, let it fall on you, 
 
 That all the world may wonder. 
 If we should stay, we should do worse, 
 And turn our blessing to a curse, 
 
 By keeping you asunder." 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher inscribe this masque ' To 
 the worthy Sir Francis Bacon, his majesty's solicitor 
 general, and the grave and learned bench of the 
 anciently allied houses of Grayes Inn and the Inner 
 Temple, and the Inner Temple and Grayes Inn. 1 * 
 This singular transposition in the names of the Inns, 
 seems to have been adopted in order that the authors 
 should not appear to give one inn priority above 
 the other; in the title page the Inner Temple is 
 placed first; Gray's Inn in the dedication. For the 
 expenses of this masque, the following assessment 
 was made in the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. 
 Readers 4/. each, ancients 2l. 10s. each, barristers 2/., 
 students 20s. 
 
 In the year 1610, a comedy called the Fleire, the 
 production of Edward Sharpham, a gentleman of the 
 Middle Temple, was printed, and was probably first 
 acted in the Middle Temple Hall. 
 
 "The memorable maske of the two honourable 
 houses or inns of court, the Middle Temple and 
 
 * In token of this ancient amity the griffin of Gray's Inn is 
 placed beneath the pegasus of the Inner Temple on the iron gate 
 to the gardens, opposite the hall, in the latter inn, and the pegasus 
 of the Inner Temple, is displayed over the gateway in Gray's 
 Inn Square, as well as on the shields held by the griffins rampant 
 at each side of the garden-gate in Field Court. 
 
 II
 
 98 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Lyncoln's Inn," * performed before King James I., at 
 Whitehall, on Shrove Monday night, the 15th of 
 Feby., 1613, at the celebration of the nuptials of the 
 Palsgrave and the Princess Elizabeth, seems to have 
 been a magnificent pageant. Inigo Jones was em- 
 ployed on the occasion; the decorations being in- 
 vented and fashioned by that artist. The play was 
 " supplied, applied, digested, and written," by George 
 Chapman; and he tells us in his preface, "A show at 
 all parts so novel, conceitful, and glorious, hath not in 
 this land (to the proper use and object it had pro- 
 posed), been ever before held. Nor did those honour- 
 able inns of court, at any time in that kind such 
 acceptable service to the sacred majesty of this king- 
 dom, nor were returned by many degrees with so 
 thrice-gracious and royal entertainment and honour." 
 The gentlemen of the two combined houses (the 
 Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn) made their ren- 
 dezvous at the house of Sir Edward Philips, Master 
 of the Rolls, and thus set forth : 
 
 <f Fifty gentlemen richly attired, and as gallantly 
 mounted, with footmen particularly attending, formed 
 the vanguard. Next (a fit distance being observed 
 between them) marched a mock maske of baboons, 
 attired like fantastical travellers, in Neapolitan suits 
 and great ruffs, all horst with asses, and dwarf pal- 
 
 * In Sir George Buc and other old authors, I find Lincoln's 
 Inn and the Middle Temple classed together as "ancient allies." 
 From the earliest times there has been an interchange of fellow- 
 ship between the four houses.
 
 MASQUES. 99 
 
 freys, with yellow foot-cloathes, and casting cockle- 
 demois about, in courtesie, by way of largess ; torches 
 borne on either hand of them, lighting their state as 
 ridiculously as the rest nobly. After them, were 
 sorted two cars triumphal, adorned with great maske 
 heads, festoons, scroles, and antick leaves, every 
 part inriched with silver and gold. These were varied 
 with different inventions, and in them advanced the 
 choisest musicians of our kingdom, six in each* 
 attired with great splendour ; and about them marched 
 two ranks of torchbearers. Then rode the chief 
 maskers in Indian habits, all of a resemblance, the 
 ground-cloth of silver, richly embroidered with golden 
 suns, and about every sun ran a train of gold; be- 
 twixt every pane of embroidery went a row of 
 estredge feathers, mingled with sprigs of gold plate ; 
 under their breasts they wore bawdricks of gold, em- 
 broidered high with purle, and about their necks 
 ruffs of feathers spangled with pearl and silver; on 
 their heads they wore feathers composed in coronets. 
 The maskers riding single had every one his torch- 
 bearer mounted before him." After a long train of 
 heralds and attendants, came a gorgeous chariot, over 
 which was cast a canopy of gold, and in it were the 
 Dramatis Persona in proper costume. Honor, a 
 Goddess; Plutus (or Riches) a God; Eunomia (or 
 Law) Priest of Honor; Phemeis, Honor's Herald; 
 Capriccio, a man of wit.
 
 100 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 The principal part of this piece is in prose. A 
 specimen of the dialogue is subjoined : 
 
 Plutus. A man of wit ? what 's that ? A beggar. 
 
 Capriccio. And yet no devil, Sir. 
 
 Plut. As I am, you mean. 
 
 Capr. Indeed, Sir, your kingdom is under the earth. 
 
 Plut. That's true, for riches is the Atlas that holds it 
 up ; it would sink else. 
 
 Capr. 'Tis rather a wonder it sinks not with you, Sir, 
 you 're so sinfully and d ndably heavy. 
 
 Plut. Sinful? andd ndable ? what, a Puritan ? These 
 bellows you wear on your head shew with what matter 
 your head is puffed up, Sir. A religion-forger I see 
 you are, and presume of inspiration from those bellows, 
 with which ye study to blow up the settled governments 
 of kingdoms. 
 
 Capr. Your worship knocks at a wrong door, Sir ; I 
 dwell far from the person you speak of. 
 
 This magnificent entertainment cost no less than 
 1086/. 85. lie?., a large sum considering the value of 
 money in those days ; the whole being defrayed by the 
 gentlemen of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn. 
 
 Upon Twelfth Night, in the same year, 1613, The 
 Maske of Flowers was presented by the " gentlemen 
 of Graies Inne," before the court in the banqueting 
 house, Whitehall, it being the last of the solemnities and 
 magnificences performed at the marriage of the Earl 
 of Somerset and the Lady Frances, daughter of the 
 Earl of Suffolke. This masque was got up at the ex- 
 press desire of Sir Francis Bacon, then his Majesty's 
 Attorney- General, and according to some accounts, the 
 whole expense of the performance was sustained by
 
 MASQUES. 101 
 
 him. The masque was printed in the following year, 
 and is dedicated to Bacon ; the authors, who appear 
 to have been three in number, observing : " That 
 you have graced in general the societies of the Inns 
 of Court in continuing them still as third persons 
 with the nobility and court, in doing the king honour ; 
 and particularly Graies Inn, which as you have for- 
 mally brought to flourish both in the auncienter and 
 younger sort, by countenancing virtue in every qua- 
 lity; so now you have made a notable demonstration 
 thereof in the later and less serious kind by this, that 
 one Inne of Court by itself, in time of a vacation, 
 and in the space of three -weeks could perform that 
 which hath been performed, which could not have 
 been done, but that every man's exceeding love and 
 respect to you, gave him wings to overtake time." 
 The masque closed with the following song, addressed 
 to the bride and bridegroom : 
 
 " Lovely couple, seasons two, 
 
 Have perform'd what they can do, 
 
 If the gods inspire our song, 
 
 The other two will not stay long, 
 
 Receive our flowers with gracious hand 
 
 As a small wreath to your garland. 
 
 Flowers of honour, flowers of beauty, 
 Are your own, we only bring 
 Flowers of affection, flowers of duty." 
 
 The masque being ended, it pleased his majesty to 
 call for the anti-mask of song and dance, which was 
 again presented. The maskers when the whole was 
 concluded, uncovered their faces, and kissed the hands
 
 102 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 of the king, queen, and princes, " with a great deal 
 of grace and favour," and so were invited to the 
 banquet. 
 
 In the year 1619, was produced The Inner Temple 
 Masque ; or, Masque of Heroes, presented as an en- 
 tertainment for many worthy ladies by gentlemen of 
 the same ancient and noble house. It was the com- 
 position of Thomas Middleton, a prolific masque writer 
 of that period. It was performed in the Inner Temple 
 Hall, the masque itself " receiving its illustration" 
 from nine gentlemen of the society. 
 
 About Allhallowtide, in the year 1633, shortly 
 after the birth of the Duke of York, several of the 
 principal members of the four Inns of Court proposed 
 that they should testify to the king and queen 
 their affection and duty to them " by the outward 
 and splendid visible testimony of a royal masque." 
 The suggestion appears to have originated in the 
 society of Lincoln's Inn ; and it was thought that 
 such a demonstration would manifest the disapproba- 
 tion of the four inns of the conduct of Mr. Prynne, 
 who had violently denounced all such entertainments, 
 in which both the king and queen had, on occasions, 
 taken parts, and serve as a refutation of his laborious 
 and extraordinary work, ' Histrio Mastix,' which 
 was dedicated " to the benchers and students of the 
 four Inns of Court, and especially of Lincoln's Inn." 
 Each Inn selected two members to form a committee 
 to make arrangements for this masque, which was to 
 exceed all former devices in magnificence, In the
 
 MASQUES. 103 
 
 Middle Temple were chosen of this committee Mr. 
 Edward Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon, the dis- 
 tinguished historian, and Mr. Whitelock, after- 
 wards Sir Bulstrode Whitelock, who gives a minute 
 account of all the circumstances of this masque; 
 in the Inner Temple, Sir Edward Herbert, and Mr. . 
 Selden ; in Lincoln's Inn, Mr. Attorney General Noy 
 and Mr. Gerling ; and in Gray's Inn, Sir John Finch 
 afterwards Lord Finch, the queen's attorney-general, 
 and another whose name I do not find. This com- 
 mittee, having received the necessary authority from 
 the benchers of each society, met together and ap- 
 pointed several sub-committees, one to 'take care 
 of the poetical part of the business,' another for 
 the several properties of the masquers, and anti- 
 masquers, and actors, another for dancing, and an- 
 other for music. The time for presenting this 
 masque at Whitehall Palace was agreed to be on 
 Candlemas night, to end Christmas. After great 
 preparations and several rehearsals, the procession 
 of the masquers was, on the appointed day, got in 
 readiness; and to settle the question which Inn was 
 to occupy the first and chiefest place, and which the 
 second, third and last place, dice were thrown by one 
 of each house. 
 
 " On Candlemas-day, in the afternoon, the mas- 
 quers, horsemen, musicians, dancers, and all that were 
 actors in this business, met at Ely House, in Hoi- 
 born; there the grand-committee sat all day to order 
 all affairs; and when the evening was come, all
 
 104 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 things being in full readiness, they began to set forth 
 in this order down Chancery Lane to Whitehall. 
 The first that marched were twenty footmen, in 
 scarlet liveries with silver lace, each one having his 
 sword by his side, a baton in one hand, and a torch 
 lighted in the other. There were the marshal's men, 
 who cleared the streets, made way, &c. After them 
 came the marshal, Mr. Darrel, afterwards knighted 
 by the king. He was of Lincoln's Inn, an extra- 
 ordinary handsome proper gentleman; he was 
 mounted on one of the king's best horses and richest 
 saddles, and his own habit was exceeding rich and 
 glorious; his horsemanship was very gallant; and 
 besides his marshal's men he had two lacquies, who 
 carried torches by him, and a page in livery that 
 went by him carrying his cloak." 
 
 After him followed one hundred gentlemen of the 
 Inns of Court, five and twenty chosen out of each 
 house of the most proper and handsome young gen- 
 tlemen of the societies; every one of them was gal- 
 lantly mounted on the best horses and with the best 
 furniture that the king's stables and the stables of 
 all the noblemen in town could afford, who were 
 forward on this occasion to lend them to the Inns 
 of Court. 
 
 A full description of the procession would occupy 
 several pages, but, an account of the chariots of the 
 grand masquers, must not be omitted : 
 
 " Then came the first chariot of the Grand Mas- 
 quers, which was not so large as those that went
 
 MASQUES. 105 
 
 before, but most curiously framed, carved, and 
 painted with exquisite art, and purposely for this 
 service and occasion. The form of it was after that 
 of the Koman triumphant chariots. The seats in it 
 were made of oval form in the back end of the 
 chariot, so that there was no precedence in them, 
 and the faces of all that sat in it might be seen 
 together. The colours of the first chariot were silver 
 and crimson, given by the lot to Gray's Inn; the 
 chariot was drawn with four horses all abreast, and 
 they were covered to their heels all over with cloth of 
 tissue of the colours of crimson and silver, huge 
 plumes of red and white feathers on their heads; 
 the coachman's cap and feather, his long coat, and 
 his very whip and cushion of the same stuff and 
 colour. In this chariot sat the four grand masquers 
 of Gray's inn, their habits, doublets, trunk-hose, and 
 caps of most rich cloth of tissue, and wrought as 
 thick with silver spangles as they could be placed; 
 large white stockings up to their trunk-hose, and 
 rich sprigs in their caps, themselves proper and beau- 
 tiful young gentlemen. On each side of the chariot 
 were four footmen in liveries of the colour of the 
 chariot carrying huge flamboys in their hands, which 
 with the torches, gave such a lustre to the paintings, 
 spangles, and habits, that hardly anything could be 
 invented to appear more glorious. 
 
 " After this chariot came six more musicians on 
 foot, and clothes in habits like the former ; these were 
 followed by the second chariot, as the lot fell, for the
 
 106 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Middle Temple; this differed not in anything from 
 the former but in colours only, which were of this 
 chariot silver and blue ; the chariot and horses were 
 covered and decked with cloth of tissue of blue and 
 silver. In this second chariot were the four grand 
 masquers of the Middle Temple, in the same habits 
 as the other masquers, and with the like attendance 
 of torches and flamboys with the former. After these 
 followed the third and fourth chariots and six musi- 
 cians between each chariot, habited, on foot, clothes and 
 horses as before. The chariots were all of the same 
 make and alike carved and painted, differing only in 
 the colours. In the third chariot rode the grand mas- 
 quers of the Inner Temple ; and in the fourth chariot 
 went those of Lincoln's Inn, according to the lot of 
 each of them. 
 
 " The habits of the sixteen grand masquers were 
 all the same, their persons most handsome and lovely, 
 the equipage so full of state and height of gallantry 
 that it never was outdone by one representation men- 
 tioned in our former stories. 
 
 " The march was slow in regard of their great 
 number, but more interrupted by the multitude of 
 the spectators in the streets, besides the windows, 
 and they all seemed loth to part with so glorious a 
 spectacle. In the mean time the banqueting-house 
 at Whitehall was so crowded with fair ladies glitter- 
 ing with their rich clothes and richer jewels, and 
 with lords and gentlemen of great quality, that there 
 was scarce any room for the king and queen to enter
 
 MASQUES. 107 
 
 in. The gallery behind the state was reserved for 
 the gentlemen of the four Inns of Court who came to 
 see the masque. The king and queen stood at a 
 window to see the procession, and, being so delighted 
 with the noble bravery of it, desired that it might 
 turn about the tilt-yard that their majesties might 
 have a double view of it. 
 
 " The king and queen, and all their noble train, 
 being come in, the masque began, and was incom- 
 parably performed in the dancing, speeches, music, 
 and scenes. The dances, figures, properties, the 
 voices, instruments, songs, airs, composures, the 
 words, and the actions, were all of them exact, and 
 none failed in their parts of them, and the scenes 
 were most curious and costly. 
 
 " The queen did the honour to some of the masquers 
 to dance with them herself, and to judge them as 
 good dancers as she ever saw, and the great ladies 
 were very free and civil in dancing with all the 
 masquers, as they were taken out by them. 
 
 " Thus they continued in their sports until it was 
 almost morning, and then, the king and queen re- 
 tiring to their chamber, the masquers and inns-of- 
 court gentlemen were brought to a stately banquet, 
 and, after that was dispersed, every one departed 
 to their own quarters." The queen was so delighted 
 with these Solemnities, that she wished the masque 
 to be acted over again; and, in accordance with 
 her majesty's desire, the whole pageant was repeated 
 at the Merchant Tailors' Hall, before the king and
 
 108 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 queen, the lord mayor, and freemen. The expense 
 of the whole amounted to about 21,000/. After the 
 masques, Sir John Finch, Mr. Gerling, Mr. Hyde, 
 and Mr. Whitelocke, waited on the king as a de- 
 putation from the four inns, and, being all admitted 
 to kiss his majesty's hand, Sir John Finch thus 
 spoke : 
 
 " Sir, by the command of your majesty's most affec- 
 tionate and loyal subjects, the readers and gentlemen of 
 the four Inns of Court, we are here to attend you with 
 our most humble thanks for your great favour to them 
 in your gracious acceptance of the tender of their service 
 and affections to your majesty in the late masque presented 
 to you, and for vouchsafing your royal presence at it." 
 
 The king, with great affability, replied : 
 " Gentlemen, pray assure those from whom you come, 
 that we are exceeding well pleased with that testimony 
 wliich they lately gave us of their great respect and 
 affection to us, which was very acceptable, and performed 
 with that gallantry and in so excellent a manner, that I 
 cannot but give them thanks for it, and shall be ready 
 upon all occasions to manifest the good opinion I have of 
 them, and to them and you in particular, any favour." 
 
 Sir John Finch, and the other deputed members, 
 had then the honour of kissing the queen's hand, 
 and her majesty was pleased to say: 
 
 " That she never saw any masque more noble nor 
 better performed than this was, which she took as a parti- 
 cular respect to herself, as well as to the king her husband, 
 and desired that her thanks might be returned to the 
 gentlemen for it." 
 
 This being reported to the benchers of each so- 
 ciety they gave thanks to their respective members
 
 MASQUES. 109 
 
 that were of the committee for the honour they had 
 done to the society by the well ordering of the busi- 
 ness of the masque. 
 
 " Thus," says Whitelocke, " these dreams past, 
 and these pomps vanished." 
 
 In one of Garrard's letters to Lord Strafford, he 
 gives an account of the grand masque, just described, 
 which he says " far exceeded, in bravery, any masque 
 that had formerly been presented by these socie- 
 ties;" and relates the following anecdotes: "In 
 their company, there was one Mr. Read, of Gray's 
 Inn, whom all the women, and some men, cry'd 
 up for as handsome a man as the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham. They were all well used at court by the king 
 and queen, and no disgust given them. Only this 
 one accident fell. Mr. May, of Gray's Inn, a fine 
 poet, he who translated Lucan, came athwart my 
 lord chamberlain, in the Banqueting House, and 
 he broke his staff over his shoulder, not knowing 
 who he was. The king present, who knew him, for 
 he calls him his poet, and told the chamberlain of 
 it, who sent for him next morning, and fairly ex- 
 cused himself to him, and gave him fifty pounds, 
 in pieces. I believe he was the more indulgent for 
 his name sake." An untoward event at Court, that 
 threatened more serious consequences, which occurred 
 in the preceding reign, is thus related by Tindal : "In 
 1612, 10 James I., Mr. Edward Hawley, of Grey's 
 Inn, coming to court one day, Maxwell [a Scots- 
 man] led him out of a room by a black string, which
 
 110 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 he wore in his ear, a fashion then much in use; 
 but this had like to have cost warm blood. Not 
 only Gray's Inn society, but all the gentry in Lon- 
 don, thought themselves concerned in the affront; 
 and Hawley threatened to kill Maxwell whenever 
 he met him, if he refused to fight, which so fright- 
 ened the king, that he sent for the benchers, and 
 made up the quarrel." 
 
 "On Shrove Tuesday night," writes Garrard to 
 the Earl of Strafford, in the same letter in which 
 he describes this grand masque of the four inns, 
 "the king and the lords performed their masque. 
 The Templars* were invited, and well placed. They 
 have found a new way of letting them in by a turn- 
 ing chair ; besides they let in none but such as have 
 tickets sent to them before hand, so now the keep- 
 ing of the door is no trouble. The king intends 
 to have this masque again in the Easter holidays. 1 " 
 The masque, represented on this occasion, was Ccelum 
 Britannicum, the composition of Sir William Da- 
 venant; the performers being no less personages 
 than the following: 
 
 THE KING'S MAJESTY. 
 
 DUKE OF LENOX. LORD FIELDING. 
 
 EARL OF DEVONSHIRE. LORD DIGBY. 
 
 EARL OF HOLLAND. LORD DUNGARVIN. 
 
 EARL OF NEWPORT. LORD DUNLUCE. 
 
 EARL OF ELGIN. LORD WHARTON. 
 
 VISCOUNT GRANDESON. LORD PAGET. 
 
 LORD RICH. LORD SALTINE. 
 
 And ten young Lords and Noblemen's sons. 
 
 * This expression here evidently means all Inns-of-Court men.
 
 MASQUES. Ill 
 
 Her Majesty Queen Henrietta, also, occasionally 
 condescended to sustain parts in masques. A piece, 
 written by Davenant, called the Temple of Love, was 
 represented at Whitehall Palace; her majesty and 
 her ladies being the performers, and young lords 
 and gentlemen representing certain characters in the 
 masque. 
 
 At Shrovetide, in the year 1635, Davenant's 
 masque ' Triumphs of the Prince & Amour' was pro- 
 duced with great splendour in the hall of the Middle 
 Temple, when the queen, the prince elector, and many 
 ladies of the court were present. " On Wednesday, 
 the 23rd February, 1635," Sir H. Herbert writes, who 
 was in the hall, " the Prince d 1 Amour gave a 
 masque to the prince elector and his brother in the 
 Middle Temple, when the queen was pleased to grace the 
 entertainment by putting off majesty to put on a citi- 
 zen's habit, and to sit upon a scaffold on the right hand 
 amongst her subjects. The queen was attended in the 
 like habits by the Marquis of Hamilton, the Countess 
 of Denbigh, the Countess of Holland, and the Lady 
 Elizabeth Fielding. Mrs. Basse, the law woman, lead 
 in this royal citizen and her company. The Earl of 
 Holland, the Lord Goring, Mr. Percy, and Mr. Jermyn, 
 were the men that attended. The prince elector sat 
 in the midst, his brother Robert on the right hand of 
 him, and the Prince d 1 Amour on the left. The 
 masque was very well performed in the dances, scenes, 
 clothing, and music, and the queen was pleased to tell 
 me on her going away, that she liked it very well.
 
 112 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Henry Lawes and William Lawes made the music. 
 Mr. Corseilles made the scenes." 
 
 This masque was devised and written by Sir 
 William Davenant, he informs us, in the short space 
 of three days. It is entitled ' The Triumphs of the 
 Prince d 1 Amour, a Masque presented by his Highness 
 at his Palace in the Middle Temple.' It contains 
 some spirited songs, one of which, sung by Cupid, 
 will serve as a specimen : 
 
 i. 
 
 " Whither so gladly and so fast, 
 As if you knew all danger past 
 
 Of combat and of war ? 
 As you believ'd my arms were bound, 
 Or when I shoot, still ev'ry wound 
 
 I make is but a scar. 
 
 ii. 
 
 " Arm now your breasts with shields of steel, 
 And plates of brass, yet you shall feel 
 
 My arrows are so keen, 
 Like lightning that not hurts the skin, 
 Yet melts the solid parts within, 
 
 They '11 wound although unseen. 
 
 in. 
 
 " My mother taught me long ago 
 To aim my shafts, and draw my bow, 
 
 When Mars she did subdue. 
 And now you must resign to Love 
 Your warlike hearts that she may prove 
 Those antic stories true." 
 
 The masquers' names, according as they ranked by 
 their antiquity in the society, were Thos. Mansel,
 
 REVELS. 113 
 
 W. Morgan, W. Wheeler, Mich. Hutchenson, Lawr. 
 Hyde, Thos. Bourke, E. Smythe, E. Turner, Thos. 
 Way, Thos. Trenchard, G. Probert ; those in the first 
 anti-masque Philip Morgan, John Freeman, John 
 Bramston, E. Smyth, Clement Spellman, John Norden, 
 W. Lysle; those in the second anti-masque John 
 Stepkin, Charles Adderly, John Ratcliff, Richard May 
 and Giles Hungerford. 
 
 Soon after these levities, those unhappy civil com- 
 motions began which, originating in the unconsti- 
 tutional attempts of the king to set his authority 
 above all law, finally ended in the bloody tragedy 
 enacted at Whitehall. A morose fanaticism obtained 
 ascendency, and acts of parliament were passed, sup- 
 pressing stage plays, which were denounced as "the 
 very Pompes of the Divell."
 
 114 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 REVELS. 
 
 THE revels which were observed in ancient times 
 in all the Inns of Court, at Allhallowtide, Christmas, 
 and other joyous seasons, were parts of the national 
 recreations which were universally kept up in olden 
 times, by rich as well as poor, throughout " merrie 
 England." In the houses of the nobility, and in other 
 great houses, an officer called the master of the revels, 
 or the lord of misrule, was every year appointed to 
 manage the Christmas diversions from Allhallow- 
 eve to Candlemas-day ; and out of doors the populace 
 were amused with mysteries or miracle plays, with 
 various sports, pastimes, and exercises. " That nothing 
 might be wanting for the encouragement of study," 
 dancing and revels for recreation and delight, we are 
 told, were allowed in the halls of the Inns of Court, at 
 certain seasons. These revels were observed from a 
 very early date; in the ninth year of the reign of 
 Henry VI. it was ordered by the bench of Lincoln's 
 Inn, that there should be four revels that year, and no 
 more ; one at the feast of Allhallows, another at the 
 feast of St. Erkenwald, the third at the Purification
 
 REVELS. 115 
 
 of our Lady, and the fourth at Midsummer-day. A 
 director of the pastimes, or master of the revels, 
 was annually chosen magister jocorum, revettorum, 
 et mascarum. In 9 Hen. VIII., it was ordered in 
 Lincoln's Inn that he who should be chosen King 
 on Christmas-day, ought then to occupy the said 
 room if he were present, and in his absence the 
 marshal for the time being, by the advice of the other 
 barristers present, to name another; also that the 
 King of Cockneys on Childermas-day should sit and 
 have due service; and that he and all his officers 
 " should use honest manner and good order, without 
 any waste or destruction making in wine, brawn, 
 chely, or other victuals," and also that he and his 
 marshal, butler, and constable marshal, should have 
 their lawful and honest commandments by delivery of 
 the officers of Christmas, and " that the said King of 
 Cockneys ne none of his officers medyl neither in the 
 buttery nor in the steward of Christmas his office 
 upon pain of 40s. for such meddling." 
 
 Both the Inner and Middle Temples were particularly 
 celebrated for the splendour of these entertainments. 
 In the fourth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 the Christmas revels of the Inner Temple were kept 
 with great magnificence. Lord Eobert Dudley, (after- 
 wards Earl of Leicester, the favourite of Elizabeth,) 
 a student in that house, was chosen high constable and 
 marshal, with the title of Pallaphilos, Prince of Sophie, 
 high constable marshal of the Knights Templars, 
 and patron of the honourable order of the Pegasus. 
 
 i2
 
 11G INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Christopher Hatton, afterwards lord chancellor of En- 
 gland, was " the master of the game," and the prince 
 was attended by a numerous retinue and a mimic court. 
 Several days were spent in feasting, dancing, masking, 
 and tilting ; the pastimes being witnessed by numbers 
 of the nobility, and graced by the presence of " divers 
 bewties dames." Gerard Leigh, a member of the 
 Inner Temple, in his curious discourse on heraldry,* 
 gives a minute account of the pageantry and festivities, 
 the processions of the prince, the decorations of the 
 hall, the discharge of ordnance, the noise of fifes 
 and drums, the flourishing of trumpets, the order 
 of the banquets, and the proclamations of the herald. 
 He describes Pallaphilos as "a soldier placed to 
 defend the temples dedicated to the gods, as places meet 
 for Pallas' muses to inhabit, the high constable of the 
 goddess herself, marshal of the Inner Temple, whose 
 magnificent court with rare devising of the gods 
 themselves, brought such admiration to heapes of 
 ruder number, that although " he adds, " I might see 
 it, yet could I not approach it, by the length of 
 Strabo's kenning, when from farre he saw the navy of 
 Puny, and therein I thought me in Tantalus' pain to 
 swim in so sweet dewes on every side, yet not able 
 once to essay thereof." 
 
 Leigh describes the coat of arms of the Inner 
 
 * ' The Accidence of Armorie ' by Gerard Leigh, printed by 
 Ballard, A. D. 1597, and dedicated " to the honourable assembly 
 of gentlemen in the Innes of Court and Chancery ; " with a 
 prefatory address to the reader, by Richard Argoll, of the Inner 
 Temple.
 
 REVELS. 117 
 
 Temple, azure, a Pegasus argent, " called the horse 
 of honour, whose condition Soares, Emperor of As- 
 siria, honoured so much for his swift course as he 
 judged him not framed of the grosse masse of com- 
 mon horses ; and therefore Gefferie Chaucer built unto 
 him, after his own nature and condition, a house called 
 Fame, a place meet for the horse of honour." Leigh's 
 work is written in the form of a dialogue between 
 Leigh and Gerard, the latter assuming the character 
 of a herehaught or herald. 
 
 The following is a description of the ceremony of 
 conferring knighthood in the Inner Temple Hall, on 
 twenty-three chosen gentlemen, by Pallaphilos : 
 
 " Approach ye, therefore approach, ye noble gen- 
 tlemen who serve so mighty a patroness, with so wor- 
 thy a captain in so high a fellowship ; and receive the 
 guerdion of your travail, the honor now offered, that 
 your living fame may never perish, till couching cow- 
 ardice by shameful flight, and raging vice, by deadly 
 dent, are forced to fly the face of the whole earth. 
 Then your virtue shall prick forth Pegasus to live 
 aloft with eternal felicitie, who ruleth all in all." 
 
 " Thus his persuasion ended, they were called forth 
 one by one according to their ancienty, and upon every 
 one attended seven knights that bare the pieces of his 
 armour. And kneeling in open sight was by the 
 herehaught armed with the helme of fortitude, who 
 bade him manly to abide by wisdom the blustering 
 blasts of swelling envy and froward fortune. Then 
 was he likewise armed with the breastplate of courage,
 
 118 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 that willing he should pursue vice, fearing no peril, 
 being armed with virtue. After to him was delivered 
 the targe of Pallas for his defence manfully to invade, 
 or politikly to defend. Then was he girt with the 
 sword of justice, to measure by desert, and cut short 
 the monstrous head of growing pride. Then were deli- 
 vered to him the spurs of speed to prick therewith the 
 horse of fame. Then was he covered with the mantle 
 of Pallas, triple colours, Argent, Or, and Purpure : 
 that by simple truth, secret counsel, and good advice 
 to forecast ere he attempt, and then by speed to pro- 
 secute with effect. Then lastly was put about his 
 neck the collar of Pallas order with pendant Pegasus, 
 to link together with loving consent his armed de- 
 fence ; that so by Pegasus he might to honour mount 
 a place for a virtuous conqueror. And for a better 
 assurance thereof Truth held the sword, whilst he was 
 sworn by the cross thereof, which was thus : 
 
 " Wisdom the guide of armed strength, 
 
 Uprise your knightlie name : 
 By force of prowes hawt, to clymb 
 
 The loftie tower of fame : 
 Advance your honours by your deeds, 
 
 To live for ever more, 
 As Pallas knights, by Pallas helpe, 
 
 Pallas serve ye therefore." 
 
 " And this ended, the high-constable dubbeth him 
 with a sword, bidding him arise knight by living virtue. 
 All these observances finished, Pallaphilos biddeth 
 them to go offer to Pallas the first fruits of their gotten 
 virtues, giving thanks to the goddess with sacrifice.
 
 REVELS. 119 
 
 And so they departed towards the temple in such 
 order as they came, saving accompanied with two no- 
 blemen to every of them. And before them went all 
 sounds of Mars his music, and officers of arms in their 
 order : their sacrifice done they returned in like sort 
 to Pallaphilos Hall, where they prepared prices of 
 honour for tilt, tournay, and such knightly pastime. 
 And after for their solace, they masked with 
 bewties dames, with such heavenly harmony as if 
 Apollo and Orphews had shewed their cunning. At 
 length the high-constable departed the hall, anon 
 after the squires for the body prepared to rest. And 
 the ushers commanded to avoid, and so I departed to 
 Pallaphilos' lodging, where I lackt no entertainment." 
 
 The following account of the Prince of Purpook, 
 who, with all his attendants, was invited to court 
 by her majesty, Queen Elizabeth, is taken from 
 ' Gesta Grayorum,' A.D. 1594: 
 
 " The great number of gallant gentlemen that 
 Gray's Inn afforded at ordinary revels, betwixt All- 
 hallowtide and Christmas, exceeding therein the 
 rest of the houses of court, gave occasion to some 
 well wishers of our sports, and favourers of our 
 credit, to wish a head answerable to so noble a 
 body, and a leader to so gallant a company; which 
 motion was more willingly hearkened unto, in regard 
 that such pastimes had been intermitted by the 
 space of three or four years, by reason of sickness 
 and discontinuancies. After many consultations had 
 thereupon, by the youths and others that were most
 
 120 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 forward herein, at length, about the 12th of De- 
 cember, with the consent and assistance of the 
 readers and ancients, it was determined that there 
 should be elected a Prince of Purpoole, to govern 
 our state for the time, which was intended to be for 
 the credit of Gray's Inn, and rather to be performed 
 by witty inventions than chargeable expenses. Where- 
 upon they presently made choice of one, Mr. Henry 
 Holmes, a Norfolk gentleman, who was thought to 
 be accomplished with all good parts, fit for so great 
 a dignity ; and was also a very proper man of per- 
 sonage, and very active in dancing and revelling. 
 Then was his privy council assigned to him, to ad- 
 vise of state matters and the government of his do- 
 minions ; his lodging also was provided according to 
 state, as the presence chamber and the council cham- 
 ber ; also all officers of the law and of the house- 
 hold. There were also appointed gentlemen pen- 
 sioners to attend on his person, and a guard with 
 his captain for his defence. The next thing thought 
 upon as most necessary, was provision of treasure, 
 for the support of his state and dignity. To this 
 purpose, there was granted a benevolence by those 
 who were in the court abiding; and, for those that 
 were not in the house, there were letters directed to 
 them, in the nature of privy seals, to enjoin them, 
 not only to be present and give their attendance at 
 his court, but also that they should contribute to the 
 defraying so great a charge as was guessed to be requi- 
 site for the performance of so great intendments."
 
 REVELS. 121 
 
 Letters were addressed to the society of the Inner 
 Temple, inviting them to attend, which were ac- 
 knowledged by that house, in becoming form: 
 " as your kindness, and the bond of our ancient 
 amity and league, requireth and deserveth, your 
 assured friend, * The State of Templaria.' * 
 
 The following is the order of the Prince of Purpoole's 
 proceedings, with his officers and attendants, at his 
 honourable Inthronization, which was likewise ob- 
 served at all his solemn marches, on grand days and 
 like occasions, which place every officer did duly at- 
 tend during the reign of his highness's government. 
 
 
 
 A marshal. A marshal. 
 
 Trumpets. Trumpets. 
 
 Pursuivant-at-Arms, Lanye. 
 
 Towns men in the Prince's Yeomen of the Guard, three 
 livery, with halberds. couples. 
 
 Captain of the Guard, Grimes. 
 Baron of the Grand Port, Baron of the Petty Port, 
 
 Dudley. Williams. 
 
 Baron of the Base Port, Baron of the New Port, 
 
 Grante. Lovel. 
 
 Gentlemen for entertain- Gentlemen for entertain- 
 
 ment, three couples, ment, three couples, 
 
 Binge, fyc. Wentworth, Zukendeu, Forrest. 
 
 Lieutenant of the Pensioners, Tonstal. 
 Gentlemen Pensioners, twelve couples, viz. 
 Lawson. Daniel. Elken. 
 
 Devereux. Rotts. Damson. 
 
 Stapleton. Anderson. cum reliquis. 
 
 Glascott. 
 
 Chief Ranger and Master of the Game, Forrest. 
 
 Master of the Revels, Lam- Lord Chamberlain of the 
 
 bert. Household, Mark/tarn.
 
 122 
 
 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Master of the Revellers, 
 T every. 
 
 Captain of the Pensioners, 
 Cooke. 
 
 Sewer,* Archer. 
 
 Carver, Mosely. 
 
 Another Server, Drewry. 
 
 Cup-bearer, Painter. 
 
 Groom-porter, Sennet. 
 
 Sheriff, Leach. 
 
 Clerk of the Council, Jones. 
 
 Clerk of the Parliament. 
 
 Clerk of the Crown, Downes. 
 
 Orator, Heke. 
 
 Recorder, Starkey. 
 
 Solicitor, Dunne. 
 
 Sergeant, Goldsmith, 
 
 Speaker of the Parliament, 
 Bellen. 
 
 Commissary, Greenwood. 
 
 Attorney, Holt. 
 
 Sergeant, Hitchcombe. 
 
 Master of the Requests, 
 Faldo. 
 
 Secretary of State, Jones. 
 
 Lord Admiral, Cecil (Rich.) 
 
 Lord Treasurer, Morrey. 
 
 Lord Chamberlain, South- 
 worth. 
 
 Lord High Constable. 
 
 Lord Marshal, Knaplock. 
 
 Lord Privy Seal, Lamphew. 
 
 Lord High Steward, Kempe. 
 
 Lord Chancellor, Johnson. 
 
 Archbishop of St. Andrews 
 in Holborn, Bush. 
 
 Sergeant-at-Arms, with the 
 Mace, Flemming. 
 
 Gentleman Usher, Chevett. 
 
 Shield of Pegasus for the 
 Inner Temple, Scevinton. 
 
 Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer, Kitts. 
 
 Master of the Wards and 
 Idiots, Ellis. 
 
 Reader, Cobb. 
 
 Lord Chief Baron of the 
 Exchequer, Briggs. 
 
 Master of the Rolls, Hetlen. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice of the 
 Common fleas, Dam- 
 porte. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice of the 
 Prince's Bench, Crew. 
 
 Master of the Ordnance, 
 Fitz- Williams. 
 
 Lieutenant of the Tower, 
 Lloyd. 
 
 Master of the Jewel House, 
 Darlen. 
 
 Treasurer of the House- 
 hold, Smith. 
 
 Knight Marshal, Bell. 
 
 Master of the Wardrobe, 
 Conney. 
 
 Comptroller of the House- 
 hold, Bouthe. 
 
 Bishop of St. Giles in the 
 Fields, Dandye. 
 
 Steward of the Household, 
 Smith. 
 
 Lord Warden of the Four 
 Ports, Damporte. 
 
 * One that cometh in before the meat of the king, or other 
 great personage, and placeth it upon the table.
 
 REVELS. 123 
 
 Sergeant-at-Arms, with the Gentlemen of the Privy 
 
 Sword, Glascott. Chamber, six couples. 
 
 Gentleman Usher, Paylor. A Page of Honour, Butler 
 
 Shield of the Griffin for (Roger.} 
 
 Gray's Inn, Wicklijfe. Vice Chamberlain, Butler 
 
 The King-at-Arms, Per- (Thos.} 
 
 kinson. Master of the Horse, Fitz- 
 
 The Great Shield of the Hugh. 
 
 Prince's Arms, Cobley. Yeomen of the Guards, 
 
 The Prince of Purpoole, three couples. 
 
 Holmes. Townsmen in liveries. 
 A Page of Honour, Wand- 
 
 forde. The Family, and Followers. 
 
 Upon the 20th of December, being St. Thomas' Eve, 
 the prince, with all his train, in order as above, 
 marched from his lodgings to the Great Hall of 
 Gray's Inn, and there took his place on his throne, 
 under a rich cloth of state. His counsellors and 
 great lords were placed about him and before him. 
 Below the half paces at a table, sat his learned counsel 
 and lawyers; the rest of the officers and attendants 
 took their proper places, as belonged to their con- 
 dition. 
 
 Then the trumpets were commanded to sound 
 thrice, which, being done, the king at arms, in his 
 rich surcoat of arms, stood forth before the prince, 
 and proclaimed his style as follows: 
 
 "By the sacred laws of arms, and authorised cere- 
 monies of the same, (maugre the conceit of any 
 malcontent,) 1 do pronounce my sovereign liege 
 lord, Sir Henry, rightfully to be the high and 
 mighty Prince of Purpoole, Arch-Duke of Sta-
 
 124 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 pulia and Bernardia* Duke of the High and 
 Nether Holborn, Marquis of St. Giles's and 
 Tottenham, Count Palatine of Bloomsbury and 
 Clerkenwell, Great Lord of the Cantons of 
 Islington, &c., Knight of the most honourable 
 order of the Helmet, and Sovereign of the 
 same." 
 
 After that the king-at-arms had thus proclaimed his 
 style, the trumpets sounded again, and then entered 
 the prince's champion, all in complete armour, on 
 norseback, and so came riding round about the fire, and, 
 in the midst of the hall, made his challenge, gaging 
 his gauntlet as the prince's true knight and champion. 
 
 Then followed various speeches, ceremonies, pro- 
 cessions, dancings, and devices, which were witnessed 
 by a crowd of distinguished visitors : " And besides 
 all the stately and sumptuous service that was conti- 
 nually done to the prince in a very princely manner, 
 and besides the daily revels and such- like sports 
 which were usual, there were divers grand nights for 
 the entertainment of strangers to our pastimes and 
 sports." There was a grand night on Innocent's 
 Night, and so great was the crush that some of the 
 performances were obliged to be suspended. In con- 
 sequence also of some irregularities in the hall the 
 Prince of Purpoole issued his commission of oyer and 
 terminer, and his clerk of the crown preferred indict- 
 ments against certain offenders. On the 3rd of 
 January the Lord Treasurer Burghley, the Earls of 
 Shrewsbury, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Essex, 
 
 * Staple Inn and Barnard Inn.
 
 REVELS. 125 
 
 Lords Buckhurst, Windsor, Sheffield, Compton, &c., 
 and with a great number of knights and ladies came 
 to Gray's Inn Hall to see the revels. A masque was 
 exhibited, and after a banquet " the prince for his 
 farewell took a lady to dance withal, and so did 
 the rest of the lords and knights." The next day 
 the Prince of Purpoole was entertained by the 
 Lord Mayor and Aldermen, at Crosby Place, attended 
 by four score Grayians and Templars, every one of 
 whom wore a feather ; and the procession was escorted 
 from Gray's Inn through the city by crowds of the 
 common people, who deemed him, we are informed, 
 " a very great prince." On the 7th of February the 
 prince went in state to Blackwall, and there sent a 
 letter, dated "from our Ark of Vanity, 1 ' to Sir 
 Thomas Heneage requesting him to convey the prince's 
 duty to the queen. Her majesty sent a gracious mes- 
 sage, saying " she liked well his gallant shows;" and 
 invited him and his retinue to visit her at Greenwich 
 Palace at Shrovetide. The prince then returned; 
 and on arriving at the Tower, by the queen's command 
 he was received with a salute from the Tower guns ; 
 the procession then passed through Tower Street, 
 Fenchurch Street, Gracechurch Street, Cornhill, Cheap- 
 side, and St. Paul's Church Yard. The scholars of 
 St. Paul's school were here in waiting, and one of the 
 scholars read an address to his highness in Latin. On 
 Twelfth Night the prince had another grand night in 
 Gray's Inn Hall, attended by the wonted honourable 
 and worshipful company of lords, ladies, and knights ;
 
 12G INNS OF COURT. 
 
 when there was a banquet and a show and anti- 
 masque, with mountebanks, &c. These mountebanks 
 delivered comic speeches, and sang humorous songs, 
 in which they took considerable latitude : 
 
 " Maids of the chamber or the kitchen, 
 
 If you be troubled with an itching, 
 
 Come give me but a kiss or two, 
 
 I '11 give that shall soon cure you : 
 No Galen or Hippocrates, 
 Did ever do such cures as these." 
 
 On Shrovetide the Prince of Purpoole was received 
 at Greenwich by Queen Elizabeth where a masque, 
 representing Proteus and Tritons, Thamesis and 
 Amphitrite, sea nymphs, &c., was presented to her 
 majesty. The queen was much pleased at the per- 
 formances, and gave her hand to the prince and the 
 masquers to kiss; praising Gray's Inn " as an 
 house she was much indebted to, for it did always 
 study for some sports to present unto her." 
 
 The same night there was fighting at ' Barriers ; ' 
 the Earl of Essex and others challengers, and the 
 Earl of Cumberland and his company defendants. 
 The Prince of Purpoole, who was among the latter, 
 appeared in the lists, and behaved himself so valiantly 
 and skilfully, that the prize a jewel, set with seven- 
 teen diamonds and fourteen rubies, in value one 
 hundred marks was awarded to him, and was pre- 
 sented to the prince by Her Majesty the Queen, with 
 her own hands, who was pleased highly to commend 
 "his desert and good behaviour in those exercises." 
 
 In the reign of Charles I., the revels at the Middle
 
 REVELS. 127 
 
 Temple were kept up with great magnificence; Sir 
 Simonds d'Ewes tells us that he felt shocked at the ex- 
 cesses, saying, " I began seriously to loathe it, though 
 at the time I conceived the sport of itself to be lawful." 
 Again, speaking of the 1st of January, 1623, he re- 
 marks, " at night I came into commons at the Temple 
 where there was a lieutenant chosen, and all manner 
 of gaming and vanity practised, as if the church had 
 not at all groaned under those heavy desolations which 
 it did." 
 
 Garrard, in one of his letters to Strafford, gives us 
 the following account of the doings of one of these 
 Christmas princes.* " The Middle Temple House 
 have set up a prince who carries himself in great 
 state, one Mr. Vivian, a Cornish gentleman, whose 
 father, Sir Francis Vivian, was fined in the Star 
 Chamber about a castle he held in Cornwall about 
 three years since. He hath all his great officers 
 attending him, lord keeper, lord treasurer, eight 
 white staves at the least, captain of his pen- 
 sioners, captain of his guard, two chaplains who 
 on Sunday last preached before him, and in the 
 pulpit made three low legs to his excellency before 
 they began, which is much laughed at. My lord 
 chamberlain lent him two fair cloths of state, one hung 
 up in the hall, under which he dines, the other in his 
 privy chamber; he is served on the knee, and all 
 that come to see him kiss his hand on their knee. 
 
 * Letters and despatches of Thomas, Earl of Strafford, 8th of 
 January, 1635.
 
 128 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 My lord of Salisbury hath sent him pole-axes for his 
 pensioners. He sent to my lord of Holland, his jus- 
 tice in eyre, for venison, which he willingly sends 
 him ; to the lord mayor and sheriffs of London for 
 wine ; all obey. Twelfth day was a great day ; going 
 to the chapel many petitions were delivered to him, 
 which he gave to his masters of the requests. He 
 hath a favourite whom, with some others of great 
 quality, he knighted on his return from church, and 
 dined in great state. At the going out of the cham- 
 bers into the garden, when he drank the king's health, 
 the glass being at his mouth, he let it fall, which 
 much defaced his purple sattin suit, for so he was 
 clothed that day, having a cloke of the same down 
 to his foot, for he mourns for his father, who lately 
 died. It costs this prince 2000/. out of his own 
 purse; I hear of no other design, but all this is 
 done to make him fit to give the prince elector a 
 royal entertainment, with masks, dancings, and some 
 other exercises of wit in orations or arraignments 
 that day that they invite him." 
 
 The Czar of Muscovy, Peter the Great, was present 
 at the Christmas revels in the Temple, 1697-8. A 
 masque was presented on the occasion, when there 
 was " a riotous and revelling Christmas according to 
 custom." 
 
 The last of the revels in the Inns of Court took 
 place in the Inner Temple Hall, on the elevation 
 of Mr. Talbot to the woolsack, in 1733.* 
 
 * See chap. VIII. INNER TEMPLE.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Hittcoltt's Inn. 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN* is built on the 
 site of an episcopal palace erected 
 in the time of King Henry III., by 
 Radulphus de Nova Villa, other- 
 wise Ralph Nevil, Bishop of Chi- 
 chester, and Chancellor of Eng- 
 land, and partly on the ruins of Black Friars House, 
 Holborn, which, prior to the year 1276, was in- 
 habited by a religious community, who, about that 
 period, removed to a new convent near Baynard's 
 Castle, situate in Upper Thames Street, near the pre- 
 
 * Lincoln's Inn comprises 1. The Old Buildings. 2. The 
 Garden. 3. Serle Court, or New Square. 4. Stone Buildings. 
 
 K
 
 130 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 sent Black Friars Bridge. The land was granted by 
 King Henry III. to the Bishop of Chichester ; it is 
 described as all that place with the garden and ap- 
 purtenances which John Herlirum* forfeited in the 
 street called New Street, which was the original 
 name of Chancellor's Lane, now called Chancery 
 Lane, which place was escheated to the crown by 
 the liberty of the city of London, as acknowledged 
 in the pleas of the crown of that city in his Majesty's 
 court at the Tower of London. The following copy 
 of grant made by the king to Nevil, is taken from 
 a record preserved in the British Museum : 
 
 " Henricus dei gra Rex Anglic Dns Hiberme Dux 
 Normanie Acquitaine et Comes Andeg. Archiepiscopis 
 Epis Abbatibus Prioribus Com Baronibus Justic Vicecoin 
 pposit ministris et omnibus ballivis et fidelibus suis Saltm 
 Noveritis nos dedisse concessisse et hac carta nra con- 
 firmasse venerabili patri Rado Cycestrensi Epo Can- 
 cellerio nro placearn illam cu gardino et pertinency's suis 
 que fuit Joftis Herlizun qui terras suas forisfecit in vico 
 illo qui dicit 1 " Newstrete ex opposite terre ejusdem Epi 
 in eodem vico que quidem placea cu gardino et perti- 
 nencijs suis escaeta nra est per libertates civitat nre 
 London secundum quam oines terre eorum qui terras 
 forisfacint escaete nre sunt de quocumque teneantur sicut 
 recognitum fuit coram curia lira apud Turrim London 
 ad ultima plita ejusdem civitat de corona habendam et 
 tenendam eidem Epo et quibuscuque dare assignare vel 
 legare voluerit in feodo et hereditate bene et in pace 
 libere et quiete integre et pacifice faciendo inde Dnis 
 feodi illius debitum eis inde servicium Quare volumus 
 et firmit r pcipimus qd pdcus Epus et illi quibus pdcam 
 
 * Harlizun in Lansd. MS.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 131 
 
 placeam cii gardino et pertinentijs suis dare assignare vel 
 legare voluerit eandem placeam cii gardino et pertinency's 
 suis habeant et teneant in feodo et hereditate bene et in 
 pace libere quiete integre et pacifice sicut pdct est his 
 Testibus J. Bathon, R. Dunhotm, W. Karliel Epis, H. 
 de Burgo, com Kane Justic Anglie, Phillippo de Al- 
 biniaco, Rado filio Nicfii Rado de Trublevyll, Rico de 
 Argentne, Nicfio de Molis et alijs data j> manum nram 
 apud Westin, Septodecimo die Novembris Anno Regni 
 nostri Tercio decimo." 
 
 " Copia Carte Regis H. tercij de 
 Hospicio de Lincolnes Inne."* 
 
 After the death of Nevil, Richard de Wiche, com- 
 monly called St. Richard, canonized by Pope Urban 
 IV., A.D. 1261, resided here, and the chapel of the 
 Inn was afterwards dedicated to him.f In the be- 
 ginning of the reign of Edw. II., we find Henry 
 Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, possessed of the place, which 
 he held under a grant from Edward I., by the name 
 of Old Friar House, juxta Holborn, and from him the 
 house acquired the denomination of Lincoln's Inn, 
 which it has ever since retained. This Henry Lacy 
 
 * MS. Lansd. 1. Matthew Paris thus speaks of this palace 
 and of the death of Nevil, A.D. 1245 : " Venerabilis pater epis- 
 copus Cicestrensis Radulphus de Nevilla, cancellarius Angliae, vir 
 per omnia laudabilis, et immota columna in regni negotiis, fideli- 
 tatis, Londini in nobili palacio suo, quod a fundamentis non pro- 
 cul a novo Templo construxerat, cal. Februarii vitam temporalem 
 terminavit perpetuam adepturus." Boniface, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, it is said, lodged with his retinue in this house during 
 his visitation to the priory of St. Bartholomew the Great. 
 
 t " He was very much reverenced for his great learning and 
 diligent preaching, but especially for his integrity of life and 
 conversation." Whately on the Common Prayer. 
 
 K2
 
 132 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 died in the year 1310, and it is the opinion of Thynne, 
 a learned antiquary of the 17th century, that Lin- 
 coln's Inn became an Inn of Court soon after his 
 death. Dugdale mentions a tradition current among 
 the ancients of this society in his day, that Lacy 
 " being a person well affected to the knowledge of the 
 laws," in his lifetime induced certain professors of the 
 law to settle in the inn ; but of this he found no direct 
 proof. In after times, it is certain that the succeed- 
 ing Bishops of Chichester were the inheritors of the 
 premises, and let leases of them to the professors and 
 students of the law residing here, reserving a certain 
 rent and lodgings for themselves upon their repairing 
 to London. Fortescue, who flourished in the reign of 
 Hen. VI., was a student in this inn, and from his work 
 there is no room to doubt that it had been one of the 
 four houses of court generations previously. The ex- 
 isting records of the society reach back to the com- 
 mencement of the reign of Henry VI. The first 
 volume of the Black Book, a book of orders and ad- 
 mittances still in a state of excellent preservation, 
 extends from 2 Hen. VI. to 2 Edw. IV. In the year 
 A.D. 1439, in 18 Hen. VI. an order was made that 
 the following oath should be taken by every member 
 on his admission to the society : 
 
 " Tu jurabis quod sis obediens, assistens et confortans 
 gubernatoribus ejusdem hospicii electis, elegendis et pro 
 tempore ibidem existentibus, in omnibus gubernationem 
 societatis ejusdem concernentibus et concernendis." 
 
 At the same time it was ordered that the follow-
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 133 
 
 ing oath should be taken by every master of the 
 bench : 
 
 " Tu jurabis pro viribus tuis videas et facias observari 
 bonum regimen, honorem et proficuum ejusdem societatis, 
 a festo S. Barnabe Apostoli, anno regni regis Henrici 
 sexti 18. usqj festum omnium Sanctorum, quod erit 
 in Anno Domini 1441 et deinde quousq, nos et socii 
 tui constituerint." 
 
 To the copy of the above oath, among the Harleian 
 MSS., I find annexed a memorandum of the names of 
 the benchers sworn in 18 Hen. VI. : 
 
 " Noia Gubernator pdictor. 
 Rofttus Danvers. 
 
 Jofies Stafford. 
 
 r>-~ -rar >Jur."< 
 
 Ricus Wood. 
 
 Wittus Boeff. 
 
 In the time of Henry VII., Francis Suliarde,f 
 bencher of Lincoln's Inn, held a lease of these pre- 
 mises from the bishops of Chichester. Eobert Sher- 
 borne, Bishop of Chichester, then made a new lease to 
 William Suliarde, also a member of this society, and 
 son of the said Francis, for ninety-nine years, at the 
 yearly rent of 61. 13s. 4e?. After this lease Richard 
 Sampson, one of the succeeding bishops of Chichester, 
 by his deed bearing date 1st July, 28 Henry VIII., 
 passed the inheritance thereof, and of the garden 
 called Cotterell Garden, or Coney-garth, J (so called 
 
 * MS. Harl. 360. fol. 199. t Dug. Orig. 
 
 t In 8 Edw. IV. 12 Hen. VII. and 24 Hen. VIII. strict 
 penalties were imposed on students hunting rabbits or conies 
 in those fields with bows, arrows, or darts.
 
 134 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 from the quantity of rabbits that then were to be 
 found there) to the said William Suliarde and Eus- 
 tace his brother, which grant was confirmed by the 
 Dean and Chapter of Chichester, the first of August 
 then next ensuing, the said William then being one 
 of the ushers of the king's bedchamber. The inherit- 
 ance being thus in these two brothers, and Eustace 
 surviving, Edward, son and heir of the said Eustace, 
 by deed bearing date 12th November, 22 Eliz., in 
 consideration of the sum of 520, conveyed to Richard 
 Kingsmill and the rest of the then benchers the pre- 
 mises in fee, whereupon a fine was levied by him the 
 said Edward and his wife.* Thus the society, who for 
 centuries had occupied the Inn as tenants, acquired 
 the absolute ownership of it. 
 
 In the 23 Henry VII. the gate- tower, which forms 
 the principal entrance from Chancery Lane, was com- 
 menced, Sir Thomas Lovell, formerly a member of 
 this house, and then treasurer of the household of 
 King Henry VII. contributing liberally towards the 
 works. The timber for it was brought by water from 
 Henley-on-Thames, and the bricks and tiles were made 
 from clay dug out of the Coney-garth. The sum of 
 16/. 7*. 5d. was paid for forty- three cart-loads of 
 free-stone, together with the wrought work over the 
 chimneys and the carving of the arms over the gate. 
 These arms comprise the arms of England, with those 
 of Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, on one side, and the arms 
 of Sir Thomas Lovel on the other, with the date A. D. 
 
 * Dug. Orig.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 135 
 
 1518, underneath. Oliver Cromwell is said to have 
 had chambers for some time over this gateway. In 
 the second year of the reign of Philip and Mary a 
 walk under the trees in the Coney-garth was made for 
 the convenience of the members. 
 
 For several years the society used as their coat-of- 
 arms a lion rampant purpure in a field or, the arms 
 of Lacy, Earl of Lincoln.* Sir Richard Holford, 
 however, having, about the year 1699, discovered 
 from an ancient manuscript in the library of the inn, 
 that in the year 1516 the proper coat-of-arms of the 
 society was azure seme de fer Moline or -, on a dexter 
 canton or a lion rampant purpure, and having found 
 from the books in the heralds' office that the latter 
 was the proper coat-of-arms of Lincoln's Inn, it was 
 ordered by the bench that in future that coat should 
 be used by the society instead of the arms of Lacy. 
 A certificate, " whereon the said coat was handsomely 
 depainted," was attested by Mr. Gregory King, Lan- 
 caster herald, and placed first in the council chamber, 
 and afterwards in the library. It was ordered that 
 these arms should be emblazoned on the east window 
 of the chapel, and from that time they have been 
 used in all matters concerning this house. 
 
 The whole of Lincoln's Inn, with the exception 
 of New Square, or Serle Court, is extra-parochial. 
 That part of the Inn is built partly on ground belong- 
 ing to the society, and partly upon a piece of waste 
 
 * The impropriety of using this coat of arms is pointed out in 
 an ancient MS. entitled " A View of the Four Famous Colleges 
 or luns of Court." Harl. 1104.
 
 136 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 land formerly called Lincoln's Inn Little Fields, or 
 Fickett's Fields, to which Mr. Henry Serle claimed a 
 title.* In 1682 articles of agreement were entered 
 into between Mr. Serle and the benchers of the 
 society, by which it was agreed that Mr. Serle 
 should, at his own charge, build the several sets 
 of chambers from No. 1 to No. 11 inclusive, that 
 these chambers should be occupied only by members 
 of the society, and that they should be subject to 
 dues and duties, fines and fees on admission and 
 surrender, and be regulated in every manner as 
 the chambers then the property of the society; that 
 such of them as were built upon the ground to 
 which Mr. Serle claimed title, the said Henry Serle, 
 his heirs and assigns, should stand seized for ever; 
 and that as to such chambers as should be built upon 
 the ground then belonging to the society (namely, 
 No. 11), it was agreed that the said Henry Serle 
 should have six several assignments for the successive 
 lives of six several persons, to be named by the said 
 Henry Serle, his heirs or assigns successively as the 
 lives should fall, without paying any fine or income 
 to the society other than what was to be paid for 
 the said newly erected chambers on the said ground 
 of Fickett's Fields aforesaid. The chambers, Nos. 12 
 
 * In Nov. 1774 an action was brought by the parish officers 
 of St. Clement Danes against certain residents in this part of 
 Lincoln's Inn, who refused to pay rates. The case was tried 
 in the Court of King's Bench before Lord Mansfield, and the 
 jury found that this part of the inn was not extra-parochial ; 
 giving a verdict for the parish and all the costs.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 137 
 
 and 13, do not properly form any part of New 
 Square. The entrances to them were formerly in 
 Kitchen Garden Court. 
 
 It is said, that ' rare Ben Jonson ' was employed as 
 a mason in the erection of the wall of Lincoln's Inn, 
 which, in the reign of Elizabeth, was commenced " at 
 the upper end of the backside towards Holbourne." 
 Jonson's step-father was a bricklayer, and the young 
 poet was employed by him to assist him in his busi- 
 ness. While engaged in this work, he is said to 
 have made the well-known repartee to the lady that 
 accosted him: 
 
 " Lady. With line and rule 
 Works many a fool : 
 
 Good-morrow, mason." 
 "Jonson. In silk and scarlet 
 
 Goes many a harlot : 
 
 Good-mprrow, madam." 
 
 Jonson, in after life, enjoyed the countenance and 
 friendship of many distinguished members of the 
 four societies, for whom he testified his respect, by 
 dedicating his Every Man out of his Humour, " To 
 the noblest nurseries of humanity and liberty in 
 the kingdom, the Inns of Court." 
 
 Before the time of Queen Elizabeth, Lincoln's Inn 
 was separated from Chancery Lane merely by an 
 embankment of clay. In the fourth year of her 
 reign, a wall was ordered to be constructed on that 
 side of the inn, from bricks, also dug out of the 
 Coney-garth. Four years afterwards, "a fair and 
 beautiful wall" was commenced at the backside of
 
 138 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 the house, and gates were erected on the foreside 
 towards the street. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn has suffered more than once from fire. 
 In 1752 a conflagration occurred in New Square, in 
 which many valuable papers, deeds, &c., were de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 In a former chapter it has been mentioned, that, 
 but for the strenuous exertions of the benchers and 
 members of this society, Lincoln's Inn Fields would 
 have shared the fate of the adjoining densely- crowded 
 districts; and a copy of a letter, from the privy 
 council to the justices of the peace for Middlesex, to 
 restrain and forbid buildings there, has been given. 
 The order of the privy council referred to, is dated 
 4th of September, 1613, and was issued after the 
 receipt of a communication from the benchers of 
 Lincoln's Inn, on the 20th of the preceding month, 
 of which a copy, taken from the original, is here 
 annexed : 
 
 " THE HUMBLE ANSWERE OF THE BENCHERS OF LYN- 
 COLNES INNE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR WHOLE 
 SOCYETY.* 
 
 " May it please yo r good Lo rps , whereas Mr. Attorney 
 Generall hath acquainted us, the rest of the Bench of Lyn- 
 colnes Inne, that S r Charles Cornwallis is an earnest suetor 
 to yo r Lo rps , to have lycence to builde one onely house for 
 his owne dwelling in the feilds neare Lyncolnes Inne, 
 wherein you were pleased to require the answere of the 
 society, whether wee might be perswaded to give waye 
 unto it. 
 
 " It may please yo r Lo rps to be advertised, that in o r 
 
 * MS. Cotton Titus, b. vii. fol. 430.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 139 
 
 abscence this longe vacation, upon attempt of buildings 
 by the said S r Charles Cornwallys, the whole Socyety, 
 both of the barre and under (then in towne), made humble 
 petition to yo r Lo rp * and the rest of the Lords of the 
 Pryve Counsell for the restraynte therof, whereupon 
 it pleased yo r Lo rps to give strickt order for restraynte 
 therof accordingly. And though now, the request be 
 onely for one dwelling-house in the same place, and 
 though the gentleman be a man of speciall quality and 
 much regarded by us all, yet the whole Soceyety being 
 made acquainted w" 1 this his suite doe desire, that it be 
 made their generall answere to yo r Lo^ 38 that as his Ma te 
 proclamations are peremptory against all such buildings, 
 so are they resolute (w to yo r Lo rps favour) to give noe con- 
 sent to this nor any other of the same kynde, for any 
 person or respecte ; but by all due meanes to oppose 
 against them. And, therefore, wee of the Bench, in the 
 name of the whole Socyety, doe humbly beseech your 
 Lo rps that nothing be permitted of this kynde in any of 
 those feilds, for w ch (as for all other yo r ho ble favo") they 
 shall rest at yo r honorable cofnandments. 
 
 " Yo r Lo: most humble at yo r comaundement." 
 
 "Lincolne's Inne the 
 20th of October,. 1613." 
 
 " HENRY ADAIRE. HENRY DAY. 
 
 ANTHONYE IRBYE. Ri : WALTHAM. 
 
 THO. HITCHCOCK. MATHEW HADDE. 
 
 G. TOOKE. LEWIS PROWDE. 
 
 THO. WENTWORTH. RICH. DIGGES. 
 
 JAMES LEY. J. SELWYN. 
 LEO. BAWTREE. 
 
 " To the right Ho ble o r singuler good 
 Lord, Henry Earle of Northampton, &c. 
 and Thomas Earle of Suffolke, &c." 
 
 The following return of the numbers in Lincoln's
 
 140 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Inn and the two Inns of Chancery, subordinate to it, 
 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, is extracted from 
 Lord Burghley's Papers, from which I have derived 
 much interesting information respecting the Inns of 
 Court at that time : 
 
 LYNCOLNES INNE. 
 
 The number of chambers there are one hundred 
 and fower, ..... ciiij. 
 
 The companye in the Terme tyme ys coinonly 
 cc., or thereabout, . . . . cc. 
 
 In the tyme of the Readinges cxxx., or there- 
 about, ..... cxxx. 
 
 In the meane vacacons betwene the Termes and 
 Readinges foure scoore, or thereabout, . Ixxx. 
 
 Savinge in the longe Sorrier vacacon, after the 
 Somer Readinge ends, viz. betwene Bartho- 
 lomewtide and the begyning of Michaelmas 
 Terme, there are not comenlye above fourtye 
 or fyftye, . . . . . xl. or 1. 
 
 THAVYES INNE. 
 
 The companye in the Terme tyme xl. or there- 
 abouts, . . . . . xl. 
 
 In the vacacon, xx or thereabout, . . xx. 
 
 FURNYVALLES INNE. 
 
 The company in the Terme tyme foure scoore or 
 
 thereabout, ..... Ixxx. 
 In the vacacon xxx. or thereabout, . . xxx. 
 
 THO. EGERTON. 
 cccxx. in Terme. c. out of Terme.* 
 
 The names of the benchers of Lincoln's Inn, ap- 
 parently about the same time, are in the same collec- 
 tion: Wilbraham, Forster, Kempe, Kingesmyll, We- 
 thereld, Rookebie at Yorke, Ayloff, Barber, Wynd- 
 * MS. Lansd. No. 106, art. 15, fol. 80 ; not dated.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 141 
 
 ham, Stratforde, Talboys, Dalton, Clenche, Wykes, 
 Thymylbie.* 
 
 The following letter from the Star Chamber, to the 
 benchers of Lincoln's Inn, temp. Eliz., reproving 
 the Society for their want of zeal for the received 
 religion, and commanding them henceforth not to 
 admit, call, or elect any but faithful professors of 
 the same, is also in Lord Burghley's Papers : 
 
 "FROM THE STAR CHAMBER TO OUR LOVINGE FRIENDS THE 
 BENCHERS AND GOVERNORS OF LINCOLN'S INNE. 
 
 " After our hartie comendacons. For as muche as we 
 are crediblie enformed here, by complaynt of some of 
 the chiefest of the clergie, and partlie understand, by 
 matter latelie before our selfes, that you, and others the 
 Benchers and Governours of the houses of Courte and 
 Chauncery, have of late tyme not onlye admitted into 
 yo r societies, but allso called to the benches, the barrs, 
 and other degrees there, all sortes generallye : without 
 makinge choyse or difference betwixt the zealous and 
 well-affected in religion, and the corrupte and evill 
 affected therein, to the great daunger of muche dis- 
 order and corruption hereafter, bothe there and in the 
 coinon welthe, and to the great discouragement of the 
 towarde and well-affected. We have thoughte it good, 
 therefore, (havinge made the quenes hignes privie there- 
 unto,) to will, and in her ma ties name, to comaunde yow 
 (as we have by like letters to others of the houses of 
 courte) that yow hereafter doe not onlie show yo r selfes 
 to be faithfull furtherers and favourers of this received 
 religion, and of the faithfull professors thereof there, but 
 allso that yow have better consideration and regarde in 
 yo r admissions, callinges, and elections there then here- 
 tofore hathe bene hadd, respectinge in yo r choyses therein, 
 
 * MS. Lansd. No. 106, art. 15, fol. 79.
 
 142 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 not only their continuance, towardnes, and aptnes in 
 learninge, but allso their zeall and good disposition in 
 religion. Wherein, yf anie of yo r selfes shalbe anie- 
 hinderers thereof, or if anie great difficulty, and great 
 diversitie of opinions, or voyces, happen to growe amongst 
 yo r selfes, touchinge anie that hathe bene, or shall for- 
 tune to be anie intermeddlers against the Quenes Highnes 
 proceedings in religion. Or touchinge anie that hathe, 
 or shall purposely, and usuallie absent themselves frome 
 devine service. Or that hathe, or shall not usually re- 
 ceive the hollie comunion at tymes appoynted and con- 
 venient. Or that hathe bene, or shalbe any favourers 
 or furtherers of anie of the late sedicious and super- 
 stitious bookes. Or that hathe bene, or shalbe noto- 
 riously or vehemently suspected amongst yow to be un- 
 towarde or corrupte in religion, or anie hinderers thereof 
 anie waye. That all suche be forborne and stayed frome 
 suche admissions, callinges, and degrees, untill uppon 
 signification thereof by some of yow receive frome one of 
 them some resolucon in that behalfe. And further, we 
 would have yow to geve advertisement in our names to 
 the Principalls and Governors of the Innes of Chauncerye, 
 perteyninge to yo r house, or under yo r gouvernment, to 
 take some like convenient order for the admissions, call- 
 inges, degrees, and elections in their houses. And so 
 fare yow well."* 
 
 Of the ancient readings, moots, masques, and 
 revels of Lincoln's Inn, and the other houses, we 
 have already spoken in the chapters appropriated 
 to those subjects. The following stringent order, 
 for the due observance of readings in this Inn, was 
 made by the masters of the bench in 6 Edward IV : 
 " That every member of this society, who should 
 
 * MS. Lansd. 109, art. 5.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 143 
 
 thenceforth be called and admitted from the bar to 
 the bench, should swear upon the holy Evangelists to 
 keep and observe six vacations, without any excuse 
 whatsoever, excepting sickness, or sickness of his or 
 their fathers, mothers, or wives, or any suits, plead- 
 ings of assize, or nisi prius relating to them or any 
 one to their use, happening within that month and 
 time of such reading or within that fourteen days 
 before or after the said reading, upon pain of 20s. 
 to be forfeited and paid to the society for every 
 default in the premises." 
 
 There is an account of a speech made by Noy, at 
 one of the readings, at Lincoln's Inn, in a manu- 
 script by a law student named Gibbons,* which, 
 though charged with exaggerations, throws some 
 light on the manner in which the ancient readings 
 were conducted : 
 
 " Noy Attorny Generall (at Atkins reading in August 
 1632, at Lincoln's Inn upon the Statut d. Forresta)f held 
 opinion that our Law readings were of great antiquity, 
 and for that purpose he vouched a record w h was 19 
 H. III. Clause rott memb. 23 breif suit direct al vicont 
 de London commandant a ley q si fueront ascun schooles 
 in ceo city en q le ley fuit lye q doit ceo suppress. 
 The like was directed to the Archb. of Canterbury. And 
 the reason was because the King, 'by the counsell of 
 Hubert Cheif Justice, had disclaimed his grant and con- 
 firmation of the liberties granted by Mag. Chart., and 
 that of the forest, as being made during his nonage, &c. 
 And in these schooles these lawes were maintained and 
 publiqly read. Afterward the King (as the Record speaks) 
 saniore mente reversus est. This apeareth also by the 
 
 * MS. Harl. 980, p. 153. t Vid. pref. 2d Inst.
 
 144 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 chart roll 21 Hen. III. Then also M r . Attorny affirmed 
 that every Inn of the Court was an University of itself, 
 and highly extolled the modesty of the auncient professors 
 of our Laws.* That wheras in other Universities a short 
 abidance ther, will give them the name of Sophisters, 
 fowre yeares continuance the title of Bachellors, 7 years 
 Masters of Arts, and some 14 or 19 yeares at the most the 
 name of Doctors, all being specious and swelling titles. In 
 our Law Universitys at 5 years we deserved the title of 
 Mootmen, (that is, of those that could then like children 
 begin to word it,) at 7 years, or somewhat more, the title 
 of Barrister, (a word of contempt,) at 27, having been 
 single readers in an Inn of Court, the name of Aprentices 
 to the Law, and afterwards, some 3 or 4 years, double 
 readers the name of Servients]- to the Law, never arro- 
 gating higher titles, and yet every argument in a de- 
 murrer by any Lawyer at any of Westminster Courts was 
 of greater labour if not learning, and a more publiq demon- 
 stration of it then of any of ther Doctors Acts in ther 
 schooles." 
 
 Great attention was paid in this society to the 
 proprieties of dress. At a council, held on the day 
 of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, 23 Hen. 
 VIII., it was ordered that for a continual rule to be 
 thenceforth kept in this house, no gentleman, being 
 a fellow of this house, should wear any cut or pansid 
 hose or bryches, or pansid doublet, upon pain of being 
 put out of the house. In 1 and 2 Phil, and Mary, 
 Mr. Wyde, of this inn, was, by a special order made 
 upon Ascension day, fined five groats for going in 
 
 * In the time of Fortescue sixteen years' continuance in the 
 study of the law was the period of time considered a necessary 
 qualification in candidates for the coif. 
 
 t Seld. sur Fortescue, 54.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 145 
 
 his study-gown, into Cheapside, on a Sunday, about 
 ten of the clock before noon, and in Westminster Hall 
 in term time. 
 
 In 30 Eliz. it was ordered by the council that if 
 any fellow of this house should wear any hat in the 
 hatt or chapel, or go abroad to London or Westminster 
 without a gown he should be put out of commons, and 
 pay such a fine before his re-admittance, as the 
 masters of the bench should assess. Likewise that if 
 any fellow of this house should wear long hair, or 
 great ruffs, he should also be put out of commons and 
 pay such fine before he were re-admitted as the 
 masters of the bench should assess. 
 
 Again in 38 Eliz., that if any fellow of this house, 
 being a commoner or repaster, should, within the pre- 
 cincts of this house, wear any cloak, boots, spurs, or 
 long hair, he should pay for every offence five shillings 
 for a fine, and also to be put out of commons; and in 
 11 Car. I. it was ordered that what gentleman soever 
 should come into the hall at meal-time with any 
 other upper garment than a gown, he should be sus- 
 pended from being a member of the society. Several 
 stringent orders were directed against the custom of 
 wearing beards. In 33 Hen. VIII. there was an 
 order made that none of the fellows of this house, 
 being in commons or at his repast, should wear a 
 beard, and whoso did, to pay double commons or re- 
 pasts in this house during such time as he should 
 have any beard. In 1 Ph. & Mar. the penalty was in- 
 creased. It was ordered that such as had beards 
 
 L
 
 146 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 should pay l%d.fw every meal they continued them, and 
 every man to be shaven upon pain of being put out of 
 commons. Again in 1 Eliz. it was further ordered that 
 no fellow of this house should wear any beard above a 
 fortnights growth, and that whosoever should transgress 
 therein should, for the first offence, forfeit 3s. 4e?., to 
 be paid and cast with his commons ; for the second of- 
 fence, 6*. 8c?., and the third time to be banished the house. 
 
 Fashion, however, predominated over law. Troops 
 of students entered the hall ' bearded like the pard,' 
 and finding it impossible to check their growth, the 
 bench, at a council, held on the 27th of Nov. 2 Eliz., 
 resolved, that all the orders before that time made 
 touching beards should be void and repealed. 
 
 In 1 Eliz. it was ordered that no fellow of this 
 society should wear any sword or buckler, or cause 
 any to be borne after him into the town. And that 
 in case any one should transgress therein, he should 
 for the first offence forfeit 3$. 4c?., to be paid and 
 cast into commons, for the second time, 6s. 80?., in 
 like manner to be cast into commons, and the third 
 time to be banished the house. In 8 Jac. it was 
 further ordered that no rapiers should be worn in 
 this house by any of the society. 
 
 In the 8 Hen. VII. the Old Hall was taken down, 
 and a few years afterwards a new Gothic structure, 
 seventy-one feet long and thirty-two feet broad, was 
 erected. A louvre was added to it in the 6 Edward 
 VI., and the arms of Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and of 
 the Earl of Chester, were, in 1682, placed on the
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 147 
 
 lead.* This hall is a plain structure, and not equal to 
 the halls of either of the other Inns of Court. The 
 Lord Chancellor has for many years held his sittings 
 during vacation here ; and, since the erection of the 
 present magnificent new hall, it has been used ex- 
 clusively for that purpose. Before the erection of 
 the new hall, the windows and walls of this apartment 
 were decorated with the escutcheons of a long line of 
 illustrious men; of whom it will be proper here to 
 give an account in the order in which their arms 
 were placed : 
 
 John Puckering, Keeper of the Great Seal, 1593. 
 
 Robert Atkins, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1673. 
 
 Peter Warburton, Justice of the Common Pleas, temp. 
 Eliz. 
 
 Hugo Wyndham, Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 Edward Atkins, Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 Earl of Southampton. 
 
 Earl of Rutland, 
 
 Joseph Jekyll, Master of the Rolls, 1717. 
 
 John Verney, Master of the Rolls, 1738. 
 
 George Marquess Halifax,f 1685. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole, K.G., Chancellor, &c., of his 
 Majesty's Exchequer, First Lord Commissioner of his 
 Majesty's Treasury, &c., 1729. 
 
 Robert Price, Baron of the Exchequer, 1702. 
 
 Edw. Clive, Baa-on of the Exchequer, 1745. 
 
 Nath. Gundry, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1750. 
 
 Wad. Wyndham, Justice of the King's Bench. 
 
 Samuel Eyre, Justice of the King's Bench, 1694. 
 
 ^Egidius Eyre, Justice of the King's Bench, 1694. 
 
 Henry Powle, Master of the Rolls, 1692. 
 
 * These were removed in the year 1818. 
 
 t President of the Council in the reign of James II. 
 
 L2
 
 148 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Littleton Powis, Baron of the Exchequer, 1695. 
 
 Robert Eyre, Justice of the Queen's Bench, 1710. 
 
 Spencer Cowper, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1727. 
 
 Lawrence Carter, Baron of the Exchequer, 1726. 
 
 Bernard Hale, Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland, also 
 Baron of the Exchequer in England. 
 
 Arthur Earl of Anglesey, 1673. 
 
 Dudley Ryder, Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench, &c., 1754. 
 
 Thomas Clarke, Master of the Rolls, 1754. 
 
 Thomas Jones, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, Jac. II. 
 
 Hen. Bedingfield, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, 1686. 
 
 Thomas Richardson, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, Car. I. 
 
 Earl of Derby. 
 
 Earl of Sussex. 
 
 Earl of Bedford. 
 
 Christoph. Wray, Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench. 
 
 Jas. Ley, Bart, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
 
 Harbottle Grimston, Bart., Speaker, Car. II., and 
 Master of the Rolls. 
 
 Robert Harley, Speaker of the House of Commons 
 during three successive Parliaments held in the reigns of 
 William III. and Queen Anne, and one of her Majesty's 
 principal Secretaries of State. 
 
 Charles Clarke, Baron of the Exchequer, 1742. 
 
 William Jones, Justice of the King's Bench. 
 
 Robert Raymond, Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench, 1725. 
 
 James Montague, Baron of the Exchequer, 1714. 
 
 Samuel Browne, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1673. 
 
 James Reynolds, Justice of the King's Bench, 1 725. 
 
 John Pole, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland, 
 1741.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 149 
 
 Edward Atkins, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 
 1688. 
 
 Thomas Dennison, Justice of the King's Bench, 1741. 
 
 Richard Rainsford, Justice of the King's Bench, 1673. 
 
 Robert Long, Bart.,* Auditor of the Exchequer, 1673. 
 
 Robert Wright, Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench, 1688. 
 
 James Reynolds, Baron of the Exchequer, 1740. 
 
 Thomas Povvis, Justice of the Queen's Bench, 1713. 
 
 Thomas Lord Wyndham, Lord High Chancellor of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Robert Dormer, Justice of the King's Bench, 1705. 
 
 John Willes, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 
 1737. 
 
 William Fortescue, Baron of the Exchequer, 1737. 
 
 William Thompson, Recorder of the City of London, 
 afterwards Baron of the Exchequer, 1725. 
 
 Robert Ord, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 
 Scotland, 1756. 
 
 Richard Aston, Justice of the King's Bench, 1765. 
 
 Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1767. 
 
 Edward Willes, Justice of the Court of King's Bench, 
 1768. 
 
 John Skynner, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 
 1777. 
 
 William Lord Walsingham, Lord Chief Justice of the 
 Common Pleas, 1771. 
 
 Alexander Lord Loughborough, Lord Chief Justice of 
 the Common Pleas, 1780. Lord High Chancellor, 1793. 
 
 Giles Rooke, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1793. 
 
 Soulden Lawrence, Justice of the King's Bench, 1794. 
 
 William Grant, Master of the Rolls, 1801. 
 
 Robert Dallas, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, 1818. 
 
 Sir William Garrow, Baron of the Exchequer, 1817. 
 
 * Long was secretary to Charles II. during his exile.
 
 150 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 William Noel, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1750. 
 
 Charles Yorke, Lord High Chancellor, 1770. 
 
 Charles Lord Camden, Lord High Chancellor, 1766. 
 
 Robert Lord Henley, Lord High Chancellor, 1 Geo. III. 
 
 Fletcher Norton, Attorney-General, 1763 ; Chief Justice 
 in Eyre, south of the Trent, 1769 ; Speaker of the House 
 of Commons, 1770. 
 
 Henry Lord Apsley, Lord High Chancellor, 1771. 
 
 William Pitt,* The Right Honourable, Chancellor and 
 Under Treasurer of the Exchequer, and one of his Ma- 
 jesty's Privy Council, 1782. 
 
 Alexander Thompson, Lord Chief Baron, 1814. 
 
 Nash Grose, Justice of the King's Bench, 1787. 
 
 Archibald Macdonald, Lord Chief Baron of the Ex- 
 chequer, 1793. 
 
 Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth, Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, and First Lord of the Treasury, 1801. 
 
 Edward Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of the 
 King's Bench, 1802. 
 
 Thomas Manners Sutton, Lord Manners, and Lord 
 High Chancellor of Ireland, 1807. 
 
 Lord Erskine,-|- Lord High Chancellor of England, 
 1806. 
 
 Spencer Perceval, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 
 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1807. 
 
 Vicary Gibbs, Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Ex- 
 
 * This illustrious statesman filled the office of treasurer of 
 Lincoln's Inn, A.D. 1794. Underneath the sun-dial opposite the 
 gardens in that year was the inscription. 
 
 Tr. 
 
 Rt. Honble 
 W.P. 
 1794. 
 
 Qua redit nescitis horam. 
 
 f A marble statue of this distinguished member of this 
 society is in the old hall, opposite to the chair of the lord chan- 
 cellor.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 151 
 
 chequer, 1813 ; and Lord Chief Justice of the Court of 
 Common Pleas, 1814. 
 
 Nicholas Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c., 
 1812. 
 
 Charles Bathurst, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan- 
 caster, 1812. 
 
 Thomas Plunier, Vice- Chancellor of England, and Mas- 
 ter of the Rolls, 1818. 
 
 William Adam, Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland, 
 1814. 
 
 James Allan Park, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1816. 
 
 John Richardson, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1819. 
 
 His Majesty Charles II. 
 
 His Royal Highness James Duke of 
 York. 
 
 His Serene Highness Prince Rupert. 
 
 The Earl of Manchester. Feb ' 26 > 167L 
 
 The Earl of Bath. 
 
 Lord Henry Howard. 
 
 Lord Newport. 
 
 ENTERTAINMENT OF KING CHARLES II., IN LINCOLN'S 
 INN, AT A MASQUE AND BANQUET. 
 
 His Majesty, King Charles II., accompanied by 
 the Duke of York, (afterwards King James II.,) 
 and attended by his court, was entertained at a 
 banquet, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, 1st of January, 
 1662, the 'merry monarch' having come on that 
 occasion to witness the Christmas revels, which 
 were in that year celebrated with great brilliancy. 
 Pepys mentions, that the king was attended by 
 his life-guards on the occasion. According to the 
 ancient custom of the Inns of Court, a ' Prince ' was
 
 152 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 elected, of whom Evelyn gives us the following ac- 
 count : " 1662, 1st of January, I went to London, 
 invited to the solemn foolerie of the Prince de la 
 Grange, at Lincoln's Inn, where came the king, duke, 
 &c. It began with a grand masque, and a formal 
 pleading before the mock princes, grandees, nobles, 
 and knights of the same. He had his lord chancellor, 
 chamberlain, treasurer, and other royal officers, glori- 
 ously clad and attended. It ended in a magnificent 
 banquet. One Mr. Lort was the young spark who 
 mentain'd the pageantry." 
 
 SECOND BANQUET, IN LINCOLN'S INN, TO KING 
 CHARLES II. 
 
 Nine years after this time, King Charles II. 
 and the Duke of York, again honoured the society of 
 Lincoln's Inn, by partaking of a grand banquet in 
 the hall, of which visit the following interesting and 
 curious account is preserved in the admittance book 
 of Lincoln's Inn, in which volume, also, the account 
 of the visit of Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen 
 Victoria, and His Eoyal Highness, Prince Albert, to 
 Lincoln's Inn, is recorded : 
 
 "A narrative of the kings majesties reception and 
 entertainment att Lincolnes Inne, the nyne and twen- 
 tieth day of February., 1671. 
 
 " Sir Francis Goodericke, knight, one of his majes- 
 ties learned councel att law, and solicitor generall to 
 his royal higlmesse the Duke of Yorke, being reader of 
 this society of Lincolnes Inn, for the Lent reading, in
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 153 
 
 the year 1671, having invited the king, his royal 
 highnesse, and Prince Rupert, and diverse of the 
 nobilitie, to dine in Lincolnes Inne Hall, on such day 
 of his reading as his majestic should make choice off; 
 his majestic was pleased to appoint Thursday, the 
 29th of February, 1671. And, accordingly, that day 
 his majestic, together with his said royal highnesse, 
 and his highnesse Prince Rupert, being also attended 
 by the Duke of Monmouth, the Duke of Richmond 
 the Earles of Manchester, Bath, and Anglesea, the 
 Lord Viscount Halifax, Lord Bishop of Ely, Lord 
 Newport, Lord Henry Howard, and divers others of 
 great qualitie, came to Lincolnes Inne. His majestic 
 made his entrance thro' the garden, att the great 
 gate opening into Chancery Lane, next to Holborne, 
 where Mr. Reader, and the rest of the benchers and 
 associates, waited his coming, and attended his ma- 
 jestie up to the tarras walke, next the field, and soe 
 through the garden ; the trumpetts and kettle drums, 
 from the leads over the highest bay-window, in the 
 middle of the garden building, sounding all the while. 
 And, from the garden, his majestic went to the new 
 councell chamber; the barristers and students, in 
 their gownes, standing in a rowe on each side, be- 
 tween the garden and the councell chamber. After 
 a little rest, his majestic viewed the chappell, return- 
 ing agayne to the councell chamber; from thence, 
 as soon as his table (being placed upon the ascent att 
 the upper end of the hall, and railed in) was fur- 
 nished, his majestic was brought into the hall, where
 
 154 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 his majestic sate under his canopy of state, being 
 served by the reader as server upon his knee, with 
 the towell before he did eat; his royal highnesse sit- 
 ting att the end of the table, on his right hand, and 
 Prince Kupert att the other end. The dukes and 
 lords, and other his majesties attendants of qualitie, 
 after some short tyme of waiting, had leave from his 
 majestic to sitt downe to dinnar, att tables prepared for 
 them on each side of the hall. The reader, and some 
 of the benchers, to witt, Sir Thomas Beverley, master 
 of requests to his majestic ; Sir Robert Atkins, knight 
 of the bath; all the time of his majestie's dining, 
 waiting neere his majestie's chairs ; and four other of 
 the benchers, Mr. Day, Mr. Pedley, Mr. Stote, and 
 Mr. Manby, with white staffes, waited as controlers of 
 the hall, to keep good order ; and above fifty of the 
 barristers and students, the most part of them attend- 
 ing as waiters, and carrying up his majesties meat, 
 which was served upon the knee ; the rest of the 
 barristers and students waiting upon the lords att 
 their table. The three courses, wherein were exceed- 
 ing great plenty and variety of dishes; and, after 
 them, a most liberal banquett was served up by the 
 said barristers and students, and delivered by them, 
 upon their knees, att the kings table; the musick, 
 consisting of his majesties violins, playing all the 
 tyme of dinnar in the gallery, att the lower end of 
 the hall. Towards the end of dinnar, his majestie, to 
 doe a transcendant honour and grace to this society, 
 and to expresse his most gracious acceptance of their
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 155 
 
 humble duty and affection towards him, was pleased 
 to demand the booke of admittances to be brought to 
 him, and, with his owne hand, entred his royall name 
 therein ; most graciously condescending to make him- 
 self a member thereof; which high and extraordinary 
 favour was instantly acknowledged by all the mem- 
 bers of this society, then attending on his majestic, 
 with all possible joy, and received with the greatest 
 and most humble expressions of gratitude; itt being 
 an example not precedented by any former king of 
 this realme. His royal highnesse and Prince Rupert 
 followed this great and highest example, as also the 
 dukes and other lords, who, before his majesties rise- 
 ing from dihnar, borrowed gownes of the students and 
 put them on, and, in those gownes, waited on his 
 majestic, with which his majestic was much delighted : 
 and his majestic, thro' his owne most obligeing 
 favour, vouchsafed to itt, having made himself more 
 neerely and intimately concerned for the good of this 
 society, was pleased himselfe to begin a health to the 
 welfare thereof, and to cause itt to be pledged in his 
 owne presence, immediately gave the reader leave to 
 drink his majesties health, and to begin to his royal 
 highnesse. Then, rising from dinnar, he was agayne 
 attended to the new councell chamber, where he con- 
 ferred the honour of knighthood on Mr. Nicholas 
 Pedley and Mr. Richard Stote, two of the benchers, 
 who had in their turns beene readers of this house ; as 
 also upon Mr. James Butler, one of the barristers, and 
 Mr. Francis Darrell, one of the students; that soe
 
 156 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 every degree and order of the society might have a 
 signall testimony of his majesties high favour. His 
 majestic, upon his departure, made large expressions 
 of his most gracious acceptance of the enterteynment, 
 and returned his thanks to the reader, and was 
 pleased to signify the great respect and esteem he 
 should ever have for the society. 
 
 " The gentlemen of the horse guards, yeomen of the 
 guard, and other inferior attendants, were bountifully 
 enterteyned att the costs and charges also of the reader. 
 The gentlemen of the horse guards dined in the old 
 councell chamber; the yeomen of the guards in Mr. 
 Day's chamber; and the coachmen and lacquies in 
 the gardener's house, to all their contentment. 
 
 " On Saturday following, Mr. Reader, Sir Robert 
 Atkins, Sir Nicholas Pedley, and Sir Richard Stote, 
 benchers and readers of Lincoln's Inn, waited on his 
 majestic att Whitehall ; being conducted to his majes- 
 ties presence by the Earle of Bath, and gave most 
 humble thanks for that high and transcendant honour 
 he had beene pleased to vouchsafe to this society; 
 which was graciously received by his majestic, and 
 did the said benchers the honour to kisse his hand." 
 
 After the autographs of the royal and illustrious 
 party, the following memorandum is appended: 
 " The king, duke, princes, bishops, and other nobles 
 whose names are before written, were admitted of 
 this society, the nine-and-twentieth day of February, 
 1671."* 
 
 * Lincoln's Inn Admission Book.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 157 
 
 THE CHAPEL. 
 
 In ancient times there was a chapel in Lincoln's 
 Inn, dedicated to Saint Richard, of Chichester; in 
 which, in 6 Edward IV., a general council of the 
 society, all the bench and bar being present, was held 
 respecting the due observance of readings in this 
 house. The chapel was probably not regularly used 
 for the purposes of divine worship, for in the reign of 
 Elizabeth we find the inn without a preacher. The 
 following letter is copied from Lord Burghley's papers 
 in the Lansdown Collection of MSS. It appears 
 to have been addressed by the benchers of Lincoln's 
 Inn to the lord treasurer. 
 
 " Where wee have bene of longe tyme desirous to 
 have a Preacher in our howse, like as is in other 
 howses of Court, and having made offer to dyvers, as 
 to M r . Chaderton, M r . Reynolds, and others, could not 
 procure them thither by reason they are not willing to 
 leave the places and charges they are in already and 
 thereupon have at length chosen M r . Chark, we have 
 thought good to acquaint the Bishope therw th to thend 
 we might have his L. allowance therm. Who, although, 
 for his owne pt he doth very well lyke of M r . Charke, 
 for many good giftes in him, wherof also himself remem- 
 bred some particulars, and gave him his very good com- 
 mendacions, yet he wished the Ll s to be made acquainted 
 therew th to thend y* their good allowance and approbacion 
 might concurre w th his for M r . Charks better encorage- 
 ment and contynuance in y* place. And forasmuche 
 as we are desirous thereof o r selves, and consider y* you 
 are, (as we do soe accompt you one of us,) we have 
 thought good to use your meanes in procuring some tre
 
 158 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 from y r L. and others, to such effect as may seme good to 
 their Li ps , wherin we would have bene redie to have given 
 o r owne attendance, but y* we have so good and readie 
 meane as yow are, on whom we are bold to laye this burden 
 for this tyme. And so fare yow well. 
 
 " Yo r loving friends." * 
 
 A copy of a letter, apparently from the lord 
 treasurer to the bishop of London, on the same 
 subject, is also in the same volume of Lord Burgh- 
 ley's papers : 
 
 " After o r hartie commendacions, where we are geven 
 to understand that the Benche of Lincolns Inne have 
 made choise of late of M r . Charke to be their preacher, 
 as other howses of Courte have likewise done of others, 
 and that yo r L. having bene made acquainted therw th , 
 (as in these cases we thinke it requisite,) have desired, 
 notw th standing yo r owne good lyking, to have some signi- 
 fication of ours also. We considering the greate hope 
 of good to be done by such meanes in those places, and 
 understanding the habilitie of M r . Charke sufficiently for 
 y* purpose, have thought good to joyne o r good lyking 
 to yours to the furtherance of so good a service, as we 
 hope this wilbe to God and to hir Ma tic . And so we 
 bidd yo r L. right hartely farewell. 
 
 " Yo r loving friends." f 
 
 In 35 Eliz., upon the removal of the above-men- 
 tioned Mr. Charke, the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 wrote his letters to the Masters of the Bench of Lin- 
 coln's Inn, requesting them to proceed in the choice of 
 another divinity reader. The bench thereupon on the 
 6th February in the same year, ordered J that there 
 
 * MS. Lansd., No. 106, art. 15, fol. 81. 
 
 t MS. Lansd., No. 106, Art. 15, fol. 82. J Dug. Orig.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 159 
 
 should be two learned men chosen out of the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford, and two others out of the University 
 of Cambridge, to read each of them quarterly a divi- 
 nity lecture in the chapel twice every week, and to 
 preach upon the Sunday, and at such other times as 
 there should be a communion appointed; for the first 
 half year they of Oxford to begin, and then for the 
 other those of Cambridge, and that they should for 
 this pains have quarterly 1QL a-piece, as also their 
 diet with the masters of the bench in term time, and 
 in the vacation times when no table is kept for the 
 benchers, their commons to be free with the masters 
 at the bar, at the public charge of the house. 
 
 The old chapel having become dilapidated, it was 
 ordered on the 22nd June., 8 Jac., that it should be 
 pulled down, and that a ' fair large chapel' should be 
 erected in a place more convenient than the site of the 
 old one, which was not large enough for the society. 
 Nothing was done respecting the new building till 15 
 Jac., when a committee was appointed to consider the 
 means of erecting a chapel according to a design of 
 Inigo Jones, the King's Surveyor-General; the ex- 
 pense being estimated at 2,000 Sir James Ley con- 
 tributed 120/., Thomas Spenser, Esq., 120/., Sir Wil- 
 liam Owen, 100/., Sir Henry Hobart, 100/., and 
 several gave smaller sums. These subscriptions being 
 insufficient, on the 4th Oct., 17 Jac., it was ordered 
 by the Bench that each of the masters of the bench 
 and associates thereunto, should pay toward the 
 structure 20/. a-piece; each of seven years' continu-
 
 160 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 ance at the bar twenty nobles ; each of the bar under 
 that time, 5/., and each gentleman of the house under 
 the bar, 40s. 
 
 The works were finished within five years from their 
 commencement, and the new chapel was consecrated 
 upon Ascension Day, A.D. 1623, in 22 Jac. The 
 ceremony of consecration was performed by George 
 Mountaine, Bishop of London, and the sermon on the 
 occasion was preached by the celebrated John Donne, 
 D.D.,* whose Satires have been versified by Pope. 
 Dr. Donne afterwards printed the sermon, dedicating 
 it to the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn. 
 
 This chapel is very much admired. It is built 
 upon cloisters, which are regularly divided, and con- 
 sist of six Gothic groined arches, with Gothic ribs 
 intersecting each other; the intersections being em- 
 bellished with roses, shields, and various clustered 
 decorations. "Within the cloisters lies the body of 
 John Thurloe, Secretary of State to Oliver Cromwell, 
 and a member of this society, who died February 27, 
 1667. 'Thurloe State Papers' were published in 1742, 
 in seven volumes, edited by Dr. Birch. The principal 
 part of them were discovered in Thurloe's chambers, 
 No. 13, near the chapel, concealed in a false ceiling 
 in the garret. They were placed in the hands of 
 Lord Chancellor Somers, and afterwards descended to 
 Sir Joseph Jekyll, Master of the Rolls, upon whose 
 decease they were purchased by Giles, the bookseller. 
 William Prynne, the author of the ' Histrio Mastix,' 
 * Dean of St. Paul's.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 1G1 
 
 for publishing which he was sentenced to pay a fine 
 of 5,000/., to be expelled the University and Lin- 
 coln's Inn, to be degraded from his profession, to 
 stand twice in the pillory and lose an ear, was also 
 buried here. Butler composed the following epitaph 
 upon this eccentric character : 
 
 " Here lies the corse of William Prynne, 
 A bencher once of Lincoln's Inn, 
 Who restless ran through thick and thin. 
 This grand scripturient paper-spiller, 
 The endless, needless, margin-filler, 
 Was strangely tost from post to pillar. 
 His brain's career was never stopping ; 
 But pen with rheum of gall still dropping ; 
 'Till hand o'er head brought ears to cropping. 
 Nor would he yet surcease these themes, 
 But prostitute new virgin rheams, 
 To types of his fanatic dreams. 
 But whilst he this hot humour hugs 
 And for more length of tedder tugs, 
 Death fang'd the remnant of his lugs ! " 
 
 The inscription on his grave is as follows : 
 
 Guliel. Prynne, arm. de banco 
 Hujus hospitii. Obiit ibi 
 24 Octob. 1669, 
 69. 
 
 On the staircase by which you ascend to the chapel, 
 there is a tablet to the memory of the daughter 
 of Henry Lord Brougham, lately Lord High Chan- 
 cellor of England, on which are inscribed the fol- 
 lowing lines, from the pen of the Marquess Welles- 
 ley : 
 
 M
 
 162 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Blanda anima, e cunis, heu! longo cxercita morbo 
 Inter maternas, heu ! lacrymasque patris, 
 
 Quas risu lenire tuo jucunda solebas, 
 
 Et levis, et proprii vix memor ipsa mali : 
 
 I pete coelestes ubi nulla est cura recessus ! 
 Et tibi sit nullo mista dolore quies ! 
 
 In the porch of the chapel on the right-hand side, 
 is a tablet to the memory of the Right Hon. Spencer 
 Perceval, formerly her Majesty's Attorney-General, 
 and Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn, 1803, who was 
 assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons, 
 llth of May, 1812. The inscription on the tablet is 
 
 as follows : 
 
 M. s. 
 
 VIRI HONORATISSIMI 
 
 SPENCER PERCEVAL, 
 
 SOCII NOSTRI DESIDERATISSIMI 
 
 HANC TABULAM 
 
 HOSPITII LINCOLNIENSIS 
 
 THESAURARIUS ET MAGISTR1 DE BANCO 
 
 P. P. 
 
 QUIS ET QUALIS FUERIT, 
 
 QUA GRAVITATE, FIDE, CONSTANTIA, 
 
 QUO ACUMINE ET FACUNDLE 1MPETU 
 
 MITEM ILLAM SAPIENTIAM 
 
 ET SUAVISSIMAM NATURE INDOLEM 
 
 AD OFFICIA PUBLICA STRENUE OBEUNDA 
 
 EREXERIT ET FIRMAVERIT, 
 QUANTO DENIQUE SUORUM, ET PATRICE, ET HONORUM 
 
 OMNIUM LUCTU 
 VITAM INNOCUAM, PROBAM, PIAM 
 
 UNIUS SCELUS INTERCLUSERIT 
 ANNALES PUBLICI MANDABUNT POSTERIS, 
 
 NOS ID TANTUM AGIMUS, 
 UT, QUEM PRIVATA NECESSITUDINE NOBIS CONJUNCTUM 
 
 HABUERIMUS, 
 PRIVATA PIETATE PROSEQUAMUR. 
 
 T. 
 N. G. C. 
 
 1818.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 1G3 
 
 The screen, gallery, pews, and pulpit of the chapel 
 are of fine dark oak, carved; the windows, which 
 are of Gothic structure, are decorated with stained 
 glass : 
 
 " The silver light so pale and faint, 
 Shews many a prophet and many a saint, 
 Whose image on the glass is dyed." 
 
 FIRST WINDOW, SOUTH SIDE. 
 
 The window contains whole length portraits of St. James 
 the Less, St. Simon, St. Jude, and St. Matthias ; under 
 which are the arms of Robert Lord Spenser of Worm- 
 leighton, Sir Henry Compton, Knt. Thomas Spencer of 
 Clarendon, Esq., John Spencer of Ofley, Esq. 
 
 SECOND WINDOW, SOUTH SIDE. 
 
 Whole length portraits of St. Philip, St. Bartholomew, 
 St. Matthew, and St. Thomas ; under which are the arms 
 of George Baron of Abergaveny, and Maria the daughter 
 of Edward Duke of Buckingham, Francis Fane, Knight of 
 the Bath, Earl of Westmoreland, Baron Le Despencer, &c., 
 at whose expense these four windows were adorned with 
 painted glass, and of Mary, daughter and heiress of An- 
 thony Mildmay, Knight, A.D. 1626, Henry Baron d'Abur- 
 gaveny, and Frances daughter of Thomas Earl of Rut- 
 land, 1623, Thomas Fane, Knight, and Maria, his wife, 
 Baroness le Dispenser. 
 
 THIRD WINDOW, SOUTH SIDE. 
 
 Whole length portraits of St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. 
 James, and St. John ; under which are the arms of Henry 
 Earl of Southampton, William Earl of Pembroke, John 
 Earl of Bridgewater, James Earl of Carlisle. 
 
 FIRST WINDOW, NORTH SIDE. 
 
 Whole length portraits of Abraham with his son Isaac, 
 Moses with the Tables of the Law, St. John the Baptist, 
 and St. Paul ; under which are the arms of Christopher 
 
 M2
 
 164 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Brooke, Thomas Saunderson, Roland Wandcsford, William 
 Noy, and John Took. 
 
 SECOND WINDOW, NORTH SIDE. 
 
 Whole length portraits of Jeremias, Ezekiel, Amos, 
 and Zacharias : under which are the arms of Sir Randolph 
 Crewe, Sir Thomas Harrys, Bart., Sir Thomas Richard- 
 son, Speaker of the Convention Parliament, and John 
 Durcic. 
 
 THIRD WINDOW, NORTH SIDE. 
 
 Whole length portraits of David, Daniel, Elisha, and 
 Esaias; under which are the arms of Sir James Ley, 
 Bart., Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Denham, and Sir 
 William Jones. 
 
 WEST WINDOW 
 
 Contains the arms of Robert Aldworth, Eusebius An- 
 drews, Robert Ashton, Sir Robert Atkyns, Edw. Atkyns, 
 W. Ayloif, John Briscoe, Christ. Brook, Samuel Brown, 
 Sir James Butler, Edward Bysshe, Sir John Churchill, 
 Edward Clark, John Clerke, Godfrey Copley, Richard 
 Creshield, Hugh Cressie, Michael Dalton, Joseph Darcy, 
 George Daye, Henry Denne, Richard Digges, Nicholas 
 Duck, Er. Earle, Robert Eyre, William Eyre, Edward 
 Fetiplace, Thomas Fletcher, Nicholas Franklyn, John Glan- 
 vill, John Glyn, Guybon Goddard, Sir Francis Goodricke, 
 Richard Graves, John Greene, Edward Hadd, William 
 Hake well, John Harrison, John Harrington, Sir John 
 Howell, Anthony Herend, John Herne, Charles Jones, 
 Anthony Irby, William Lenthal,* George Longe, Robert 
 Mason, Thomas Milword, Sir Peter Mutton, William Noye, 
 Sir Nicholas Pedley, William Philipps, Francis Poulter, 
 Thomas Powys, William Prynne. Hugh Pyne, William 
 Ravenscroft, Edward Rich, Edwin Rich, Hugh Rigby, 
 Thomas Sanderson, Oliver St. John, -j- Jasper Selwyn, 
 Henry Shirfield, Thomas Spenser, James Stedman, Sir 
 Richard Stote, Sir George Strode, Thomas Strode, W. 
 
 * The speaker, temp. Car. I. f Solicitor-General.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 165 
 
 Shuttleworth, Thomas Talbot, Rich. Tayler, Thomas 
 Tempest, Thomas Thornton, Giles Tooker, John Waker- 
 ing, Richard Waltham, Rowland Wandesforth, Thomas 
 Wentworth, Ralph Wilbraham, Sir James Wolveridge, 
 Thomas Woodward, Eusebius Wright. 
 
 EAST WINDOW. 
 
 This window contains the arms of the Treasurers 
 of Lincoln's Inn, from the year 1680, to the present 
 time. It also contains the arms of England and the 
 arms of the Inn. Having mentioned the most con- 
 spicuous of them, in other parts of this chapter, the 
 names of the Treasurers, from 1823 to the present 
 year, are given below.* 
 
 * TREASURERS OP LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 1823. James Trower, Esq. 
 
 1824. William Cooke, Esq. 
 
 1825. William Agar, Esq. 
 
 1826. The Right Hon. Viscount Canterbury. 
 
 1827. William Owen, Esq. 
 
 1828. William Wingfield, Esq. 
 
 1829. Sir William Home. 
 
 1830. Sir Giffin Wilson. 
 
 1831. The Right Hon. Lord Brougham. 
 
 1832. The Right Hon. Lord Penman. 
 
 1833. The Right Hon. Sir L. Shadwell, V. C. 
 
 1834. William George Adam, Esq. 
 
 1835. The Right Hon. Lord Campbell. 
 
 1836. The Right Hon. Sir Edw. B. Sugden. 
 
 1837. The Right Hon. Lord Cottenham. 
 
 1838. Thomas Crosby Treslove, Esq. 
 
 1839. Sir Charles Frederick Williams. 
 
 1840. William Selwyn, Esq. 
 
 1841. William Henry Tinney, Esq. 
 
 1842. The Right Hon. Thomas Pemberton Leigh. 
 
 1843. The Right Hon. James Lewis Knight Bruce, V. C.
 
 166 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 The following distinguished divines have been 
 preachers of this inn : 
 
 James Usher, D.D., Archbishop of Armagh. This 
 eminent scholar was created a member of this inn in 
 January, 1626, having, three years previously, been 
 admitted a member of Gray's Inn. In 1647 he was 
 appointed preacher of Lincoln's Inn, where he was 
 accommodated with handsome chambers in which he 
 resided till within a few months of his death, March, 
 1655. 
 
 John Tillotson, D.D., Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 1694, one of the most celebrated ecclesiastics of 
 the English church, was elected Preacher, at a Coun- 
 cil of the Bench of Lincoln's Inn, held on the 20th 
 day of November, 1663: "At this council Mr. 
 John Tillotson, a learned divine, is chosen to be 
 minister and preacher of this society; and it is 
 ordered that he shall have the same yearly exhibi- 
 tion and allowance which Mr. Greenfield the last 
 preacher to the society had, to wit, 1001. exhibi- 
 tion, payable at the end of every term by equal 
 portions, the first payment to begin at the end of the 
 next term, and 24 more for vacation commons, 
 and to have commons for himself and his man in 
 term time and chambers, and Sir Robert Atkins, 
 
 1844. William Fuller Boteler, Esq. 
 
 1845. Sir John A. Francis Simpkinson. 
 
 1846. Henry William Tancred, Esq. 
 
 1847. John Beames, Esq.* 
 
 * Ex Regist. Lincoln's Inn.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 167 
 
 Mr. Harrison, dean of the chapel, Mr. Foxcroft, Mr. 
 Manby, and Mr. Churchill, five masters of the bench, 
 or any two of them, are appointed a committee to 
 acquaint the said Mr. Tillotson with the election of 
 him as aforesaid, and to treat with him about such 
 things as the masters of the bench expect performance 
 from him of, in case he accepts the place, to wit to 
 preach twice every Lord's day, in term time, and next 
 before and after every term, and in reading time, and 
 once every Lord's day in vacation, and as other occa- 
 sions shall require, and to administer the Lord's sup- 
 per, together with the chaplain of this house every 
 term and vacation; and also to reside constantly in 
 the society and not to absent himself thence without 
 leave first therefore obtained from the masters of 
 the bench in council or the quatuor in the hall.""' 5 " 
 Archbishop Tillotson's arms are emblazoned in the 
 new hall, and one of the six carved figures on the 
 screen represents him the size of life in the archi- 
 episcopal costume of the mediaeval era. 
 
 Thomas Herring, D.D., afterwards Archbishop of 
 York, in 1743. It is worthy of observation that this 
 learned divine conferred the degree of Doctor of Di- 
 vinity on Warburton, afterwards a preacher of Lin- 
 coln's Inn, who had not graduated at a university. 
 
 William Warburton, D.D., Bishop of Gloucester, 
 1760, a very distinguished prelate, author of ' The 
 Divine Legation,' and many other works, comprising 
 sermons preached at Lincoln's Inn. In 1768, Dr. 
 
 * Orders, Lincoln's Inn.
 
 168 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Warburton founded a course of Lectures in Lincoln's 
 Inn for proving the truth of the Christian religion 
 from the completion of the prophecies of the Old Tes- 
 tament in the New. These lectures continue to be 
 regularly delivered pursuant to the directions of the 
 founder, on the first Sunday after Michaelmas Term, 
 and the Sunday immediately before and after Hilary 
 Term. Several eminent men have been Warburton 
 lecturers in Lincoln's Inn Chapel, Bishops Hurd, 
 Halifax, Bagot ; Doctors Apthorpe, Nicholson, Layard, 
 Pearson, &c. &c. There is a carved figure repre- 
 senting Bishop Warburton in full episcopal robes, on 
 the screen of the new hall. 
 
 Francis Gastrell, D.D., Bishop of Chester, 1714, a 
 man of distinguished piety and learning. 
 
 William Jackson, D.D., Bishop of Oxford, 1812. 
 
 William Van Mildert, D.D., Bishop of Llandaff, 
 1819. 
 
 William Loyd, D.D., Bishop of Oxford. 
 
 Eeginald Heber, D.D., Bishop of Calcutta. 
 
 Edward Maltby, D.D., Bishop of Durham. 
 
 In the year 1658 Henry Golfer, Esq., of this So- 
 ciety devised 12/. per annum for ever for a sermon to be 
 preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel the first Wednesday 
 in every month, and 8/. per annum for certain chari- 
 table purposes. 
 
 The bell of this chapel was brought from Cadiz, in 
 the year 1596, by the Earl of Essex, the fa- 
 vourite of Queen Elizabeth. It was part of the spoil 
 acquired by the English, tinder Lord Effingharn in the
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 169 
 
 capture of that place, and was probably taken from 
 one of the churches of Cadiz. 
 
 Divine service is regularly performed in Lincoln's 
 Inn Chapel, on Sundays, and other days appointed by 
 the Church to be observed.* 
 
 Sir John Fortescue, the celebrated author of the 
 work ' De Laudibus Legum Angliae,' Lord Chief 
 Justice of the King's Bench, and Lord Chancellor 
 in the reign of Henry VI., was the third son of Sir 
 Henry Fortescue, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, 
 descended from an ancient family in Devonshire. 
 He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford.f From 
 thence he removed to Lincoln's Inn, where, having 
 been called in due course to the bar, he read lectures 
 on the law, which greatly raised his reputation. In 
 the fourth of Henry VI. he was elected one of the 
 masters of the bench in this house, and in the eighth 
 Henry VI. was called to the state and degree of ser- 
 jeant-at-law. In 1441 he was nominated one of the 
 king's Serjeants ; in the following year he was consti- 
 tuted Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and ulti- 
 mately was created Lord Chancellor, a dignity which 
 he seems to have enjoyed but a few months. King 
 Henry, being driven from the throne by Edward IV., 
 Fortescue went into exile with Queen Margaret, her 
 son Edward, and other adherents to the house of 
 
 * Preacher. The Rev. James S. M. Anderson. 
 
 Assistant Preacher. The Rev. Ernest Hawkins. 
 
 Chaplain. The Rev. Frederick D. Maurice. 
 t Bishop Tanner's < Bibl. Brit.'
 
 170 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Lancaster. While in France Fortescue composed his 
 work * De Laudibus, &c.,' which was written for the 
 instruction of the young prince. After the battle of 
 Tewkesbury he was taken prisoner, but his life was 
 spared, and he was allowed to retire to Ebrighton, 
 in Gloucestershire, where he died and was buried, as 
 it is supposed, in his ninetieth year. 
 
 Sir Arthur Plantagenet, Knt., natural son to King 
 Edward IV., was admitted of this society 4th Feb- 
 ruary, 2 Henry VIII. He married Elizabeth, daugh- 
 ter to Edward Gray, Viscount Lisle, and was after- 
 wards advanced to the dignity of viscount with the 
 title of Lisle. One of their daughters was married 
 to Thomas Monk, Esq., of Potheridge, in the county 
 of Devon, from whom was lineally descended General 
 Monk. 
 
 Thomas More, miles, quondam lector hujus hospitii, 
 ct posted summits Anglice cancellarius tempore Regis 
 Henrici Octavi. This illustrious man, who was born 
 in Milk Street, London, in 1480, was the son of 
 Sir John More, one of the justices of the Court of 
 King's Bench. Having studied at Oxford, he entered 
 as a student at New Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery 
 belonging to the Middle Temple, then efficient prepa- 
 ratory seminaries for the study of the law. More, 
 subsequently, removed to Lincoln's Inn, and was 
 called to the bar in this society. At an early age he 
 composed some verses which were highly commended 
 by Ben Jonson. The following version of * Ne sutor 
 ultra crepidam ' may serve as a specimen :
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 171 
 
 " A man of law that never sawe 
 
 The wayes to buy and sell 
 Wenyng to ryse by merchandyse 
 
 I pray God spede him well ! 
 A merchant eke, that will go seke 
 
 By all the meanes he may 
 To fall in sute till he dispute 
 
 His money cleane away." 
 
 More was appointed, by the bench of Lincoln's Inn, 
 reader at Furnival's Inn; and the lectures which he 
 delivered on the principles of the law, during the three 
 years in which he filled the office of lecturer there, 
 greatly tended to increase his fame. During More's 
 residence at Brussels he very wittily confounded a 
 sophist in the University of Brussels, who gave a 
 challenge to all mankind, declaring that he was ready 
 to answer any question that might be proposed in 
 any art or science. More accepted the challenge, 
 and proposed the following question : 
 
 * An averia capta in Withernamia sint irreplegibilia?' * 
 
 The sophist was struck dumb. He found him- 
 self not only unable to solve the query, but to 
 comprehend the terms of it; and the whole city, 
 it is related, were happy at seeing his arrogance so 
 successfully chastised. 
 
 More rapidly rose in his profession, and soon at- 
 tained very considerable practice. He was appointed 
 Judge of the Sheriff's Court in the city of London, 
 then an office of considerable importance. From his 
 practice and the fees of the court he derived an in- 
 * Whether beasts taken in Withernam are irrepleviable ?
 
 172 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 come, we are told, of 400/. a-year. In 1519 More 
 resigned this office, and two years subsequently he 
 was knighted, and was made Treasurer of the Ex- 
 chequer. In the parliament of 1523, to which he 
 was elected, More was chosen Speaker, and in 1525, 
 he was appointed by Henry VIII. Chancellor of the 
 Duchy of Lancaster. On the downfall of Cardinal 
 Wolsey, 25th October, 1529, he was created Lord 
 High Chancellor of England. He was beheaded on 
 the 6th July, 1535. 
 
 William Rastall, Judge of the Common Pleas, the 
 author of ' Les Termes de la Ley] the collection of 
 ' Entries J a work highly esteemed by pleaders of the 
 last two centuries, &c., was the son of Rastall the 
 printer, and nephew to Sir Thomas More. He was 
 born in London, in the year 1508, and at the age of 
 17, was sent to Oxford; from thence he removed to 
 Lincoln's Inn, where he attained great proficiency in 
 the study of the law. He was chosen summer reader 
 to the society in the first year of the reign of Edward 
 VI., but, being a zealous opponent of the reformed 
 religion, he left the country and settled with his 
 family at Lou vain. On the accession of Queen Mary, 
 he returned to England; in 1554, he was made 
 serjeant-at-law, and shortly before Mary's death was 
 constituted a Justice of the Common Pleas. Queen 
 Elizabeth having ascended the throne, he returned 
 to Louvain, and there ended his career, in the year 
 1565. 
 
 In the inventory of the goods of Rastall, is the
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 173 
 
 following description of his wardrobe, which is curi- 
 ous: 
 A violet gowne, cloke, and hood, fased with 
 
 furre and lyned, precii, . . . iiii 1 . 
 
 A skarlet gowne, cloke, and hood, fased with 
 
 ffur and lined with cotten, preeii, . vi 1 . xiii 8 . iiii d . 
 
 A skarlet gowne, cloke, and iii hoods, fased 
 
 with grene sarsnet unlined, precii, . vi 1 . 
 
 A violet gowne, cloke, and hood, lined with 
 
 blake say, and fased with sarsenet, precii, iii 1 . vi s . viii d . 
 iii cappes and a velvet hatt, precii, . . iii s . iiii d . 
 
 A gowne ffased with velvet, precii, . . xxxv s . 
 
 A gowne fased with satten, precii, . . xxx*. 
 
 A gowne fased with martrens, precii, . liii s . iiii' 1 . 
 
 A kassake of unwatered Chamlet, precii, . ii s . 
 A gowne, cloke, and hood, fased with whit 
 
 furr, and lyned with cotten, precii, . liii s . iv d . 
 
 A blake gowne, and dyed with velvet, and 
 
 fased with ffoynes, precii, . . xxx*. 
 
 A blake gowne and ii hoods, precii, . xxvi 9 . viii d . 
 
 Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor of England, 
 was born at Kidley, in Cheshire, in the year 1540. 
 He was the son of Sir Richard Egerton, who was 
 descended from an ancient family in that county. 
 At the age of 17 he was admitted commoner of 
 Brazen Nose College, Oxford; from whence, after 
 three years' residence, he returned to Lincoln's Inn. 
 In 1581, he was appointed Solicitor-General by Queen 
 Elizabeth, and in the following year was chosen Lent 
 Reader of this society, and was soon after called to be 
 a Master of the Bench.* In 1592, he was made 
 
 * The returns of the members in Lincoln's Inn in Lord 
 Burghley's paper are signed Thomas Egerton.
 
 174 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Attorney-General, and received the honour of knight- 
 hood. In 1594, he was constituted Master of the 
 Rolls, and in 1596, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, 
 which office he retained after the accession of James 
 I., who conferred on him the title of Baron Ellesmere. 
 In the year 1610, he was elected Chancellor of Ox- 
 ford, and in the year 1616, was Lord High Steward 
 on the occasion of the trial of the Earl and Countess 
 of Somerset, for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.* 
 In the same year, on account of age and infirmity, he 
 resigned the seals, and was created Viscount Brackley. 
 He died in March, 1617, aged 77. 
 
 Sir Henry Hobart, Lord Chief Justice of the 
 Court of Common Pleas, A. D. 1613, whose * Reports' 
 enjoy so high a reputation, was a student in this 
 society, and double Lent Reader in the 43 Eliz. In 
 the same year he was called to the state and degree of 
 serjeant-at-law; and it deserves to be noticed that 
 two years afterwards he was exonerated from that 
 state and degree, f He represented the city of Nor- 
 wich, for some time, in Parliament; was Attorney- 
 general while Bacon was solicitor, and succeeded Sir 
 Edward Coke, in his seat in the Common Pleas. 
 
 John Stubbs, a barrister of this inn, was con- 
 demned to lose his right hand for publishing a pamph- 
 let against the proposed marriage of Queen Elizabeth 
 with the Duke of Anjou. Stubbs entitled his work 
 ' The Discovery of a gaping Gulf where England is 
 like to be swallowed by another French Marriage, if 
 
 * See the " Great Oyer of Poisoning." t Dug, Chronica Series.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 175 
 
 the Lord forbid not the Bands, by letting her see the 
 Sin and Punishment thereof.' He suffered the pun- 
 ishment with great constancy. 
 
 George Ferrars, a poet and historian of the reign 
 of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, was a barrister of this 
 inn. He sat in Parliament as member for Plymouth, 
 in the 33 Hen. VIII., and being a man of expensive 
 habits, was taken in execution by a sheriff's officer, 
 for a debt of 200 marks, and lodged in the Compter. 
 The Commons no sooner heard of his confinement, 
 than they despatched the serjeant-at-arms to demand 
 the liberation of their member. The clerks of the 
 Compter, supported by the sheriffs, refused to sur- 
 render their prisoner, and a scuffle ensued, in which 
 the mace of the officer of the House of Commons was 
 broken. The Serjeant reported the matter to the 
 House, and after a conference with the Lords, the 
 Commons again sent and demanded the liberation of 
 Ferrars. The sheriffs thought it prudent no longer 
 to resist the orders of Parliament, and Ferrars was 
 released. The two sheriffs and the party at whose 
 suit Ferrars had been arrested, were committed to 
 the Tower, and the Commons passed a resolution dis- 
 charging Ferrars of his debt. Ferrars penned some 
 of the verses in the masque presented to Queen Eliz- 
 abeth on her visit to Kenilworth Castle. * 
 
 Sir Henry Spelman, the author of the valuable 
 4 Glossarium,' and other works in high repute, both in 
 
 * Respecting the antiquity of the privileges of Members of 
 Parliament, see 8 Hen. VI., c. i.
 
 176 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 England and foreign countries, was a member of Lin- 
 coln's Inn, having been admitted 28 Eliz. Spelman 
 was the intimate friend of Camden, Cotton, Selden, 
 Dugdale, and other antiquaries, to whose labours the 
 historical literature of this country are so much in- 
 debted. He was descended from an ancient family at 
 Congham, in Norfolk, and studied at Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, before his admission at Lincoln's Inn. 
 He seems never to have practised the law, but de- 
 voted the whole of his life to historical and philolo- 
 gical researches. He may be considered the restorer of 
 Saxon literature; his zeal for which was manifested 
 as well by his own studies, as by founding a Saxon 
 professorship at Cambridge. He died at the house of 
 his son-in-law, Sir Ralph Whitfield, in the Barbican, 
 A. D. 1641 ; and, by the special order of King Charles I., 
 his body was interred in Westminster Abbey, near 
 the tomb of Camden. 
 
 William Lambarde, the eminent antiquary and 
 compiler of the Saxon laws, entered Lincoln's Inn as 
 a student in 1556. He was the son of John Lam- 
 barde, an alderman of London, and was born 18th of 
 October, 1536. He studied at Lincoln's Inn under 
 Lawrence Nowel, a man noted for his researches in 
 the Saxon tongue, believing that an acquaintance 
 with the customs and jurisprudence of the Saxon 
 times would be useful to him in his profession. That 
 the benchers of Lincoln's Inn fully appreciated his 
 useful labours, is proved by the following order of 
 council, 9th of February, 21 Eliz.: " Forasmuch as
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 177 
 
 Mr. William Lambarde hath deserved universally well 
 of this commonwealth and country, and likewise of 
 the fellowship and society of this house, and is like 
 hereafter to win greater credit to himself and the 
 society of this house ; it is therefore agreed that he 
 shall have a room to sit amongst the society of the 
 fellowship of the bench, as other assistants used to do, 
 without anything paying for the same : provided al- 
 ways that this be no precedent to any other that shall 
 be called to the like place hereafter, but that they 
 shall pay for the said room such sums of money as 
 shall be assessed by the bench." In 1592, Lambarde 
 was appointed a Master in Chancery; in 1597, Keeper 
 of the Rolls, and in 1600, Keeper of the Records of 
 the Tower. He died August, 1601. There is a 
 monument to his memory in the parish church of 
 Seven Oaks, Kent. 
 
 Matthews Hale, miles, Capitalis Justidarius ad 
 Placita coram domino rege tenendum assignatus, one 
 of the brightest ornaments of English jurisprudence, 
 was the son of Robert Hale, Esq., a barrister of Lin- 
 coln's Inn, and was born on the 1st of November, 
 1609, at Alderley, a village in Gloucestershire. In 
 1626, he entered at Magdalen Hall, in Oxford, and in 
 Michaelmas, 1629, under the advice of Serjeant Glan- 
 ville, began the study of the law in Lincoln's Inn. 
 Noy, the Attorney-General, it is said, was one of the 
 first to appreciate young Bale's talents, and Selden 
 was one of his earliest friends. Hale commenced the 
 actual practice of his profession about the year 1636; 
 
 N
 
 178 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 and his great learning, prudence, and industry soon 
 pointed him out as one of the rising lawyers of the 
 time. He was engaged as counsel for Lord Strafford 
 in 1640, and three years afterwards, was appointed 
 by Parliament as one of the counsel for Archbishop 
 Laud. In 1647, he was employed as one of the 
 counsel for the seven members, and is said to have 
 been retained for the defence of king Charles I., in 
 the ' High Court of Justice,' the jurisdiction of which, 
 however, the king refused to acknowledge. After the 
 death of Charles, he was retained as counsel for the 
 Duke of Hamilton, who was brought to trial for trea- 
 son, for taking up arms against the Parliament. At 
 the earnest solicitation of Cromwell, and at the ad- 
 vice of his friends, who thought it, we are informed, 
 no small security to the nation, that a man of his 
 integrity and high character, should preside on the 
 bench, in 1653-4, he received the degree of serjeant- 
 at-law,* and accepted from the Protector, the office of 
 Justice in the Court of Common Pleas, which he con- 
 tinued to fill till after the death of Cromwell. After 
 the Restoration of Charles II., Lord Clarendon, the 
 Lord Chancellor, offered him the appointment of Lord 
 Chief Baron. He declined the office, urging " the 
 smallness of his estate, not being above 500/. per 
 annum, six children unprovided for, and a debt of 
 1,000/. lying upon him; that he was not so well able 
 
 * The following members of Lincoln's Inn were also called to 
 the degree of the coif, by the Parliament, during the common- 
 wealth: Mr. Samuel Brown, Mr. Recorder Glyn, and Mr. Earle.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 179 
 
 to endure travel and pains as formerly, that his con- 
 stitution of body required some ease and relaxation, 
 and that he had of late time declined the study of 
 the law, and principally applied himself to other 
 studies, now more easy, grateful, and seasonable for 
 him."* At length, however, he was induced to accept 
 the seat in the Court of Exchequer, and on the 7th 
 of November, 1660, was appointed Lord Chief Baron. 
 In the year 1671, upon the death of Sir John Key- 
 ling, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, Sir 
 Matthew Hale was removed from the Exchequer, and 
 appointed his successor. In February, 1675, finding 
 himself to be no longer adequate to the duties of his 
 office, he surrendered his patent into the hands of the 
 king, and expired on Christmas day, 1676. Sir 
 Matthew Hale's will, bequeathing his valuable manu- 
 script library to Lincoln's Inn, as a testimony of 
 honour and respect to the society, is given in another 
 part of this volume. There is a carved figure on the 
 screen in the New Hall, commemorative of Hale, and 
 his arms decorate one of the windows. 
 
 Anthony Ashley Cooper, first Earl of Shaftesbury, 
 having studied at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1638, 
 became a student of the law at Lincoln's Inn, and 
 was in due course called to the bar in this society. 
 His arms are emblazoned on the windows of the 
 hall. Being deprived of the government of Wey- 
 mouth by King Charles L, " he gave himself up, 11 
 to quote the expression of Clarendon, " body and soul 
 
 * Margrave's Law Tracts. 
 
 N2
 
 180 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 to the service of parliament, with an implacable ani- 
 mosity to the royal interest." He raised a force 
 under a parliamentary commission and stormed Ware- 
 ham. During the protectorate he frequently formed 
 one of Cromwell's council of state, and often, it is 
 said, opposed the Protector's designs. He was one 
 of the main instruments, in concert with General 
 Monk, in effecting the Restoration. Charles II. 
 appointed him Chancellor of the Exchequer, created 
 him Baron Ashley, and conferred on him other 
 marks of favour. In April, 1672, he was created 
 Earl of Shaftesbury, and in the November following, 
 on the resignation of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, he was 
 appointed Lord Chancellor. Dryden says of him : 
 
 " In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abethdin 
 With more discerning eyes or hands more clean ; 
 Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress, 
 Swift of despatch and easy of access." 
 
 For his opposition to the court in the House of 
 Lords Shaftesbury was imprisoned in the Tower for 
 upwards of a year ; after his release he took an active 
 part in the affair of Titus Gates and the alleged 
 'Popish Plot.' On the 26th June, 1680, he took 
 the bold step of appearing at the bar of the Court 
 of King's Bench and formally presenting to the 
 grand jury James, Duke of York, the heir-apparent 
 to the throne, as a Popish recusant. He also sup- 
 ported the bill for excluding James from the succes- 
 sion. On the 2nd July, 1681, Shaftesbury was 
 seized by order of council on a charge of high trea-
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 181 
 
 son; but the grand jury ignored the bill preferred 
 against him at the Old Bailey. A medal * was struck 
 in honour of his deliverance, which was hailed with 
 acclamation by the country. Shaftesbury ended his 
 unsteady career at Amsterdam, 21st January, 1683. 
 
 Francis Quarles, the author of * The Divine Em- 
 blems,' &c., was a member of this Inn. He was 
 born in Essex, and educated at Christ's College, Cam- 
 bridge, from whence he removed to Lincoln's Inn and 
 studied the law. He was cup-bearer to Elizabeth, 
 Queen of Bohemia, and, before the Irish rebellion 
 of 1641, acted as secretary to Archbishop Usher, in 
 Ireland, and subsequently was chronologer to the city 
 of London. Having espoused the cause of Charles I., 
 he suffered much persecution from the Puritans, who 
 plundered him of his books and valuable manuscripts. 
 
 Sir James Ley, Bart., sometime Lord Chief Justice 
 of the King's Bench in Ireland, and afterwards Lord 
 Chief Justice and Lord High Treasurer of England, 
 was of this society; and was one of the contributors 
 toward the erection of the new chapel. Sir Simonds 
 D'Ewes gives an account of a procession which 
 accompanied Sir James Ley to Westminster on his 
 appointment as Lord Chief Justice. " On Saturday 
 morning, February the 3rd, 1621, Sir James Ley 
 rode in state from Lincoln's Inn to Westminster 
 Hall, the students, utter barristers and benchers or 
 readers of the house going before him on foot in their 
 gowns, and there took his place in the King's Bench 
 * See Dryden's ' Satire of the Medal.'
 
 182 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 as Lord Chief Justice, succeeding Sir Henry Mon- 
 tague, made Lord Treasurer." 
 
 The celebrated author of ' Noy's Maxims,' Sir 
 William Noy, the unscrupulous Attorney-General of 
 King Charles L, and the projector of the memorable 
 writs of ship-money, was a bencher in this Inn. He 
 was one of the contributors to the fund for the erec- 
 tion of the new chapel, according to the design of 
 Inigo Jones, and his arms are painted on the third 
 window from the altar on the north side underneath 
 the portraiture of St. John the Baptist. Noy was a 
 most laborious student, and was justly famed for his 
 great erudition and profound knowledge of the law, 
 at which he was, he used to say, ' Moyling day and 
 night;' a phrase which gave rise to an anagram, 
 William Noy, I moyl in law* Noy was one of the 
 conductors of the celebrated masque presented by 
 the four Inns of King Charles I. " No man so for- 
 ward to further this action as M. Noy."f 
 
 His learned contemporary Sir Kandal Crewe, suc- 
 cessively King's Serjeant, Speaker of the House of 
 Commons, and Lord Chief Justice of the Court of 
 King's Bench, whose upright independence forms so 
 strong a contrast to the subservient, if not venal, 
 conduct of Noy, was also a member of Lincoln's 
 Inn, and was appointed Reader in the 44 Eliz. 
 His arms are emblazoned on the second window on 
 
 * Dr. Johnson notices this anagram as one of the most sue- 
 sessful of its kind, 
 t Straff. Letters.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 183 
 
 the north side of the chapel under the painting of 
 Jereraias; when king's serjeant, he contributed the 
 sum of 20/. toward the erection of the chapel. Hav- 
 ing refused to sanction the unconstitutional design of 
 Charles I. to raise forced loans without the authority 
 of Parliament, he was, upon the 3rd November, 1626 ? 
 discharged from his office, whereupon he retired to the 
 privacy of his estate, Crewe Hall, Cheshire. He was 
 succeeded on the bench by Sir Thomas Richardson, 
 also of Lincoln's Inn, and Speaker of the House of 
 Commons, whose arms are placed under the prophet 
 Amos in the same window in the chapel. 
 
 Sir John Denham, the poet, whom Dr. Johnson 
 terms * one of the fathers of English poetry,' was a 
 student in this Society. His father was also a mem- 
 ber of Lincoln's Inn, and his arms are emblazoned in 
 the third window on the north side of the chapel, with 
 the following inscription : * Johannes Denham, miles, 
 unus Baronum Curias Saccarii in Anglia et quondam 
 Capitalis Baro Saccarii in Hibernia et unus Dominorum 
 Justiciariorum in Hibernia.' The younger Denham 
 was born in Dublin : at the age of sixteen he entered 
 Trinity College. Oxford, and in 1634 was admitted a 
 student of Lincoln's Inn. He resided in France for 
 many years with the exiled royal family ; and after 
 the restoration of Charles the Second was made sur- 
 veyor of the king's buildings, and was dignified with 
 the Order of the Bath. 
 
 Arthur Murphy, the author of a translation of 
 Tacitus, of several dramatic pieces, and of a publica-
 
 184 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 tion called ' The Gray's Inn Journal,' on the plan of 
 the ' Spectator,' was a member of this Society. He 
 was born at Elphin, in Ireland, in 1730, and was the 
 son of a merchant of Dublin. He studied for nearly 
 seven years at the College of St. Omer, and was sub- 
 sequently in a London banking-house. Having written 
 several pieces for the stage he determined to try his 
 fortune as an actor. On the 18th October, 1754, he 
 acted the part of ' Othello,' at Covent Garden Theatre, 
 and afterwards represented ' Macbeth,' ' Jaffier,' 
 1 Hamlet,' &c. In 1756 he determined to abandon 
 the stage and apply himself to the study of the law.* 
 Both the Temples and Gray's Inn, it is said, refused 
 to admit him, on the ground of his having acted as a 
 professional player on the stage. After some time, 
 however, he was admitted of Lincoln's Inn, and was 
 in due time called to the bar. He was afterwards 
 appointed a commissioner of bankrupts, and filled 
 that office till his death, on the 18th June, 1805, in 
 the 75th year of his age. 
 
 William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief 
 Justice of the King's Bench, is one of the four il- 
 lustrious lawyers in memory of whom illuminated 
 carved figures have been placed in the niches on 
 the screen of the new hall. He was born at Perth 
 on the 2nd of March, 1704. At an early age he 
 was admitted king's scholar at Westminster School. 
 In 1728 he entered at Christ Church, Oxford; and 
 
 * His brother, French James Murphy, was a barrister of the 
 Middle Temple, and died at Jamaica, 1758.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 185 
 
 while at the university entered at Lincoln's Inn. He 
 was called to the bar in Michaelmas Term, 1731. In 
 1742 he was appointed Solicitor-General; Attorney- 
 General in 1754, and Lord Chief Justice 1756. In 
 the cases of Woodfall, the printer of l Junius's Let- 
 ters,' and of Wilkes, Lord Mansfield incurred much 
 popular displeasure for the doctrines which he laid 
 down respecting the law of libel ; and in the riots of 
 1780 his house in Bloomsbury Square was attacked 
 and set on fire by the populace. His library, MSS., 
 papers, pictures, furniture, &c., were all consumed. 
 
 " O'er Murray's loss the Muses wept, 
 
 They felt the rude alarm, 
 Yet blessed the guardian care that kept 
 His sacred head from harm." 
 
 Lord Mansfield declined to make any return of the 
 amount of his loss, and, in allusion to the odium which 
 he had incurred, said, " I honour the king and respect 
 the people, but many things acquired by the favour 
 of either are, in my account, not worth ambition. I 
 wish popularity, but it is that popularity which fol- 
 lows, not that which is run after. It is that popula- 
 rity which sooner or later never fails to do justice to 
 the pursuit of noble ends by noble means. I will not 
 do that which my conscience tells me is wrong upon 
 this occasion to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the 
 daily praise of all the papers which come from the 
 press : I will not avoid doing what I think is right 
 though it should draw upon me the whole artillery of 
 libel, all that falsehood and malice can invent, or the
 
 186 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 credulity of a deluded populace can swallow. I can 
 say with a great magistrate upon an occasion and 
 under circumstances not unlike, ' Ego hoc animo sem- 
 per fui, ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam, haud 
 infamiam putarem.' " Having presided in the Court 
 of Queen's Bench for upwards of thirty- two years he 
 retired from office in 1788, being then eighty-four 
 years of age. He died on the 20th of March, 1793, 
 leaving no issue. 
 
 Sir James Mackintosh, the author of * ' Vindiciae 
 Gallicae/ and of various historical and philosophi- 
 cal works, entered Lincoln's Inn, in 1792, having 
 renounced the medical profession, in which he had 
 taken the degree of M. D. at Edinburgh, for the 
 study of the law. He was called to the bar in 1795. 
 Having obtained the permission of the benchers, he 
 announced his intention of delivering a course of 
 lectures, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, on the Law of Nature 
 and Nations. They attracted crowded audiences to the 
 hall; about thirty peers, sixty members of the House 
 of Commons, and most of the learned persons of 
 the metropolis, attended. Mr. Pitt, then a bench- 
 er of Lincoln's Inn, thus wrote to Mackintosh : " I 
 have no motive for wishing to flatter you ; but I must 
 be permitted to say, that I have never met with any- 
 thing so able and elegant on the subject, in any 
 language." In 1804 he was appointed governor of 
 Bombay, and was knighted. He returned to England 
 
 * This brilliant pamphlet, which went through three editions 
 in the course of six months, appeared in 1791.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 187 
 
 in 1812, and a few years afterwards was appointed to 
 the professorship of law, in the East India College, 
 at Haileybury. He died, 30th of May, 1832. 
 
 Daniel O'Connell, whose high reputation as a sound 
 lawyer, and as a criminal and Nisi Prius advocate, at 
 the Irish bar, has been in some measure overshadowed 
 by the numerous and eventful transactions of his 
 political life, was a member of Lincoln's Inn. The 
 following is a copy of the entry of his admission : * 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, 1794-. 
 
 " Daniel O'Connell, gentleman, eldest son of Morgan 
 O'Connell of Cahern, in the County of Kerry, in the 
 Kingdom of Ireland, Esq., is admitted into the society of 
 this Inn, this 30th day of January in the thirty-fourth 
 year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the 
 Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, 
 and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c., and in the 
 year of our Lord 1794, and hath thereupon paid to the 
 use of this society the sum of three pounds three shillings 
 and fourpence. 
 
 " Admitted by 
 
 " F. BURTON." 
 
 Mr. O'Connell was born 6th of August, 1775, and 
 died 15th of May, 1847, at Genoa. 
 
 Among other distinguished members of Lincoln's 
 Inn, whose names have not already been mentioned, 
 are Richard Bellewe, author of an 'Abridgement of 
 the Year Book, Rich. II.;' John Manwood, author of 
 the work on ' Forest Laws ;' Ferdinando Pulton, author 
 of a treatise * de Pace ;' Michl. Dal ton, author of the 
 * Justice of the Peace, 1619; Wentworth, the author 
 
 * Lincoln's Iim Admission Book.
 
 188 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 of the well-known book on * Executors ; ' Rush worth, 
 the editor of the 'Collections;' Francis Butler, the 
 legal and polemical writer ; the Eight Honourable J. P. 
 Curran; the Right Honourable George Canning; and 
 Jeremy Bentham, who was a bencher of this house. 
 
 THE NEW HALL. 
 
 The old hall being inadequate to the wants of the 
 society, it was resolved by the bench of this house, 
 that a new hall, with other buildings attached, worthy 
 of the inn, and at the same time an ornament to the 
 metropolis, should be erected. The foundation stone 
 of the new structures was laid in April, 1843. They 
 consist of a hall, arranged north and south, and a 
 library, arranged east and west; the two buildings 
 being connected by a vestibule of a lower elevation. 
 The hall is erected in the beautiful gardens of the 
 inn, with Lincoln's Inn Fields on the western side. 
 Externally, the edifice is in two stories, the principal 
 rooms being raised considerably above the ground 
 level, and reached by flights of steps from the exte- 
 rior. The materials employed are red bricks, inter- 
 sected with dark-coloured bricks, in patterns, and stone 
 dressings, from quarries at Anston; for the interior 
 Caen stone is used. The south end, towards New 
 Square, exhibits a lofty gable, flanked on each side by 
 a square tower. These towers project slightly at this 
 end, though in a greater degree at the sides of the 
 building. They have small square-headed windows, 
 three one above another, and are surmounted by
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 189 
 
 battlements. Beneath the battlements are shields 
 placed in square compartments. The angles have 
 stone coins. Between the two towers is the great 
 window of the hall. This consists of seven lights, 
 transomed ; the head, which has a four-centred arch, 
 being filled with very beautiful tracery. On the apex 
 of the gabel is a canopied pinnacle, containing a 
 statue of the Queen, carved by Mr. Thomas. There 
 is a small window, above the large one, in the 
 gabel. The whole of the chimneys are of red brick, 
 moulded into a great variety of patterns. In dark- 
 coloured bricks, in the gable, are the letters, P. H. 
 the initials of Philip Hardwick, Esq., the archi- 
 tect of this noble structure, and the date 1843. 
 The whole base of the building is of stone, of which 
 material are the walls of the esplanade on the east 
 side, as well as the walls of the steps of ascent. At 
 the sides, the hall consists of seven divisions or 
 'bays,' in length. Taking the side next the inn, 
 the first division is occupied by the square tower. 
 At this point in the tower, is an entrance to the 
 building, reached by granite steps from the esplanade, 
 and from New Square. Immediately above the door, 
 in a square panel, is a shield bearing the arms of the 
 inn, and above a clock of exquisite design. The 
 remaining six bays are occupied by the windows of 
 the hall and offices in the basement, the last bay on 
 each side projecting as an oriel. The lower range 
 of windows are of two lights, and square-headed ; the 
 upper base moulding going round them as a label.
 
 190 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 At a considerable height above, are the windows of 
 the hall; the bays being divided from each other by 
 the buttresses, which project in three stages. The hall- 
 windows are square- headed of four lights, and above 
 is a cornice in which are grotesque and foliated bosses. 
 Above this is the parapet and battlements, with the 
 coping running horizontally and perpendicularly. The 
 buttresses are surmounted by octagonal pinnacles, 
 with ogee-caps. The oriel which occupies the last bay 
 on each side of the building, is square, with angular 
 buttresses. It has a lofty five-light window in the 
 front, divided by transoms, and a similar window of 
 one light, on the return. The roof is leaded with 
 rolls at intervals. The north gable of the building is 
 finished with a large and highly-ornamental stack of 
 chimneys. In the centre of the roof is an elegant 
 louvre constructed of wood, in three stages, with two 
 heights of small windows, and is surrounded by 
 slender pinnacles, bearing vanes, attached by flying 
 buttresses. The capping is surmounted by an elegant 
 vane, with direction-points in gilded metal-work. 
 
 The central building, which forms the entrance- 
 corridor to the library and great hall, is much lower 
 than the two other buildings. On each side, is a 
 projection with angular buttresses, from which again 
 projects a square oriel of six lights, transomed. From 
 the different angles project gurgoyles. The whole 
 is surmounted in the centre of the plan, by an octa- 
 gonal embattled crown, each side having a window 
 with a pointed arch and rich tracery. The angles are
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 191 
 
 strengthened by buttresses. On the east side, that 
 next the inn, is the main carriage-entrance, which is 
 by a broad drive up to the steps to the esplanade. 
 Thence the ascent is by another flight of steps to a 
 porch of entrance ; a four-centered arched door, and a 
 gable, with an animal holding a vane, upon the 
 apex. 
 
 The oriel of the library has a very beautiful effect ; 
 it is octagonal, with slight projection, with much 
 panelling in the angular buttresses and in the para- 
 pet, and richly ornamented with carved-work. The 
 windows of the library have their lights in two stages, 
 separated by the armorial bearings of those members 
 of the Royal Family, who have visited the inn, as 
 well as of the present Prince of Wales. 
 
 A vaulted corridor, with two short flights of steps, 
 leads into the vestibule, a rectangular apartment fifty- 
 six feet long, and twenty-two feet wide, having, at the 
 south end, the door into the hall, at the north the door 
 into the library, and east and west a door into the 
 council-room and the drawing-room. Nearly in the 
 centre of the vestibule four insulated clustered co- 
 lumns, with others attached to the side walls, and 
 connected by obtuse-pointed arches, form an octagon, 
 and carry an elegant lantern of the same shape, with a 
 window in each of its sides ornamented with painted 
 glass. The ceiling of the lantern is groined and has 
 sculptured bosses at the intersections, which are illu- 
 minated and gilt. 
 
 We now enter the hall, which, it is no exagge-
 
 192 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 ration to say, is one of the most noble apartments 
 in England. Its length is 120 feet, the width 45 
 feet, and the height to the apex of the roof 62 
 feet. On either side of the dais is an oriel about 
 eighteen feet wide, with a stone seat round it. 
 The window on the east side is ornamented with 
 stained glass, containing the armorial bearings of dis- 
 tinguished members of Lincoln's Inn chiefly brought 
 from the old hall, which has a very grand effect. 
 In the window on the west side, are the arms of 
 King Charles II, the Duke of York, (afterwards 
 James II,) and Prince Rupert, three members of 
 the inn. Six large windows on each side light the 
 apartment. The upper part of the side windows is 
 filled with the arms of the benchers in stained glass 
 executed by Mr. Willement, and the lower part with 
 small panes marked alternately L. and I. to form a 
 diaper. The walls all round are lined with oak- 
 panelling, about twelve feet high, terminated with a 
 cornice containing a carved running enrichment. The 
 screen and gallery front at the south end are of oak 
 highly decorated. The screen consists of a central 
 doorway, with glazed panels, and two openings of 
 similar form and size on each side, under arched re- 
 cesses, with oak mullions and tracery also glazed. 
 Projecting buttresses divide them, which are con- 
 tinued up so as to form pedestals for six figures of 
 the size of life representing Sir Matthew Hale, Arch- 
 bishop Tillotson, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, Lord 
 Hardwicke, Bishop Warburton, and Sir William Grant,
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 193 
 
 Master of the Rolls; over which are carved canopies 
 connected by arches, so as to form five openings in 
 front of the gallery, corresponding with those beneath. 
 The figures were carved by Mr. Thomas, the chief 
 carver at the New Houses of Parliament, by whom 
 also the statue of the Queen in the south gable was 
 executed. 
 
 The roof which is formed wholly of oak, is exceed- 
 ingly grand, it is divided by trusses into seven com- 
 partments. Each truss comprehends one large arch 
 springing from stone corbels attached to the walls, 
 and has two carved pendants at the terminations of 
 an inner arch that springs from hammer beams pro- 
 jecting from the walls on either side about one- 
 fourth of the whole span. These pendants are illu- 
 minated blue, and red, and gilt, and they each 
 carry a chandelier japanned in the same colours. 
 Between the trusses, against the wall all round, is 
 a machicholated cornice with a range of small panels 
 under it, also decorated with colours. Hogarth's fine 
 picture 'Paul before Festus,' already mentioned, is 
 placed against the wall over the door leading to the 
 dais. 
 
 The library is eighty feet long, forty feet wide, and 
 forty-four feet high; has also an open oak roof in 
 five divisions formed by trusses with pendants, and a 
 series of arches placed longitudinally on each side, 
 with a corresponding series against the side walls, ter- 
 minating on stone corbels. The book-cases jut out on 
 each side so as to form separate apartments for study, 
 

 
 194 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 and have an iron balcony running round them about 
 midway, and another gallery over them against each 
 wall, the whole length of the room. There are five win- 
 dows on the north side, and two large oriels, all orna- 
 mented with stained glass, and circular embossed 
 panes. The council-room and drawing-room are each 
 thirty-two feet by twenty-four. The walls are lined 
 with paneling, they are ceiled with deal in panels, 
 stained and varnished with carved bosses at the inter- 
 sections of the ribs, and each is lighted by a large 
 window in six lights and two stories. They have 
 both handsome carved stone chimney-pieces. In these 
 two rooms there are some good pictures a portrait 
 of Lord Chief Justice Hale, a portrait of Lord Chief 
 Justice .Rainsford, a portrait of Sir John Franklin, 
 Master in Chancery, a portrait of Earl Mansfield, a 
 miniature of Lord Clarendon, a portrait of the late 
 learned Francis Hargrave, Esq., of this Inn, by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, some drawings, busts, &c., and a 
 valuable collection' of engraved portraits of nearly all 
 the distinguished judges of England. 
 
 BANQUET, IN LINCOLN'S INN HALL, TO HER MAJESTY 
 QUEEN VICTORIA.* 
 
 On the hall being completed, by order in council of 
 the 29th of July, 1845, it was ordered that it should 
 be referred to a committee, to be named by the 
 treasurer, to consider, relative to an invitation to her 
 
 * MS. Book Lincoln's Inn.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 195 
 
 majesty, on the opening of the hall, in order that the 
 ceremony of opening it should, if possible, be graced 
 and honoured by the presence of the queen. Communi- 
 cation in the proper quarter having been made, it was 
 found that there was no objection on the part of her 
 majesty to follow the precedent of former sovereigns ; 
 and, on the 6th of October, on a special visit for the 
 purpose being made to Windsor Castle by the trea- 
 surer, J. A. F. Simpkinson, Esq., the Vice-Charicellor of 
 England, and William Selwyn, Esq., a formal accept- 
 ance of the invitation was given by the queen. It 
 was then arranged that her majesty would be present 
 at a dejeuner, on the 13th of October. Accordingly, 
 no time was lost in making the necessary preparations, 
 and an advertisement was inserted in the daily news- 
 papers, requesting all barristers of Lincoln's Inn, who 
 wished to attend the ceremony, to put down their 
 names before a certain day, as it was important to 
 know how many would attend. 
 
 About three hundred and eighty put down their 
 names, and afterwards it was considered proper that 
 certain students should attend. 
 
 The 13th of October having arrived, and admis- 
 sion being only to be had by tickets, there was no 
 disorder or crowding in any part of the day. Many 
 barristers attended in their professional costume, 
 walking about the inn singly, or in twos and threes; 
 many ladies also attended, who had seats in the 
 gallery at the end of the hall, chiefly either wives or 
 daughters of the benchers. 
 
 o2
 
 196 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 The queen's counsel wore their silk gowns and their 
 long full-bottomed wigs. Lord Cottenham, Lord 
 Campbell, and the speaker, wore their black velvet 
 court dresses; the three vice-chancellors their full 
 dress judges' wigs, and Lord Bexley his blue-and-gold 
 official dress, as a former minister of the crown. 
 
 For some hours before the arrival of the queen, all 
 Lincoln's Inn was in commotion; but the hall doors 
 were to be closed at one o'clock, and, as that hour 
 approached, the hall became fuller; all steps turned 
 thitherward, and the tables soon became occupied. 
 At the top of the hall, a table, was placed upon the 
 dais for the Queen, His Royal Highness the Prince 
 Albert, and the other guests who accompanied the 
 queen, the benchers and the preacher of the inn ; and 
 then, transversely, four tables, reaching to the bottom 
 of the hall, were devoted to the bar, and such of the 
 students as were permitted to attend. Each plate 
 was numbered, and the barristers were placed accord- 
 ing to their seniority. The tables were also hand- 
 somely and substantially decorated and furnished; 
 the entertainment being a cold one. The band of 
 the Coldstream Guards attended, and played during 
 the time her majesty was in the hall. 
 
 At the top of the hall, from time to time, appeared 
 not only the benchers, but the cabinet ministers, who 
 were invited. Lord Campbell was one of the first 
 to make his appearance, and the Duke of Wellington, 
 dressed as a field-marshal, but entirely undecorated. 
 Lord Lincoln made his appearance as a cabinet
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 197 
 
 minister. All the benchers being assembled, and, 
 the hour of arrival drawing near, the procession for 
 receiving her majesty, headed by the treasurer, made 
 its way down the hall, and placed itself at the south- 
 east entrance of the hall, and shortly afterwards the 
 queen, attended by Prince Albert, four ladies in wait- 
 ing, and certain high officers of the household, ar- 
 rived. The party came in five private carriages, 
 attended by a body of the Life Guards ; and, imme- 
 diately, in the hall, the National Anthem was heard, 
 and, in a few moments afterwards, Mr. Doyle, the 
 steward, announced 'the Queen.' Her majesty entered, 
 passing up the middle of the hall, leaning on Prince 
 Albert's arm, and preceded by the treasurer, walk- 
 ing backwards, amidst loud and hearty cheering.* 
 Her majesty walked to the library, followed by her 
 ladies, the cabinet ministers, officers of state, and the 
 benchers, who came, two and two, according to the 
 date of their election to the bench. The queen wore 
 a blue drawn silk bonnet, with a blue feather ; a dress 
 of Limerick lace, and a scarlet shawl, with a broad 
 gold edging. 
 
 In the library, the Queen, seated on a chair of 
 state, held a short levee, and received an address 
 from the benchers, the barristers, (who were repre- 
 sented by Mr. Montague Chambers, Queen's Counsel, 
 but created too recently to be elected to the bench, 
 
 * There is a water-coloured drawing representing her Majesty 
 entering the hall, in the drawing-room, Lincoln's Inn.
 
 198 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 and four senior barristers,) and the students or fel- 
 lows, two of whom were also present. 
 
 A chair was placed for the Prince on the left of her 
 Majesty. His Royal Highness did not occupy it, but 
 remained standing. 
 
 The address was read by the treasurer, to the 
 Queen, on his knee, and was as follows : 
 
 " TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. 
 
 " The humble address of the Treasurer and Masters 
 of the Bench, the Barristers, and Fellows of the Society 
 of Lincoln's Inn. 
 
 " MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN : 
 
 " We, your Majesty's faithful subjects, the Trea- 
 surer and Masters of the Bench, the Barristers and Fel- 
 lows of the Society of Lincoln's Inn, entreat your Majesty's 
 permission humbly to testify the joy and gratitude in- 
 spired by your august presence. 
 
 " The edifice in which, under such happy auspices, we 
 are for the first time assembled, is adorned with memorials 
 of many servants of the Crown, eminent for their talents, 
 their learning, and their integrity. To the services, as 
 recorded in history, of these our distinguished predeces- 
 sors we appeal, in all humility, for our justification in 
 aspiring to receive your Majesty beneath this roof. 
 
 " Two centuries have nearly passed away since the Inns 
 of Court were so honoured by the presence of the reigning 
 Prince. We cannot, therefore, but feel deeply grateful 
 for a mark so conspicuous of your Majesty's condescen- 
 sion, and of your gracious regard for the profession of the 
 law. 
 
 " It is our earnest desire to deserve this proof of your 
 Majesty's favour by a zealous execution of the trust re- 
 posed in us, to guard and maintain the dignity of the bar 
 of England.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 199 
 
 " In our endeavours to this end we shall but follow in 
 the course which it has been your Majesty's royal pleasure 
 to pursue. Signally has your Majesty fostered the in- 
 dependence of the bar, and the purity of the bench, by 
 distributing the honours which you have graciously be- 
 stowed on the profession among the members of all parties 
 in the state. 
 
 " Permit us also, most gracious Sovereign, to offer to 
 your Majesty our sincere congratulations on the great 
 amendments of the law which have been effected since 
 your Majesty's accession to the throne, throughout many 
 portions of your vast empire. 
 
 " The pure glory of these labours will be dear to your 
 Majesty's royal heart, for it arises from the welfare of 
 your subjects. 
 
 " That your Majesty may long reign over a loyal, pros- 
 perous, and contented people, is our devout and fervent 
 prayer to Almighty God." 
 
 HER MAJESTY'S REPLY. 
 
 " I receive with cordial satisfaction this dutiful address. 
 
 " My beloved Consort and I have accepted with plea- 
 sure your invitation ; for I recognise the services rendered 
 to the Crown, at various periods of our history, by dis- 
 tinguished members of this society ; and I gladly testify 
 my respect for the profession of the law, by which I am 
 aided in administering justice, and in maintaining the 
 prerogatives of the Crown and the rights of my people. 
 
 " I congratulate you on the completion of this noble 
 edifice ; it is worthy of the memory of your predecessors 
 and of the station which you occupy in connection with 
 the bar of England. 
 
 "I sincerely hope that learning long may flourish, and 
 that virtue and talent may rise to eminence within these 
 walls."
 
 200 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 The above address and its answer having been 
 read, the treasurer was knighted, and his Royal 
 Highness Prince Albert, was invited to become a 
 member, to which he at once assented, and the ad- 
 mission-book being handed to her Majesty and Prince 
 Albert, they were graciously pleased to sign their 
 names therein, as also did the following persons, 
 The Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Wellington, the 
 Marquess of Exeter, the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord 
 Liverpool, the Earl of De la Warr, the Earl of 
 Jersey, the Earl of Hardwick, the Earl of Lincoln, 
 Lord George Lenox, Sir James Graham, Colonel Bou- 
 verie, the Hon. Colonel Grey, the Hon. Captain Alex- 
 ander Hood, and Captain Francis Seymour.* 
 
 Prince Albert was subsequently made a barrister 
 and a bencher; and by his acceptance of those de- 
 grees conferred additional honour on the Inn. 
 
 The ceremony being over in the library, her Ma- 
 jesty, accompanied by his Royal Highness, and at- 
 tended by the above party then proceeded to the Hall. 
 Grace having been said by the chaplain, the assem- 
 bly received the permission of the Queen to be seated. 
 Her Majesty, occupying a chair of state with a 
 canopy, partook of the banquet. 
 
 On the right of the Queen sat Prince Albert, next 
 to his Royal Highness, the Lord Chancellor, sup- 
 ported by the Duke of Wellington, and the Earl of 
 Aberdeen. 
 
 * The same book also contains the autograph of his Royal 
 Highness the Duke of Cambridge, 25th March 1847.
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 201 
 
 On the left of her Majesty sat the Treasurer, Sir 
 Francis Simpkinson, and one of the ladies in wait- 
 ing, next the Earl of Hardwick, and others of the 
 court. 
 
 At the end of the banquet, which lasted about half 
 an hour, grace was again said, and then the treasurer, 
 having received permission from her Majesty to pro- 
 pose a toast, proposed the health of the royal and 
 illustrious visitor, the Queen, who had that day 
 honoured them with her royal presence. This was 
 responded to with many cheers. When the cheering 
 had subsided, the treasurer, after stating that his royal 
 highness had that day become a member of the Inn, 
 begged, with the permission of her Majesty, to pro- 
 pose the health of ' the new member, his Koyal 
 Highness, Prince Albert.' This was also received 
 with loud cheering, and was rendered more interest- 
 ing by the manner in which the Queen joined in the 
 toast. His Royal Highness returned thanks, and said 
 he had received her Majesty's commands to propose 
 ' Prosperity to the Honourable Society of Lincoln's 
 Inn,' which was drunk. Soon after, the Queen, ac- 
 companied by the ministers and benchers, withdrew 
 amidst loud cheering. Her Majesty and her party 
 retired into the Council Room, from whence, after her 
 carriage had been summoned, Her Majesty came 
 again into the Hall, and, accompanied by the trea- 
 surer and benchers, proceeded amid loud cheers and 
 departed. 
 
 It is further to be noticed that Prince Albert, on
 
 202 LNNS OF COURT. 
 
 withdrawing, after the feast, put on a student's gown 
 over his field-marshal's uniform and so wore it on 
 retiring from the Hall. 
 
 THE LIBRARY. 
 
 The library of this Inn is worthy of the mag- 
 nificent apartment appropriated for study in the 
 buildings attached to the new hall. It contains 
 many valuable manuscripts, and upwards of 10,000 
 volumes on legal and cognate subjects, fresh additions 
 being made to it every year. John Nethersale, a 
 member of this society, may be considered as the 
 founder of the library. In 13 Hen. VII. he be- 
 queathed forty marks, partly towards the building 
 a library for the benefit of the students of the laws 
 of England, and partly that every priest of this house 
 then being, or hereafter to be, who should celebrate 
 mass and other divine service every Friday weekly, 
 should then sing a mass of requiem, and also in the 
 time of the said mass, before his first lavature, say the 
 psalm of de profundis, with the orisons and collects 
 accustomed, for the repose of his soul. In 24 
 Hen. VII. the building of the library seems to have 
 been completed. In the reign of King James I., an 
 order was made at a council of the bench, that for 
 the more speedy furnishing the library with books, 
 every one that should thenceforth be called to the 
 bench in this society should give 20s. towards the 
 purchase of books, and every person thenceforth
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 203 
 
 called to the bar the sum of 13s. 4c?., all which sums 
 were directed to be paid to Mr. Mathew Hadde, 
 who, for the better ordering of the said library, was 
 then made master thereof. Lord Chief Justice Hale 
 bequeathed his valuable collection of MSS. to this 
 library, and left the following directions in his 
 will concerning them : 
 
 " As a testimony of my honour and respect to the 
 Society of Lincoln's Inn, where I had the greatest part 
 of my education, I give and bequeath to that honourable 
 Society the several manuscript books contained in a sche- 
 dule annexed to my will. They are a treasure worth the 
 having and keeping, which I have been near forty years 
 gathering with very great industry and expense. My 
 desire is that they be kept safe and all together in re- 
 membrance of me. They are fit to be bound in leather, 
 and chained and kept in archives. I desire they may not 
 be lent out or disposed of: only if I happen hereafter to 
 have any of my posterity of that society that desires to 
 transcribe any book, and gives very good security to 
 restore it again within a prefixed time, such as the 
 benchers of that society in council shall approve of, then, 
 and not otherwise, only one book at one time may be 
 lent out to them by the society ; so that there be no 
 more but one of those books abroad out of the library at 
 any one time. They are a treasure not fit for every 
 man's view, nor is every man capable of making use of 
 them. Only I would have nothing of these books printed, 
 but entirely preserved together for the use of the in- 
 dustrious and learned members of that worthy society."
 
 "204 
 
 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 1. Statute Law. 
 
 2. Common Law, &c. 
 
 Hale's collection may be classified under three 
 heads : 
 
 j Statutes, on vellum, illuminated. 
 1 Other parliamentary matter. 
 
 1. Ancient writers on the law.* 
 
 2. Copies and extracts of records 
 
 in the tower, of various sorts. 
 
 3. Itinera, Placita, et Assiza. 
 
 4. Repertories of, and references 
 
 to records in public offices. 
 
 5. Reports of Judicial proceed- 
 
 ings ; M.S. Year Books, &c. 
 
 1. Pipe Rolls, Edw. IV. 
 
 2. Lindewode's Provincial Con- 
 
 stitutions. 
 
 3. Liber Niger Admiralitatis. 
 
 4. Inquisitions at Lynn, Hen. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 5. Curia Militaris ; cases of duel 
 
 to Hen. VI. 
 
 6. Extracts from records concern- 
 
 ing the Mint. 
 
 7. Claims at the Coronation Rich. 
 
 II. 
 
 8. Chartularies of Battle and 
 
 Bath. 
 
 9. Lord Hale's Common Place 
 
 Book. Described by himself 
 "The Black Book of the 
 New Law, collected by me, 
 and digested into alphabeti- 
 cal titles, written with my 
 own hand, and which is the 
 original copy." 
 
 3. Miscellaneous MSS. 
 
 * MS. copies of < Glanville,' ' Bracton,' ' Fleta,' and the < Miroir.'
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 205 
 
 John Coxe, Esq., Treasurer of this society, A. D. 
 1775, bequeathed his valuable collection of books to 
 the society. 
 
 By an order of council, 6th July, 1808, the manu- 
 script collection of the books and notes of the late 
 Mr. Serjeant Hill,* for many years a member of the 
 midland circuit, and for thirty-five years the king's 
 ancient Serjeant, was purchased by the society and 
 deposited in the library. 
 
 Among the recent important additions to the 
 library deserve to be noticed ninety-seven bundles 
 of MSS. consisting chiefly of the paper books of 
 Ashurst, J. ; Buller, J. ; Lawrence, J. ; and Dam- 
 pier, J. ; presented to Lincoln's Inn by John Lucius 
 Dampier, Esq.; also a collection of books upon the 
 civil law and upon the modern law of foreign coun- 
 tries, presented by Charles Purton Cooper, Esq. 
 
 There is a master of the library elected annually 
 from among the benchers, who appropriates the library 
 fund to the purchase of new works. Every gentle- 
 man, on being called to the bar, contributes five 
 pounds to the library, and every master of the bench, 
 on his election, contributes eleven guineas. 
 
 The library is regularly open every day (Sunday 
 excepted,) from ten o'clock till four o'clock during 
 term time, and during the same hours in vacation, 
 with the exception of the month of September. 
 
 * Mr. Serjeant Hill died Feb. 21st, 1808, aged 92. When 
 upwards of 90 he addressed a vigorous memorial to the Lord 
 Chancellor respecting the plot to assassinate the Emperor Na- 
 poleon.
 
 206 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Several of the members of this Inn have testified 
 their affection to the society by bequests and gifts : 
 
 Lord Wyndham, Baron Finglass, and Lord Chancellor 
 of Ireland, left by his will 2001. to be expended in de- 
 corating the hall, which sum was applied in the purchase 
 of Hogarth's picture of Paul before Felix. 
 
 Sir Rowland Wandesford, Attorney-General of the 
 Court of Wards, and one of the Masters of the Bench, 
 bequeathed to the society " one fair silver bason and 
 ewer," with an inscription and his arms engraven thereon, 
 1652. 
 
 John Greene, Esq., one of the Masters of the Bench, 
 and Recorder of the City of London, 1692, gave a large 
 silver cup with two ears, to be used upon festival days as 
 poculum cJmritatis. 
 
 William Fellowes, Esq., one of the Masters of the 
 Court of Chancery, and a Master of the Bench, pre- 
 sented a large silver punch-bowl with an escalopped rim 
 and two handles, with his arms and inscriptions, 1718. 
 
 John Coxe, Esq., Treasurer, 1775, bequeathed his va- 
 luable collection of books, several paintings, and a marble 
 bust of Cicero to the society. 
 
 Sir John Churchill, one of the Masters of the Bench, 
 and a Reader of the society, " gave a faire large diall to 
 this societie and plac'd the same upon the summer-house 
 at the north end of the inner garden." 
 
 Nicholas Franklyn, Esq., one of the Masters of the 
 Bench, and Reader of this society, gave two large silver 
 flagons and salvors, to be used in the chappell of this 
 society, with his armorial bearings. 
 
 Edward Rich, Esq., presented a handsome silver cup 
 with two handles and a cover to the society, Car. II di . R, 
 17. 
 
 Arthur Earl of Anglesey, a member of this society, 
 and Keeper of his Majesty's Privy Seal, presented a silver
 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 207 
 
 basin and ewer, with his armorial bearings and an inscrip- 
 tion, 1675. 
 
 Sir Richard Rainsford, one of the Justices of the 
 King's Bench, 1673, and subsequently Lord Chief Justice, 
 whose portrait is in the Council Room, presented a large 
 silver cup to the society, with the following inscription : 
 " Hoc Pignus amoris Dicavit Ricardus Rainsford Mil. 
 Capitalis Justiciarius de Banco Regis, Hospitio Lincol- 
 niensi Matri suae semper Colendae, 1677." 
 
 Cavendish Weedon, Esq., presented a carved model of 
 Lincoln's Inn chapel to the society. 
 
 Sir James Allan Park, a bencher, and Justice of the 
 Common Pleas, in 1806, presented two silver-gilt chalices 
 for the use of the chapel with the arms of the Inn en- 
 graved upon them, and an inscription. 
 
 TANCRED'S STUDENTS. 
 
 Christopher Tancred, of Whixley, in Yorkshire, with 
 a zeal for the promotion of sound learning that de- 
 serves praise and imitation, in the year 1754 be- 
 queathed a considerable property vested in trustees to 
 be appropriated for ever to the education of twelve 
 young men ; four to be instructed in divinity at Christ's 
 College, Cambridge; four in the study of physic at 
 Gonvil and Caius College, Cambridge, and four in the 
 study of common law at Lincoln's Inn. The trustees 
 are the Master of Christ College, Cambridge; the 
 Master of Gonvil and Caius College, Cambridge ; the 
 President of the College of Physicians, London; the 
 Treasurer of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn ; 
 the Master of the Charter House or Sutton's Hospital ; 
 the Governor of Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, and
 
 208 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 their successors for ever. In 1761 these trustees 
 were incorporated by Act of Parliament. The persons 
 elected are styled Tancred's students : they must not 
 be less than sixteen years of age, must be natives of 
 Great Britain, and of the Church of England, and of 
 such low circumstances as not to be capable of obtain- 
 ing the education directed by the testator without 
 such assistance. To each of the students is given the 
 sum of 50/. per annum, and this is continued for 
 three years after they have taken respectively the 
 degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Physic, and 
 Barrister-at-law. The election of Tancred students 
 is made as often as any vacancy occurs twenty-eight 
 days after such vacancy ; the election taking place in 
 Lincoln's Inn Hall. A Latin oration in commemora- 
 tion of the liberality of the donor is every Hilary 
 Term delivered by one of the students in the hall. 
 Candidates for Tancred's studentships apply by peti- 
 tion in the following form : 
 
 " TO THE GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES OF TANCRED's 
 CHARITIES. 
 
 " The petition of A. B. sheweth that your petitioner 
 
 is the son of , and was born at , in the 
 
 month of , 18 . 
 
 " That your petitioner is of the religion of the Church of 
 England, and is in every respect qualified to be a student 
 in the common law upon the foundation of Christopher 
 Tancred, Esq. And, in regard, your petitioner is of such 
 low abilities as not to be capable of obtaining the educa- 
 tion directed by the settlement of the said Christopher 
 Tancred, the founder, without the assistance of such
 
 FURNIVAL'S INN. 209 
 
 charity as is thereby given : Your petitioner, therefore, 
 prays that he may be admitted a student in the common 
 law at Lincoln's Inn upon the foundation of the said 
 Christopher Tancred. And your petitioner will pray, &c." 
 
 To this petition must be annexed a certificate 
 signed by the minister of his parish in the following 
 form : 
 
 " I do hereby certify that A. B., the petitioner in the 
 annexed petition, is a native of Great Britain, and of the 
 religion of the Church of England, and that he was 
 
 baptised at the parish church of , the day of , 
 
 in the year of our Lord . As witness my hand this 
 
 day of , ." 
 
 All Tancred's students desirous of entering on the 
 study of the law are, by a resolution of the Four Inns 
 of Court, 20th of April, 1799, exempted from the 
 deposit of 100/. required from other members on 
 admission. 
 
 FURNIVAI/S INN. 
 
 Thavie's Inn and Furnival's Inn were formerly Inns 
 of Chancery, appendages of Lincoln's Inn, and the 
 latter is still the property of the society. Thavie's 
 Inn was a residence of students in the time of King 
 Edward III., as appears by the last will and testament 
 of John Thavie, who died in that reign.* In the reign 
 of Edward VI., George Nicholas, citizen and mercer of 
 London, granted the property to the benchers of Lin- 
 coln's Inn, and their successors, for the use of the stu- 
 dents of the law ; after which time it was demised to 
 
 * Dug. Orig.
 
 210 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 the principal and fellows of Thavie's Inn, which so- 
 ciety had been, it would seem, from Fortescue, one'of 
 the lesser houses of Lincoln's Inn, for some centuries 
 previously, at an annual rent of $1. 6$. Sd. In 1769, 
 Thavie's Inn was sold by the benchers of Lincoln's 
 Inn to Mr. Middleton. It was subsequently destroyed 
 by fire, and a range of private buildings now occupies 
 its site. 
 
 Furnival's Inn was anciently the residence of the 
 noble family of Furriival, and was demised by them 
 to certain students of the law, who occupied it in 
 9 Henry IV. The inheritance of it having passed to 
 Francis Earl of Shrewsbury, it was sold by him on 
 the 1st of December, 1 Edw. VI., in consideration of 
 120/. to Edward Gryffin, Esq., then solicitor-general to 
 the king, William Ropre and Richard Heydone, Esqs., 
 and their heirs to the use of the Society of Lincoln's 
 Inn. From this time the principal and fellows of 
 Furnival's Inn paid to the Society of Lincoln's Inn 
 the yearly rent of 3/. 6s. Sd. The inn was rebuilt 
 in the reign of James I., it is supposed from a plan of 
 Inigo Jones, and the society continued to occupy it till 
 the year 1817. In that year the old and ruinous build- 
 ings having been partly destroyed by fire, and having 
 partly fallen down, a new lease of the whole of the 
 ground was granted for ninety-nine years, at a rent of 
 500/. per annum, and 7QL land-tax redeemed to Mr. 
 Henry Peto, who erected the present substantial and 
 commodious inn, which now forms one of the most 
 prominent objects in Holborn in the widest and most
 
 FURNIVAL'S INN. 211 
 
 elevated part of which it is situated. The inn, which 
 is extra-parochial, now contains 109 sets of chambers, 
 consisting of two, three, four, or five rooms each, 
 besides the basements ; all well lighted and ventilated, 
 with good stone stair-cases secure from fire, and well 
 supplied with water. The Society of Furnival's Inn 
 seems to have ceased to exist as a community in 1817. 
 The gentlemen of Thavie's Inn and Furnival's 
 formerly enjoyed many privileges at Lincoln's Inn. 
 In 27 Eliz., by an order of the bench at Lincoln's 
 Inn the admission of the gentlemen of those two Inns 
 of Chancery was fixed at 40s., while for students 
 from other Inns of Chancery it was five marks ; and 
 in 36 Eliz. it was ordered that gentlemen of those two 
 lesser houses might, after their admittance in Lincoln's 
 Inn, stay two years in those houses, paying their pen- 
 sions during those two years, and that they should be 
 discharged of casting into commons and of all vaca- 
 tions and charges of Christmas during the time of 
 their stay in Lincoln's Inn for those first two years. 
 Sir William Jones, Chief Justice of Ireland, after- 
 wards a Justice of the Common Pleas and King's Bench 
 in England, was for two years a student in Furnival's 
 Inn previously to his admission to Lincoln's Inn, and 
 many other eminent lawyers acquired the elements of 
 the law in this seminary. The studies and exercises in 
 the two Inns of Chancery, as well as all others, were 
 under the direction of the benchers of the Inn of Court to 
 which they belonged. In 38 Eliz. it was ordered at a 
 council in Lincoln's Inn that the readers in chancery
 
 212 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 should thenceforth keep their summer and Lent read- 
 ings by the space of three weeks in each vacation, 
 and each of them perform three grand moots with 
 their pleadings, two lectures for every of their cases 
 and also reading each of those weeks, and in the term 
 time that they should hold two petty inootes in each 
 week, as also in each week of the term read two lec- 
 tures at the least, and leave the same written in 
 paper in the house, accordingly as in former times had 
 been used and accustomed. Sir Thomas More for 
 three years filled the office of reader in this inn with 
 great reputation. The arms of Furnival's Inn are 
 Arg. a bend betwixt six martlets with a bordure 
 azure.* 
 
 * Carter's ' Analysis of Honor.'
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Inner ^Temple. 
 
 ^ IN the beginning of the reign 
 of King Henry II. the Knights 
 Templars, who were then in the 
 plenitude of their power through- 
 out Europe, removed from the 
 Old Temple in Holborn, which 
 stood on the site of the present Southampton Build- 
 ings, and took up their residence on the banks of the 
 Thames, on the space of ground extending from White 
 Friars to Essex House without Temple Bar. From 
 henceforth this residence obtained the name of Novum 
 Templum: 
 
 " Here whilom wont the Templar knights to bide."
 
 214 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 and here, in imitation of the temple near to the holy 
 sepulchre at Jerusalem, they erected that exquisite 
 church which still remains as a monument of their 
 grandeur, and of which it may be said, without any 
 exaggeration, 
 
 " Ut rosa flos florum, 
 
 Sic est domus ista domorum." 
 
 In the early part of the reign of Edward II. Cle- 
 ment V., at the instigation of Philip of France, by 
 the exercise of his apostolic power, suppressed the 
 order throughout Christendom. Their possessions in 
 England came to the crown; and the king bestowed 
 the Temple upon Thomas Earl of Lancaster; but that 
 earl forfeited it by rebellion, and it reverted to the 
 crown. The king now granted it to Adomare de Va- 
 lence Earl of Pembroke, and after his decease to Hugh 
 le Despenser the younger for life. It, however, devolved 
 once more to the crown, Despenser being attainted 
 in the first year of King Edward the Third. By a 
 decree of the council at Vienna the lands of the Tem- 
 plars were ordered to be transferred to the Knights 
 Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem; in accordance 
 with which King Edward the Third granted the Tem- 
 ple to that order in England ; who soon afterwards, ac- 
 cording to tradition,* demised the same for the rent 
 of 101. per annum to contain professors and students 
 of the law, who came from Thavie's Inn in Holborn. 
 We find that in the 18 Edw. III., Clifford's Inn, one 
 of the Inns of Chancery, dependant on the Inner 
 
 * Dug. Orig.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 215 
 
 Temple, was then inhabited by apprenticiis de banco ; 
 from which it may be inferred that the College of 
 Common Lawyers had been settled in the Temple 
 prior to that date. Notwithstanding the destruction 
 of the records of the Temple by Wat Tyler and 
 several subsequent calamities from fire, there is suffi- 
 cient testimony to prove that in the reigns of Ed- 
 ward III. and Kichard II., the Temple was then the 
 residence of those learned communities which have since 
 made the name of * Templar' even more renowned 
 than the Red Cross Knights had in their time done. 
 
 Chaucer gives us the following account of the 
 Temple in his day : 
 
 " A manciple * there was of the Temple, 
 Of which all catours might taken ensemple, 
 For to be wise in buying of vitaile ; 
 For whether he pay'd or took by taile, 
 Algate he wayted so in his ashate, 
 That he was aye before in good estate. 
 Now is not that of God a full faire grace, 
 That such a leude man's wit shall pace 
 The wisdome of an heape of learned men ? 
 Of masters had he no than thrice ten, 
 That were of Law expert and curious, 
 Of which there was a dozen in that house, 
 Worthy to been stewards of rent and land 
 Of any lord that is in England. 
 To maken him live by his proper good 
 In honour debtless, but if he were wood ; 
 Or live as scarcely as him list desire, 
 And able to helpen all a shire, 
 In any case that might have fallen or hap 
 And yet the manciple sett all her capp." 
 
 * See Chap. MIDDLE TEMPLE.
 
 216 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 ' The father of English poetry ' was himself a student 
 of law in the Temple. Dugdale, in his 'Origines Juridi- 
 ciales,' Bishop Tanner, in his 'Bibliotheca,' the 'Biogra- 
 phia Britannica,' andMorrell, in his 'Life of Chaucer,' 
 all agree in opinion that Chaucer was a member of 
 one of the Temples. Speght, an author who wrote in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth, expressly affirms that 
 Chaucer was of the Inner Temple, and that one mas- 
 ter Buckley, of that learned society, had some time 
 previously seen a record in that house, where Geoffrey 
 Chaucer was fined two shillings " for beating a 
 Franciscan friar in Fleet Street ;" and Leland informs 
 us that " forum Londinense et collegia leguleiorum, 
 qui ibidem patria jura interpretantur, frequentavit." 
 The description of * the man of law,' and of ' the 
 manciple of the Temple,' in the prologue to the * Can- 
 terbury Tales,' as well as the knowledge of law exhi- 
 bited in Chaucer's writings, tend to confirm the state- 
 ments of those writers. He appears to have become 
 acquainted with John Gower, the poet, during his so- 
 journ in the Temple, who, it is said by good authori- 
 ties, was also a student of the law here. Gower 
 thus alludes to his friend in one of his poems: 
 
 " And grete well Chaucer, when ye mete, 
 As my disciple and my poete ; 
 For in the flowres of his youth, 
 In sundry wise, as he well couth, 
 Of ditees and of songes glade 
 The which he for my sake made, &c." 
 
 Leland, speaking of Gower, says, " Coluit forum et
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 217 
 
 patrias leges lucri causa ; prater ccetera tamen liuma- 
 niores litteras : multum in poesi sudamt? 
 
 In the reign of Richard II., the Temple was plun- 
 dered by the rebels under Wat Tyler, when several valu- 
 able records were destroyed : "After breaking into the 
 Fleet Prison," says Stow, in his ' Chronicles,' " they 
 destroyed and burnt many houses, and defaced the 
 beauty of Fleet Streete. From thence they went 
 to the Temple to destroy it, and plucked down the 
 houses, tooke off the tyles of the other buildings left ; 
 went to the churche, tooke out all the bookes and 
 remembrances that were in the hatches of the pren- 
 tices of the law, carried them into the high street, and 
 there burnt them. This house they spoyled for 
 wrathe they bare to the prior of St. John's, unto 
 whom it belonged; and, after a number of them had 
 sacked this Temple, what with labour and what with 
 wine being overcome, they lay down under the walls 
 and housing, and were slain like swyne ; one of them 
 killing another for old grudge and hatred, and others 
 also made quick dispatch of them. A number of them 
 that burnt the Temple went from thence to the 
 Savoy, destroying in their way all the houses that 
 belonged to the Hospital of St. John." 
 
 Walsingham,* in his ' History of the Reign of 
 Richard II.,' gives the following narrative of these 
 events : 
 
 " Quibus perpetratis satis maliciose etiam locum qui 
 vocatur Temple Barre, in quo Apprenticii juris mora- 
 
 * Hist. Angl. 249.
 
 218 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 bantur nobiliores, diruerunt ob iram quern conceperant 
 contra Robertum de Hales, magistrum hospi tails sancti 
 Johannis, de quo praefati sumus, ubi plura munimenta 
 quas juridici in custodia habuerunt igne consumpta. Et 
 amplius insanientes illam domum nobilem hospitalis sancti 
 Johannis de Clerkenwell imraisso igne ardere fecerunt 
 per continues septem dies." 
 
 There is a curious account of the plundering of the 
 Temple in an old Norman French record, cited in 
 * Hearne's Curious Discourses,' from a manuscript book 
 of St. Mary's Abbey, York: 
 
 " Les Rebells alleront a le Temple, et jetterons les 
 measons a le terre et avegheront Tighles, issient que ils 
 fairont coverture en mal array, et alleront en 1'eglise, et 
 pristeront touts les liveres et rolles de remembrances, que 
 fueront en lour Hutches or Cottuges deins le Temple de 
 apprentices de la ley et porteront in le haut chimene, et 
 les arderont." 
 
 The Inns of Court appear likewise to have felt the 
 fury of the populace, during the insurrection under 
 Jack Cade, A. D. 1450. Shakspeare, in the second 
 part of Henry VI., represents one of the rabble 
 shouting, ' to kill all the lawyers,' and Cade issuing 
 his orders : 
 
 " Now go some and pull down the Savoy ; others to 
 the Inns of Court ; down with them all ! " 
 
 The two societies of the Temple continued as tenants 
 to the knights hospitalers of St. John till the dissolu- 
 tion of that order, in 30 Hen. VIII. The societies of 
 the Inner and the Middle Temples then became tenants 
 of the crown, holding their premises by leave till the 
 sixth year of King James I. A Scotsman having
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 219 
 
 applied to James to make him a grant of the Temple, 
 the two societies addressed an urgent prayer to his 
 majesty, not to accede to the request. King James, 
 by letters patent,* dated at Westminster, 13th of 
 August, made a grant thereof, by the name of hos- 
 picia et capitalia messuagia cognita per nomen de le 
 Inner Temple, et le Middle Temple, sive novi Templi, 
 London, unto Sir Julius Caesar, knight, then Chan- 
 cellor and under Treasurer of the Exchequer; Sir 
 Henry Montague, knight, then Recorder of the City 
 of London; William Towse and Richard Daston, 
 esquires, then Treasurers of the said Inns of Court; 
 Sir John Boyse, knight; Andrew Grey, Thomas 
 Farmer, Raphe Radcliffe, and divers others, esquires, 
 and then benchers of these houses, to have and to 
 hold the same mansions, with the gardens and appur- 
 tenances, to the said Sir Julius Cassar, Sir Henry Mon- 
 tague, and the rest above mentioned, their heirs and as- 
 signees for ever, for lodgings, reception, and education 
 of the professors and students of the laws of this realm : 
 yielding and paying to the said king, his heirs and 
 successors, at the receipt of his exchequer, viz., for 
 the mansion, called the Inner Temple, the sum of ten 
 pounds yearly; and for the Middle Temple, ten 
 pounds yearly also, at the feasts of St. Michael the 
 archangel, and the Annunciation of our Lady, by equal 
 portions."! 
 
 Leigh, who usually gets the credit of having sug- 
 gested the Pegasus as the arms of the Inner Temple, 
 
 * Rolls Chapel, Pat. 6 Jac. p. 28 n. 9. t Dug. Orig.
 
 220 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 gives the following account* of the flying horse: 
 " He beareth azure a Pegasus argent, called the horse 
 of honour, whose condition Sorares the XXIII. Em- 
 peror of Assiria honoured so much for his swift 
 course, as he judged him not framed of the grosse 
 masse of common horses. And therefore S. Gefierie 
 Chaucer built unto him (after his owne nature and 
 condition a house called Fame, a place meete for 
 the horse of honour), whose originall the poetes faine 
 was when valiant Perseus, the souldior of the goddes 
 Pallas, in dangerous fight atchiued by helpe of her 
 glittering shielde the battaile against Medusa, the 
 King of Phorcius, who, wen he had severed the 
 head of this ougelie monster, straight gusht out the 
 streames of bloud in such abundance as thereof grew 
 the flying horse, to show forth the fame of so happy 
 a conquest: who, taking flight towards the heavens 
 (where hee is now fixed), strake with his feete the 
 highest toppe of Mount Helicon, from whence imme- 
 diately rose the fountaine (Hypocrene), wherein the 
 muses take their delight and bathe, which fountaine 
 sithence in all ages hath sufficiently watered the 
 growing plantes of the pleasant countries adjoining. 
 And lately so with cleare streames hath abounded as 
 exceeding the old limits burst foorth the bankes, 
 reaching themselves to countries farther distant, 
 moystening the soyles thereof." Leigh then describes 
 how those streams had " pleasantlie washt ouer the 
 olde forworne temples," and proceeds to describe the 
 
 *' Accidence of Armorie.'
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 221 
 
 Inner Temple revels in the fourth year of Elizabeth, 
 of which we have already spoken. He gives the 
 following graphic description of this house in the 
 reign of Elizabeth : " a place privileged by the 
 most excellent princess the high governor of the 
 whole island, wherein are store of gentlemen of the 
 whole nation, that repair thither to learn to rule and 
 obey by law, to yield their fleece to their prince and 
 common-weal; as also to use all other exercises of 
 body and mind whereunto nature most aptly serveth 
 to adorn, by speaking, countenance, gesture, and use 
 of apparel, the person of a gentleman ; whereby amity 
 is obtained and continued, that gentlemen of all 
 countries, in their young years, nourished together 
 in one place, with such comely order, and daily 
 conference, are knit by continual acquaintance in 
 such unity of mindes, and manners, as lightly never 
 after is severed, than which is nothing more profitable 
 to the common- weal." 
 
 SERJEANTS' FEAST IN THE INNER TEMPLE. 
 
 On the 16th Oct., A. D. 1552, 2 & 3 Ph. & M., 
 J. Prideaux, of the Inner Temple; Francis Mor- 
 gan, Robert Catlyn, and Anthony Browne, of the 
 Middle Temple; William Rastall, and William Ben- 
 lowes, of Lincoln's Inn, and John Walpole, of Gray's 
 Inn, who had in that year been called to the state 
 and degree of serjeant-at-law, kept their feast in the 
 Inner Temple Hall, an account of which will afford 
 an example of the profusion and magnificence ob-
 
 222 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 served on such occasions in former times. All the 
 servants of the four Inns of Court, and the porters of 
 the courts at Westminster, &c., &c., were allowed 
 cloth for liveries, and rings of gold were given to the 
 following persons : 
 To the Lord Chancellor of England a ring of xxs. 
 
 The Lord High Steward 
 The Lord Treasurer of England . 
 The Lord Privy Seal w 
 The Lord Chamberlain of Eng- 
 land . . . . 
 
 The Chief Justice of the King's 
 
 ring ol xxs. 
 
 Bench, . . . ' 
 
 The Chief Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas 
 
 The Lord Chief Baron of the Ex- 
 chequer 
 
 To every the Justices of both Benches, in . s. d. 
 
 number six, a ring, each weighing xvis. in 
 
 toto, . . . . 4 16 
 
 To the Master of the Rolls a ring of the like 
 
 value. 
 To three Barons of the Exchequer each a ring 
 
 of i . . . . 14 
 
 To four of the ancientest Serjeants each a ring 
 
 of . . i . . . .068 
 
 To the King's Attorney-General a ring of . 068 
 To the King's Solicitor-General a ring of . 068 
 To the Clerk of the Council a ring of . 040 
 
 To the two Clerks of the Crown a ring each . 048 
 To the Gustos Brevium of the Common Pleas 
 
 a ring of . . . .040 
 
 To the Clerk of the Warrants there, the like . 040 
 To the Chirographer, and the three Prothono- 
 
 taries there, each of them a ring of .050
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 223 
 
 To the xvi Filizers and Exigenters of the <. s. d. 
 
 Common Pleas, each of them a ring of . 026 
 
 Every Serjeant's charge in ordinary rings . 20 4 
 
 All the Serjeants' charges in ordinary rings . 141 8 
 
 Beside the foregoing, each serjeant gave the follow- 
 ing rings ; the rings to the king and queen being of 
 
 the finest angel gold : 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 To the King a ring, in value . . .368 
 
 To the Queen the like >,. . .368 
 
 To the Warden of the Fleet a ring of . 0110 
 
 To the Master Marshall the like . . 0110 
 
 To the Steward of the Feast (Mr. John Cooke 
 
 of the Inner Temple) a ring in value . 20 
 
 To the Comptroller of the Feast (Mr. Guy 
 
 Wade of the Inner Temple) a ring in value 20 
 
 Beside the steward and comptroller of the feast 
 just mentioned, two gentlemen of the Inner Temple 
 were appointed as inferior stewards, to attend the 
 table where the Lords dined, two were appointed as 
 carvers, and two other gentlemen of this house as 
 cup-bearers. Two sewers were also appointed to 
 attend the body of the Hall. 
 
 The newly-elected Serjeants breakfasted in the 
 morning in the hall in their robes and coifs, and 
 were attended to the gate of the Inner Temple by the 
 steward and comptroller, who carried white staves. 
 
 The Serjeants, having returned from Westminster 
 Hall to the Inner Temple, and the judges and great 
 men being assembled to participate of the feast, the 
 steward and comptroller went before the first course 
 to the Lords' table, which being performed and the
 
 224 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Lords placed, they kept order in the hall till dinner 
 ended. 
 
 There came from every Inn of Court eight of the 
 chiefest gentlemen students there to be servitors in 
 the hall during the feast. Also was allowed to every 
 serjeant from the Inn of Court whereof he was a 
 fellow, three gentlemen of his choosing; the one to 
 attend him at the table for sewer, another for carver, 
 and the third for his cup-bearer. 
 
 The Lords of the Council and the Peers, the Lord 
 Mayor and Aldermen of London, the Judges, the old 
 Serjeants, the King's Attorney and Solicitor-General, 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the King's Attorney of 
 the wards and duchy, Sir Edward Montague, and Sir 
 Roger Cholmley, were all of them invited to the feast 
 by the steward and comptroller, whose office it was to 
 invite persons of state. 
 
 Also the newly-elected Serjeants sat all dinner-time 
 on the bench-side, and had their table on the worthier 
 side of the hall. 
 
 The Lords of the Council were first served in the 
 hall. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen next to the 
 Lords, whose table was on the other side of the hall, 
 with one full mess of meat. Then the two Chief 
 Justices were served with one full mess, who sat at a 
 middle table; and the end of which table was equal 
 with the upper end of the Lord Mayor's table, and 
 the upper end of the new Serjeants' table. Then was 
 the ancientest Serjeants served with one mess. Then 
 the Aldermen of London. Then the residue of the
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 225 
 
 Judges. Then the Serjeants newly elected, in their 
 degree of ancienty ; and lastly, other tables furnished 
 with guests of inferior quality. The before-mentioned 
 tables being fully served, there was a great plenty 
 carried from the dresser to feast the guests, that 
 dined in private chambers appointed for the new- 
 elected Serjeants. Dugdale devotes three and^a half 
 folio pages to a detail of the meats and viands at this 
 banquet. A description of the provisions for one 
 table will suffice here : 
 
 A standing dish of wax representing the Court . s. d. 
 of Common Pleas, the charge whereof was . 400 
 A shield of brawn for either mess. 
 
 Boiled capons in white broth, two at a mess, . 050 
 Swans roasted two, each mess one, V ! . 1 00 
 
 Bustards, two for each mess one, ..;;. ,-. 1 00 
 Chewet pies, to each mess four. 
 
 Pikes, four to each mess, . ,.. . 10 
 
 Capons roasted four, to each mess two, . 0100 
 
 Venison baked four large pasties. 
 
 Hern and bittern, each mess two, . . 16 
 
 Pheasants roasted, two to each mess, . . 16 
 
 Custards. 
 
 Second Course. 
 
 A standing dish of wax, to each mess one, . 400 
 Jelleys planted two dozen. 
 
 Cranes two, ' , L ; . 'i* . .100 
 
 Partridges twelve, .<>.: V"Mi . . 16 
 
 Red deer four pasties, . . . .0160 
 
 Certain large joules of sturgeon to each mess. 
 
 Woodcock and Plovers, twelve each mess, . . 68 
 
 Quince pies eight, . . . .040 
 
 Rabbit suckers twelve. 
 
 Q
 
 226 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 Snipes roasted twelve, . '. ., ,,034 
 
 Larks three dozen, . . ., .020 
 
 March panes two, .. .' . .068 
 
 After the feast and the tables were voided the said 
 officers went before the newly-elected Serjeants from 
 the Temple Hall, attending upon them thence with 
 white staves, bare-headed, through Fleet-Street, with 
 many others accompanying them, unto St. Thomas of 
 Acres, in London, and thence to the Cathedral of St. 
 Paul; and after some accustomed ceremonies per- 
 formed in both places, they returned unto Serjeants' 
 Inn, in Fleet Street, where they received the thanks 
 of the said Serjeants, and either of them a ring of 
 gold, and so with congees and reverence on both parts 
 departed and were dismissed. 
 
 The festivities of Christmas were observed in the 
 Inner Temple with great ceremony and magnificence. 
 On Christmas-day, after service in the Church, the 
 gentlemen presently repaired into the hall ' to break- 
 fast, with brawn, mustard and malmsey.' At the 
 first course at dinner, was served ' a fair and large 
 boar's-head, upon a silver platter, with mistralsye.' 
 At supper, two gentlemen in gowns were to bear 
 ' two fair torches of wax/ next before the musicians 
 and stand above the fire with the music till the first 
 course were served through the hall. Dugdale's ac- 
 count of the ceremonies on St. Stephen's days, must 
 not be omitted : 
 
 " This day the sewer, carver, and cup-bearer are to serve
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 227 
 
 as afore. After the first course served in, the constable- 
 marshal! cometh into the hall, arrayed with a fair, rich, 
 compleat harneys, white and bright, and gilt, with a nest of 
 fethers of all colours upon his crest or helm, and a gilt 
 pole-axe in his hand; to whom is associate the lieutenant 
 of the Tower, armed with a fair white armour, a nest of 
 fethers in his helm, and a like pole-axe in his hand, and 
 with them sixteen trumpetters ; four drums and fifes going 
 in rank before them, and with them attendeth four men 
 in white harneys, from the middle upwards, and halberds 
 in their hands, bearing on their shoulders the Tower ; which 
 persons, with the drums, trumpets, and music, go three 
 times about the fire. Then the constable-marshall, after 
 two or three curtesies made, kneeleth down before the lord 
 chancellor ; behind him the lieutenant, and they kneeling, 
 the constable-marshall proiiounceth an oration of a quarter 
 of an hour's length, thereby declaring the purpose of his 
 coming, and that his purpose is to be admitted into his 
 lordship's service. 
 
 " The lord chancellor saith he will take further advice 
 therein. 
 
 " Then the constable-marshall, standing up in submissive 
 manner, delivereth his naked sword to the steward, who 
 giveth it to the lord chancellour ; and thereupon the lord 
 chancellor willeth the marshall to place the constable- 
 marshall in his seat ; and so he doth, with the lieutenant 
 also in his seat or place. During this ceremony the Tower 
 is placed beneath the fire. 
 
 " Then cometh in the master of the game, apparelled in 
 green velvet ; and the ranger of the forest, also in a green 
 suit of satten, bearing in his hand a green bow and divers 
 arrows, with either of them a hunting-horn about their 
 necks : blowing together three blasts of venery, they pace 
 round about the fire three times. Then the master of the 
 game maketh three curtesies as aforesaid, and kneeleth 
 down before the Lord Chancellour, declaring the cause of 
 
 Q2
 
 228 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 his coming, and desireth to be admitted into his service, 
 &c. All this time the ranger of the forest standeth di- 
 rectly behind him ; then the master of the game standeth 
 up. 
 
 " This ceremony also performed, a huntsman cometh into 
 the hall with a fox and a purse-net, with a cat, both bound 
 at the end of a staff, and with them nine or ten couple of 
 hounds, with the blowing of hunting-homes, and the fox 
 and cat are by the hounds set upon and killed beneath the 
 fire. This sport finished, the marshall placeth them in 
 their several appointed places. 
 
 " Then proceedeth the second course ; which done, and 
 served out, the common serjeant delivereth a plausible 
 speech to the Lord Chancellour and his company at the 
 highest table, how necessary a thing it is to have officers at 
 this present, the constable-marshall and master of the game, 
 for the better honour and reputation of the commonwealth, 
 and wisheth them to be received, &c. 
 
 " Then the King's Serjeant-at-Law declareth and in- 
 ferreth the necessity ; which heard, the Lord Chancellor 
 desireth respite of further advice. Then the antientest 
 of the Masters of the Revels singeth a song, with as- 
 sistance of others there present. 
 
 " At supper the hall is to be served in all solempnity as 
 upon Christmas-day, both the first and second course to 
 the highest table. Supper ended the constable-marshall 
 presenteth himself, with drums afore him, mounted upon 
 a scaffold, born by four men ; and goeth three times round 
 about the harthe, crying out aloud a lord! a lord! &c. ; 
 then he descendeth, and goeth to dance, &c., and after he 
 calleth his court, every one by name, one by one in this 
 manner. 
 
 " Sir Francis Flatterer, of Fowleshurst, in the county 
 of Buckingham. Sir Randle Rackabite, of Rascall Hall, 
 in the county of Rakehell. Sir Morgan Mumchance, of 
 Much Monkery, in the county of Mad Mopery. Sir
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 229 
 
 Bartholomew Baldbreech, of Buttocksbury, in the county 
 of Brekeneck. 
 
 " This done the Lord of Misrule addresseth himself to 
 the banquet, which endeth with some minstrelsy e, mirth, 
 and dancing, every man departeth to rest." 
 
 The last of the Revels in the Inns of Court took 
 place in the Inner Temple Hall, on the 2nd of Feby., 
 1733. On the occasion of Mr. Talbot's elevation to 
 the woolsack. "The Lord Chancellor (Talbot) came 
 into the Inner Temple Hall, about two of the clock, 
 preceded by the Master of the Revels, Mr. Wollaston, 
 and followed by the Master of the Temple, Dr. Sher- 
 lock, then Bishop of Bangor, and by the judges 
 and Serjeants who had been members of the house. 
 There was a very elegant dinner provided for them 
 and the Lord Chancellor's officers ; but the barrister, 
 and students of the house had no other dinner got for 
 them than what was usual on all grand days, but 
 each mess had a flask of claret beside the common 
 allowance of port and. sack. Fourteen students 
 waited at the bench-table, among whom was Mr. Tal- 
 bot, the Lord Chancellor's eldest son ; and by their 
 means, any sort of provision was easily obtained from 
 the upper-table by those at the rest. A large gallery 
 was built over the skreen, and was filled with ladies, 
 who came, for the most part, a considerable time be- 
 fore the dinner began, and the music was placed in 
 the little gallery, at the upper end of the hall, and 
 played all dinner-time. As soon as dinner was ended 
 the play began, which was Love for Love, with the
 
 230 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 farce of the Devil to Pay. The actors who performed 
 in them, all came from the Haymarket, in chairs, 
 ready dressed; and, as it was said, refused any gra- 
 tuity for their trouble, looking upon the honour of 
 distinguishing themselves on this occasion as suffi- 
 cient. After play, the Lord Chancellor, Master of the 
 Temple, judges and benchers, retired into their par- 
 liament-chamber ; and in about an hour afterwards, 
 came into the hall again, and a large ring was 
 formed round the fire-place, but no fire nor embers 
 were on it. Then the Master of the Revels, who 
 went first, took the Lord Chancellor by the right 
 hand, and he, with his left took Mr. J. Page, who, 
 joined to the other judges, Serjeants, and benchers 
 present, danced, or rather walked round about the 
 coal fire, according to the old ceremony, three times ; 
 during which, they were aided in the figure of the 
 dance by Mr. George Cooke, the prothonotary, then 
 60, and all the time of the dance the ancient song, 
 accompanied with music, .was sung by one Toby 
 Aston, dressed in a bar gown, whose father had been 
 formerly master of the plea office, in the King's 
 Bench. When this was over, the ladies came down 
 from the gallery, went into the parliament-chamber, 
 and stayed about a quarter of an hour, while the hall 
 was putting in order; then they went into the hall 
 and danced a few minuetes. Country dances began 
 about ten, and at twelve a very fine collation was 
 provided for the whole company; from which they 
 returned to dancing, which they continued as long as
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 231 
 
 they pleased; and the whole day's entertainment was 
 generally thought to be very genteelly and liberally 
 conducted. The Prince of Wales'''' honoured the per- 
 formance with his company, part of the time; he 
 came into the music gallery incog, about the middle 
 of the play, and went away as soon as the farce of 
 walking round the coal-fire was over." 
 
 The Star-Chamber seems to have exerted its power 
 to enforce religious tests in this house; but it would 
 appear, from the following memorandum from the 
 Burghley Papers, that its orders were evaded : 
 
 " THE STATE OF THE CAWSE TOWCHINGE THE CAWLING 
 OF BENCHERS IN THE INNER TEMPLE. 
 
 " Fyrst, yt is forbidden by Ires sent to the Benchers of 
 the howse by the Lords of the Quene's Ma ty her privy 
 cowncell in the Starre Chamber, uppon an order there 
 taken, that no gson eyther convented or suspected for 
 papistrye shulde be called eyther to the benche or to 
 the barre. 
 
 In Michaelmas Terme last, the Benchers beinge to 
 make choyce, there was a message delyvered to theim by 
 M r . Kellewaye from the Lords of the Cowncell (as he 
 sayed) to the same effecte as the Ires were. 
 
 Whereuppon, in the said Terme of S*. Michell, they 
 proceeded to elecion, at w ch tyme there were chosen to 
 be Benchers, by most voices, men never convented nor 
 suspected for papistrye, 
 
 Robte Buxton. 
 Jfion Bullocke. 
 Wittm Wilcocke. 
 
 This choice was misliked of by some of the Benche, 
 for that Nicholas Hare, Andrew Grey, George Wiott, 
 
 * Frederick, father of King George the Third.
 
 232 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 and Humphrey Smith, beinge awncient to some of the 
 others, were kept hacke. Whereuppon, for that Greye 
 and Hare hadde bene convented for papistrie, and the 
 rest vehemently suspected for papistrye, and suche per- 
 sonnes forbiden to be called. It was assented that yf 
 they cowld pcure Ires from the Lords of the Queene, her 
 Maiestyes privy councell, on theyre behalfe by a daye 
 certeyn, appointed the same Terme, that then they 
 showld be cawled w tb the other, and in the meane tyme 
 the other not to take their places, w ch Ires they .pcured 
 not. Whereuppon the first call was confirmed agein by 
 pliam* by most voices, but, notw th standinge, kept from their 
 places. 
 
 In the beginninge of this Hillary Terme, M r . Gynes 
 beinge dead in the vacacion tyme, and M r . Stapleton 
 beinge sicke, the said Hare, Grey, Wiott, and Smith, 
 are cawled contrarye to the said Ires and message, Grey 
 and Bullocke are cawled uppe to their places, but the 
 rest, aswel of the first call as of the second, have not as 
 yet taken their places." * 
 
 I find the names of the benchers and barristers of 
 the Inner Temple, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in 
 the same manuscript collection : 
 
 THE BENCHERS OF TH* INNER TEMPLE." 
 
 Stappleton. c Bromeley, T. e Gandye, F. 
 
 Kellawaye. d Bromeley, G. f Poole. h 
 
 a MS b Lansd. 105, fol. 89. General and Treasurer, 16 
 
 b MS. Lansd. 106, fol. 85. Eliz. 
 
 c Reader, 6 Edw. VI. ; Trea- f Double Reader, 11 Eliz. ; 
 
 surer, 1 and 2 Ph. and M. Treasurer, 10 Eliz. 
 
 d Reader, 1 Edw. VI. ; Trea- * Quere Gawdy. Reader, 8 
 
 surer, 5 and 6 Ph. and M. Eliz. ; afterwards Justice of 
 
 e Recorder of Condon and the King's Bench. 
 
 Reader, 8 Eliz ; Solicitor h Double Reader, 4 Eliz.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 
 
 233 
 
 Gell." 
 
 Lone. b 
 
 Wythe. c 
 
 Anderson. d 
 
 Marryot. 6 
 
 Floredewe/ 
 
 Risden. 8 
 
 Halton. h 
 
 Hurleston. 1 
 
 Pagreve. k 
 
 Walter. 1 
 
 Graye, An. m 
 
 Bullocke. 
 
 Smythe, Humf. c 
 
 Chidley.P 
 
 Smythe, Ja. 
 
 Rivett.i 
 
 Gurdon. 
 
 Bashe. 
 
 Baker, Ric. 
 
 Fullor/ 
 
 Seyborne. 
 
 THE UTTER-BARRESTERS OF TH* INNER TEMPLE.' 
 
 Whithed. 
 
 Babb. 
 
 Parkins." 
 
 Hare, N.' 
 
 Frenche. 
 
 Doteman. 
 
 Bedele, Ro. 
 
 Browne, Ra. 
 
 Goodere. 
 
 Asshebie, F. 
 
 Massy e. 
 
 Bassett. 
 
 Buxston. 
 
 Waringe. 
 
 Waterhowse.* 
 
 Wyett, G. 
 
 Bradden. 
 
 Cooke, W. 
 
 Sanckye. 
 
 Goldinge, R. 
 
 Sraaleman. 
 
 Lottysham. 
 
 Stoughten, F. 
 
 Hilleard. 
 
 Gale. 
 
 Repington. 
 
 Hughes. 
 
 Ivey. 
 
 Pigott, Val. 
 
 Bonevile. 
 
 8 Header, 5 Eliz. 
 
 b Treasurer, 14 Eliz. 
 
 c Treasurer, 19 Eliz. 
 
 d Reader, 9 Eliz. ; Chief Jus- 
 tice C.P. 2d May, 24 Eliz. 
 
 e Treasurer, 20 Eliz. 
 
 f Reader, 11 Eliz.; Trea- 
 surer, 2 1 Eliz. ; afterwards 
 Baron of the Exchequer. 
 
 8 Reader, 13 Eliz.; Trea- 
 surer, 22 Eliz. 
 
 h Reader, 15 Eliz. 
 
 1 Reader, 15 Eliz. 
 
 k Reader, 24 Eliz. 
 
 1 Treasurer, 24 Eliz., [father 
 
 of John Walter, Chief Baron of 
 the Exchequer, 5 Car. L] 
 
 m Treasurer, 28 Eliz. 
 
 " Treasurer, 29 Eliz. 
 
 Double Reader, 29 Eliz. 
 
 p Robertus, 6 Eliz. 
 
 > Reader, 5 Eliz. 
 
 r Reader, 3 and 4 Ph. and M. 
 
 * MS. Lansd. 106, fol. 85. 
 
 ' Treasurer, 28 Eliz., after- 
 wards Master of the Rolls. 
 
 The well known author of 
 the ' Profitable Book.' 
 
 x The author of ' Fortescu- 
 tus Illustratus.'
 
 234 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Nuthall. Beaumont, F. a Cowper, Jo. 
 
 Morgan. Beaumont, H. b Hollenshed. c 
 
 BANQUET IN THE INNER TEMPLE TO KING CHARLES II. 
 
 On the 15th of August, 1661, his majesty King 
 Charles II., accompanied by his brother the Duke of 
 York, afterwards King James II., was entertained at a 
 splendid banquet given in the Inner Temple Hall, by 
 Sir Heneage Finch, Bart., then Solicitor- General, and 
 afterwards Earl of Nottingham, and Lord Chancellor of 
 England, d who was the reader in the Inner Temple 
 that year; " To the honour of whom, and of the whole 
 society," says Dugdale, ll the king came in his barge 
 from White Hall, accompanied by the Duke of York, 
 and attended by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, 
 Lord Privy Seal; the Dukes of Buckingham, Rich- 
 mond, and Ormond, Lord Chamberlain; the Earls of 
 Ossory, Bristol, Berks, Portland, Strafford, Anglesey, 
 Essex, Bath, and Carlisle: the Lords Wentworth, 
 Cornbury, De la Warre, Gerard of Brandon, Berke- 
 ley of Stratton and Cornwallis ; the comptroller and 
 vice-chamberlain of the household, Sir Wm. Morrice, 
 
 a Father of the poet. Reader, self in the prosecution of the 
 23 Eliz. after Justice C.P. Regicides. In 1661, he sat in 
 
 " Reader ; died 9th Aug. 27 Parliament for tae University 
 jjjj z of Oxford, and took a promi- 
 
 nent part in the impeachment 
 ' This was ,wt Raphael Hoi- of Lord Clarendon> In 1670> 
 
 inshed, the historian, as I have he ^ Attorney-General; in 
 ascertained by reference to the 16?3> Lord Keeper; &nd ^ 
 Register Inner Temple. m ^ Lofd Chancellon He 
 
 d Finch distinguished him- died in 1682.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 235 
 
 Secretary-of-State, Earl of Middleton, Lord Commis- 
 sioner of Scotland, the Earl of Glencarne, Lord Chan- 
 cellor of Scotland, the Earls of Lauderdale and New- 
 burgh, and other commissioners of that kingdom, with 
 the Earl of Kildare and other commissioners of 
 Ireland." 
 
 At the Temple stairs, where the king landed, his 
 majesty was received by Sir Heneage Finch, and the 
 Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in his scar- 
 let robe and collar of s.s. 
 
 A passage was made for the royal party through 
 the wall into the Temple Garden, and on each side as 
 his majesty passed stood the readers' servants in scar- 
 let cloaks and white tabba doublets; and above them, 
 on each side, the benchers, barristers, and other gen- 
 tlemen of the society, all in their gowns and formali- 
 ties, the 'loud music' playing from the time of the 
 King's landing till he entered the hall, where he was 
 received with ' twenty violins,' which continued as 
 long as his majesty stayed. 
 
 Dinner was brought up by fifty select gentlemen 
 of the society in their gowns who gave their attend- 
 ance all dinner while none other appearing in the 
 hall but themselves ; the King and the Duke of York 
 sitting under a canopy of state and a table set at the 
 upper end of the hall advanced three steps above the 
 rest ; the Lord Chancellor, with the rest of the noble- 
 men, sitting at a long table on the right hand side of 
 the hall, and the reader with those of the society on 
 the other side.
 
 236 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 In the Michaelmas Term following, November 3rd, 
 his Koyal Highness the Duke of York, the Duke of 
 Buckingham, the Earl of Dorset, and Sir William 
 Morrice, Knt., were admitted as members of the 
 Inner Temple, and the Duke of York was then called 
 to the degree of barrister, and was created a bencher ; 
 and on the 4th of November, his Royal Highness 
 Prince Rupert, the Earl of Cleveland, Lord Percy, 
 Lord Berkley, with Henry and Bernard Howard, of 
 Norfolk, were admitted of this society. 
 
 In 1668-9, the Lord Mayor of London, who had 
 been invited to the readers' feast in the Inner Temple, 
 narrowly escaped being roughly handled by the stu- 
 dents. Pepys says, in his ' Diary,'* " My Lord 
 Mayor being invited this day to dinner at the Reader's 
 at the Temple, and endeavouring to carry his sword 
 up, the students did pull it down and forced him to 
 go and stay all the day in a private counsellor's cham- 
 bers until the reader himself could get the young gen- 
 tleman to dinner; and then my Lord Mayor did re- 
 treat out of the Temple by stealth with his sword up. 
 This do make great heat among the students ; and my 
 Lord Mayor did send to the King, and also I hear that 
 Sir Richard Browne did cause the drums to beat for 
 the train bands ; but all is over, only I hear that the 
 students do resolve to try the charter of the city." 
 
 The Lord Mayor (Sir William Turner) complained 
 to the King, and on the 7th of April, 1669, the case 
 was heard before his majesty in council. The ring- 
 
 * March 3rd, 1668-9.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 237 
 
 leaders Mr. Hodges, Mr. Wyn, and Mr. Monday, of 
 the Inner Temple, were cited before the council, and 
 appeared at the board attended by their counsel, who 
 were heard on their behalf. Upon consideration it 
 appearing to the King that the matter -very much 
 depended upon the right and privilege of bearing up 
 the Lord Mayor's sword within the Temple, which by 
 order of council on the 24th of March in the same 
 year had been left to be decided by due course of law 
 at Westminster Hall, his majesty thought fit to sus- 
 pend the declaration of his pleasure thereupon until 
 the said right and privilege should be determined 
 at law. 
 
 The great and famous English lawyer, Littleton, 
 whose high reputation has not been affected by the 
 lapse of four centuries, to whose treatise of ' Tenures ' 
 it has been truly remarked the students of common law 
 are no less indebted than the civilians to the Insti- 
 tutes of Justinian, was a member of this inn. A por- 
 trait of Sir Thomas Littleton said to have been copied 
 from a painting of him in glass in Frankley church, 
 Worcestershire, is preserved in the hall. As we have 
 already seen, Littleton was one of the readers of this 
 society, and read on the statute West. 2, De donis con- 
 ditionalibus. He was called to the state and degree 
 of serjeant-at-law on 31 Hen. VI. A. D. 1453, and was 
 subsequently appointed steward of the Court of Mar- 
 shalsea. On the 13th of May, 1455, in the 33 Henry 
 VI. he was made king's Serjeant, and rode the northern 
 circuit as justice of assize. On the 26th of April,
 
 238 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 1466, 6 Edward IV. he was appointed a justice of 
 the Court of Common Pleas, and in the same year 
 was honoured with the knighthood of the Bath. 
 Littleton died on the 23rd of August, 1481, aged, 
 it is conjectured, about 60, and his remains were 
 buried in Worcester Cathedral.* 
 
 Christopher Seintgerman, the author of the well- 
 known dialogue on the laws of England, called 
 ' Doctor and Student/ and many other works of less 
 
 * Sir Edward Coke has fallen into rather a remarkable error 
 as to the date of the first printed edition of the work, with which 
 he has so inseparably connected his name. He says, " The first 
 impression that I find of our author's book, was at Roan, in 
 France, by William de Tailier, (for that is was written in 
 French) Ad instantiam Richardi Pinson, at the instance of 
 Richard Pinson, Printer of King Henry VIII., before the said 
 book of Natura Brevium^ was published, and therefore upon 
 these, and other things that we have seen,J we are of opinion, 
 that it was first printed about the four-and-twentieth year of the 
 reign of King Henry VIII" Now, there are copies of Little- 
 ton's ' Tenures,' extant in the Inner Temple Library, the British 
 Museum, the public Library of Cambridge, and other collections, 
 printed in London, by Lettou and Machlinia, who came into 
 England with Caxton, and published works in their own name, 
 in the reign of Edward IV., before Wynkyn de Worde established 
 his press. As the partnership between those two printers was 
 dissolved before the year 1483, this English edition must have 
 been printed prior to that date. Middleton is of opinion that 
 this edition was probably published, or put to press, by ike author 
 himself, who died A. D. 1481, in the twentieth year of tJie reign of 
 Edward IV. Few of the very early-printed books were distin- 
 guished with dates. 
 
 t By Anthony Fitzherbert. $ Vide Prooem. 1 Inst.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 239 
 
 note, was a member of the Inner Temple. He was 
 the son of Sir Henry Seintgerman, by Anne, the 
 daughter of Thomas Tindale, Esq., and was born at 
 Shilton, in Warwickshire, at what precise date is un- 
 certain. He studied at the University of Oxford, 
 from whence he removed to the Inner Temple, by 
 which society he was called to the bar. Here, says 
 Wood,* "he became a barrister and counsellor of 
 note, being then eminent not only in the common, but 
 the civil law, by which afterwards he acquired im- 
 mortal fame among the citizens of London." Seint- 
 german appears to be a man of irreproachable life, 
 and was a diligent reader of the Sacred Scriptures, a 
 chapter of which he was accustomed every day to 
 expound to his domestics. He died in the year 1540, 
 and was buried in the church of St. Alpage within, 
 Cripplegate. 
 
 John Parkins, who flourished about this period, was 
 also a member of this society. He was a lawyer of 
 considerable reputation, and composed the celebrated 
 ' Profitable Book,' a work held in high estimation by 
 all our elder conveyancers, and still referred to as an 
 authority respecting real property. He studied at 
 Oxford, where he made great proficiency in grammar 
 and logic ; and, having afterwards applied himself to 
 the common law, was called by the bar in the Inner 
 Temple. He died about the year 1544. 
 
 Sir John Ferae, the author of a curious old book on 
 Heraldry, the ' Blazon of Gentrie, the Glory of Gene- 
 
 * Ath. Oxon., vol. i. 121.
 
 240 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 rosity, and the Lacyes Nobility/ was a member of 
 the Inner Temple, being admitted A. D. 1576,* and 
 dedicated his work to the honorable assembleys of 
 the Innes of Court, which he describes as " the 
 four nursing sisters to the common walth." He was 
 one of the advocates for excluding from the Inns 
 of Court all who were not 'a gentleman of blood,' 
 according to the ancient rule mentioned by For- 
 tescue, which seems to have been disregarded in 
 Elizabeth's time. " It was not for nought that our 
 ancient governors in this land did, with a special 
 foresight and wisdom, provide that none should be 
 admitted into the Houses of Court, being seminaries 
 sending forth men apt to the government of justice, 
 except he were a gentleman of blood. And, that this 
 may seem a truth, I myself have seen a Kalendar of 
 all those which were together in societie of one of the 
 same houses, about the last year of King Henry V., 
 with the arms of their house and family marshalled 
 by their name, and I assure you the self-same monu- 
 ment doth approve them all to be gentlemen of perfect 
 descents ; whereas now, pity to see the same places, 
 through the malignity of times, and the negligence of 
 those which should have had care to the same, been 
 altered quite from their first institution."! 
 
 Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor of Eng- 
 land, the accomplished rival of Leicester in the af- 
 fections of Queen Elizabeth, was a student in the 
 
 * Ex Regist., Inner Temple. 
 
 t 'Glory of Generosity,' p. 24, Lond. 1586.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 241 
 
 Inner Temple. He was born at Holdenby, in North- 
 amptonshire, in the year 1540. When about fifteen 
 or sixteen years of age, he entered, as a gentleman 
 commoner, at St. Mary's Hall, Oxford; and was 
 admitted in the Inner Temple on the 26th of May, 
 1560. The year of his call to the bar is uncertain, 
 as no book is preserved in the Inner Temple in which 
 calls are registered prior to 1567; but he never was 
 a reader or bencher.* In the year after his admission, 
 we find him ' Master of the Game,' in the celebrated 
 Christmas revels, in which Leicester (then Lord 
 Dudley), was constable and marshal, referred to in a 
 preceding chapter. Hatton appears to have attract- 
 ed the notice of the queen, and to have received the 
 appointment of gentleman pensioner, somewhere about 
 June, 1564; and, according to the popular account, 
 which appears to be substantially correct, Hatton 
 " came to court by the galliard, for he came thither as 
 a gentleman of the Inns of Court, in a masque, and 
 for his activity and person, which was tall and pro- 
 portionable, taken into favour with the queen." In 
 1568, Hatton was one of the gentlemen of the Inner 
 Temple, who composed a tragedy, called Tancred and 
 Gismund, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth ; 
 the fourth act being from his pen. In the edition 
 of this play, in the Garrick collection,! the names 
 of the contributors are thus subscribed: Hen. No. 
 
 * See the ' Life and Times of Hatton,' by Sir Harris Nicolas, 
 Barrister, of the Inner Temple, 
 t Mus. Brit. 
 
 T>
 
 242 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 (Henry Noel), Ch. Hat. (Christopher Hatton), 
 R. W. (Robert Wilmot), G. All., and Rod. Staff.- 
 
 " His bushy beard and shoe-strings green, 
 
 His high-crowned hat and satin doublet, 
 Moov'd the stout heart of England's Queen, 
 
 Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it." 
 
 Elizabeth's partiality for the handsome young 
 Templar at length raised him to the woolsack; and, 
 though he had no pretensions to legal learning, we 
 are assured that his decisions were generally just and 
 impartial, and that his behaviour was modest and 
 sensible. He was chosen by the University of Oxford 
 as their chancellor, and he seems to have been noted 
 for " his singular bounty to students of learning." Sir 
 Christopher Hatton died at his house, at Ely Place, 
 Holborn, 20 Nov., 1591, and was buried with great 
 state in St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, and the Earl of 
 Dorset, the author of the masque, Ferrex and Porrex, 
 already noticed, and successor to Lord Burghley as 
 Lord High Treasurer, an office which he held till his 
 death, which happened on the 19th of April, 1608, 
 was a member of this society, having been admitted 
 A. D. 1587.* He was interred in Westminster Abbey 
 He was the founder of the noble family of the Dorsets, 
 being, as Walpole expresses it, " the patriarch of 
 a race of genius and wit." Sackville was the author 
 of the ' Mirroir of Magistrates,' a poem which dis- 
 covers considerable powers of versification and origi- 
 
 * Ex JRegist. Inner Temple.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 243 
 
 nality of thought. Spenser inscribes a sonnet to him, 
 describing him as one 
 
 " Whose learned muse hath writ her own record 
 In golden verse, worthy immortal fame." 
 
 Francis Beaumont, the poet, was the son of a bar- 
 rister of the Inner Temple, who, after filling the of- 
 fice of reader of this house, was constituted a Justice 
 of the Court of Common Pleas. The younger Beau- 
 mont was admitted a gentleman commoner of Broad- 
 gate Hall (now Pembroke College), Oxford, when he 
 was ten years old, and afterwards became a student 
 in the Inner Temple. He died A.D. 1615, before he 
 was thirty years of age, and was buried in the en- 
 trance of St. Benedict's chapel, Westminster Abbey : 
 
 " Keep well this pawn, thou marble chest ; 
 'Till it be call'd for let it rest ; 
 For while this jewel here is set, 
 The grave is like a cabinet." 
 
 Sir Edmund Anderson, a younger son of a Scottish 
 family settled in Lincolnshire, after studying at Lin- 
 coln College, Oxford, applied himself to the study of 
 the law in the Inner Temple. In 9 Eliz. he was 
 reader of this house, and in 16 Eliz. double reader. 
 In 19 Eliz. he was called to the degree of serjeant-at- 
 law, and in 21 Eliz. was constituted queen's Serjeant. 
 In 1582 he was made Lord Chief Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas; and in the following year received the 
 honour of knighthood. Anderson held this office till 
 he died in the year 1605. He was accounted a 
 scourge by the Puritans, who often felt his rigour. 
 
 B2
 
 244 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 It is recorded of him that when Secretary Davison was 
 sentenced in the Star Chamber for his conduct touch- 
 ing the death of Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Chief 
 Justice Anderson said, " that therein he had done 
 justum non juste, and so acquitting of all malice, 
 censured him for his indiscretion." Anderson was 
 the author of ' Reports' and ' Judgements.' 
 
 Sir George Crook, the author of the well known 
 Reports, 
 
 " From which the sages who expound 
 Law's truths and mysteries profound, 
 Are forced to cite opinions wise, 
 Crok. Car. Crok. Jack, and Crok. Eliz.," 
 
 was called to the bar by this society. He was au- 
 tumn reader of the Inner Temple 41 Eliz. and double 
 reader 15 Jac. Six years afterwards he was called to 
 the degree of serjeant-at-law, and advanced to the 
 dignity of king's serjeant. In the fourth year of the 
 reign of King Charles I. he was constituted a Justice 
 of the King's Bench. Sir George Crook, both pub- 
 licly in Westminster Hall, and privately when his 
 opinion was required by the king, condemned ship 
 money as illegal. " The countryman's wit will not 
 be soon forgotten," says Fuller, " that ship money 
 may be gotten by Hook but not by Crook." This 
 upright judge died in Oxfordshire A. D. 1641, in the 
 eighty-second year of his age. 
 
 The Inner Temple claims the distinguished honour 
 of reckoning among its students Sir Edward Coke, 
 Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, whose ' In-
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 245 
 
 stitutes' and 'Reports' must for ever remain as monu- 
 ments of his vast legal learning and unwearied indus- 
 try. Sir Edward Coke was born on the 1st of Fe- 
 bruary, 1551-2. After studying at Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, he entered, according to the practice of 
 the time, Clifford's Inn, one of the houses of Chancery 
 subordinate to the Inner Temple. From thence he 
 removed to the Inner Temple, where he was admitted 
 on the 24th of April, 1572. On the 20th of April, 
 1578, he was called to the bar. Soon after his call he 
 was chosen reader of Lyon's Inn, and, his reputation 
 rapidly spreading, his practice became exceedingly 
 large. It will be unnecessary here to trace his event- 
 ful history : it will be enough to say that he filled the 
 office of reader of this house with great distinction, 
 and that from the dignity of a bencher he rose by 
 successive steps till he attained the office of Lord 
 Chief Justice. Sir Edward Coke, throughout his life, 
 took a lively interest in the Inns of Court ; and in his 
 works zealously maintained their honour, and by ex- 
 ample endeavoured to promote sound learning within 
 their walls. 
 
 John Selden, * that famous and learned antiquarie,' 
 as he is described on the title-page of the edition * of 
 Fortescue's ' De Laudibus ' illustrated by his notes, 
 entered this society on the 2nd June, 1604, having pre- 
 viously studied at Hert Hall, Oxford, and Clifford's 
 Inn. Wood describes Selden as ' a great philosopher, 
 antiquary, herald, linguist, and statesman,' and in his 
 life-time he was styled the dictator of learning to the 
 
 * 1672.
 
 246 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 English nation. " He was a person," says Lord Cla- 
 rendon, " whom no character can flatter, or transmit 
 any expressions equal to his merit and virtue." Sel- 
 den was called to the bar on the 14th of June, 1612.* 
 Having been chosen as reader of Lyon's Inn, Selden, 
 who had a strong repugnance to appear in public, 
 absolutely refused to fill the office. For this con- 
 tempt he was fined 20/., and was placed out of com- 
 mons, by order of the bench "of the Inner Temple ; but 
 this severe order was rescinded in 1624. Selden's 
 chambers were in ' Paper Buildings,' which were 
 begun in the sixth year of the reign of James I., 
 by Mr. Edward Hayward of this inn, Selden's 
 1 chamber fellow.' Selden, though a man of prodi- 
 gious learning, possessed the most polished and agree- 
 able manners ; that even such a man could indulge in 
 innocent recreations at those seasons, when, to quote 
 an expression from Ben Jonson's dedication of one of his 
 comedies to the Inns of Court, ' the cap and gown was 
 off and the lord of liberty reigned,' appears from 
 the part he took in preparing the grand masque 
 presented to King Charles I. by the four united 
 houses. He was one of the managers of those de- 
 vices. His zeal for the Inns of Court is manifested 
 by his translation of Fortescue's book, and by the 
 valuable notes with which he illustrated it. His dis- 
 sertation upon Fleta is still highly prized by the legal 
 profession. Selden died at the house of Elizabeth 
 Countess Dowager of Kent, in her house without 
 
 * Ex Regist. Inner Temple.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 247 
 
 the Temple in White Friars, and was buried in the 
 Temple Church, in the choir of which, before the recent 
 restoration of that sacred edifice, there was a monu- 
 ment to his memory. His library, consisting of about 
 8,000 volumes is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 
 to which it was presented by Sir Matthew Hale and 
 other executors. 
 
 Among the poets of the Inner Temple, A. D. 1613, 
 contemporary with Browne, of whom we have already 
 spoken, were Unton Croke, Fr. Guide, Thomas Gar- 
 diner, Fr. Dynne, Edward Heywood, John Morgan, 
 Augustus Caesar, Thomas Heygate, and, though last 
 not least, J. Selden, * Juris C.,' who, in some stanzas 
 addressed to the author of the l Inner Temple Masque,' 
 attempts versification in the following strain : 
 
 " So much a stranger my severer muse 
 
 Is not to love-strains, or a shepherd's reed, 
 But that she knows some rites, of Phoebus' dues, 
 Of Pan, of Pallas, and her sister's meed." 
 
 Massinger composed some of his plays for the mem- 
 bers of the Inner Temple, and they were represented 
 in the Hall of this Inn. He dedicates his tragi- 
 comedy of ' The Picture' " To my honoured and select- 
 ed friends of the noble Society of the Inner Temple." 
 " Accept it, noble gentlemen," he says at the conclu- 
 sion of his dedication, " as a confirmation of his ser- 
 vice who hath nothing else to assure you, and witness 
 to the world how much he stands engaged for your 
 so frequent bounties ; and in your charitable opinion
 
 248 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 of me, believe, that you now may and shall ever com- 
 mand your servant, Philip Massenger." 
 
 William Longueville, the friend and generous pa- 
 tron of Butler the author of the immortal ffudibras, 
 was a conveyancer and a bencher of the Inner Tem- 
 ple. He raised himself from a low beginning to great 
 eminence in his profession, and is described as a per- 
 son eloquent, learned, and of spotless integrity; he 
 supported Butler, who, but for him, might literally 
 have starved, and received from him, as a recompense, 
 the papers called the c Remains.' Dr. Nash notices a 
 statement, that Butler was a member of Gray's Inn. 
 His name, however, is not as I have ascertained, in 
 the admission-books of that society ; the knowledge of 
 the law displayed in his works, may, perhaps, be ac- 
 counted for by his having acted as clerk to a magis- 
 trate, in Worcestershire, by his employment in the 
 family of the Countess of Kent, under Selden, and by 
 his close intimacy with Mr. Longueville. Butler 
 probably lived in chambers in Gray's Inn. 
 
 George Keate, a member of this Inn, was the 
 author of the Temple Student, and several other 
 dramatic pieces. 
 
 Thomas Blount, the author of the 'Law Dictionary,' 
 1670 ; and Edward Bulstrode, the author of the 
 valuable ' Reports,' temp. Jac. I. and Car. I., were 
 also of the Inner Temple. 
 
 Floyd, a barrister of the Inner Temple, in 1621, 
 underwent an ignominious punishment, for saying of 
 the King's daughter and her husband " What is now
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 249 
 
 become of your good man, Palsgrave, and your good 
 wife, Palsgrave they had, I think, as much right 
 to the kingdom of Bohemia as I have to the princi- 
 pality of Wales." Floyd was compelled to ride two 
 several days, from the Fleet Bridge to Cheapside, 
 upon a horse, with his face to the tail of it; he was 
 also twice placed in the pillory ; the letter K was 
 branded on his forehead, and he was then conveyed to 
 the prison. Floyd had been a steward, in Shropshire, 
 to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. 
 
 During the Commonwealth, the following members 
 of the Inner Temple, were ordered by the House of 
 Commons to be called to the state and degree of 
 serjeant-at-law: Mr. Chapman, Mr. Gates, and Mr. 
 Littleton ; and they took upon them the degree of the 
 coif accordingly. 
 
 Charles Abbott, afterwards Lord Tenterden, and 
 Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was born at 
 Canterbury, on the 7th of October, 1762. He was 
 the son of a barber in that town, and at an early age 
 was admitted on the foundation of the King's School 
 of the Cathedral. In 1781, young Abbott was 
 elected a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 
 with an allowance of 5QL Having distinguished 
 himself at the University, by the advice of Mr. Jus- 
 tice Buller, one of whose sons was his pupil, he 
 entered himself as a student in the Inner Temple, in 
 1788. At the suggestion of his experienced adviser, 
 he attended some months in the office of an attorney, 
 he subsequently became a pupil of Mr. Wood, after-
 
 250 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 wards Baron Wood ; and practised for some time as a 
 special pleader. He was called to the bar in this 
 society, in Trinity Term, 1795. His practice on the 
 Oxford circuit was very extensive; his fees for one 
 year being returned at 802 6/. 5s., in the income-tax 
 returns. His great work on the * Law of Shipping/ 
 greatly increased his reputation. In 1816, he was 
 appointed as a puisne judge in the Common Pleas, 
 and on the 4th of Nov., 1819, succeeded Lord Ellen- 
 borough, as Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
 In 1827, Sir Charles Abbott was raised to the peer- 
 age, with the title of Baron Tenterden. He died 
 Nov. the 4th, 1832. 
 
 William Cowper, the poet, was a barrister of this 
 Inn. He was the son of the Rev. John Cowper, 
 rector of Great Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire, and 
 grandson of Spenser Cowper, a Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas, who was brother of Lord Chancellor 
 Cowper. Young Cowper was placed at Westminster 
 school at the age of ten, and remained there till he 
 was eighteen. He was then articled for three years 
 to Mr. Chapman, an attorney, where Thurlow, after- 
 wards Lord Chancellor, was his fellow pupil. Having 
 abandoned the intention of practising as an attorney, 
 he entered at Inner Temple, and in 1754, was called 
 to the bar. He lived for eleven years in the Tem- 
 ple, and, while he resided here, we are informed, made 
 love to his cousin Theodora Cowper, and contributed 
 to ' The Connoisseur.' Cowper, for some time, was a 
 Commissioner of Bankrupts, and a Clerk of the Com-
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 251 
 
 mittees of the House of Lords ; but he was averse to 
 such occupations, for which he was altogether unfit, 
 and sighed for the repose of the country : 
 
 " Great offices will have 
 Great talents : and God gives to every man 
 The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, 
 That lifts him into life, and lets him fall 
 Just in the niche he was ordained to fill. 
 To the deliverer of an injured land 
 He gives a tongue to enlarge upon, a heart 
 To feel, and courage to redress her wrongs ; 
 To monarchs dignity ; to judges sense ; 
 To artists ingenuity and skill : 
 To me an unambitious mind, content 
 In the low vale of life, that early felt 
 A tvish for ease and leisure, and ere long 
 Found here that leisure and that ease I wished."* 
 
 The Inner Temple consists of 1. The Buildings in 
 Inner Temple Lane. 2. Hare Court. 3. Churchyard 
 Court, part of. 4. Farrar's Buildings. 5. Tanfield 
 Court: Tanfield Chambers. 6. Twisden Buildings. 
 7. Mitre Court Buildings. 8. King's Bench Walk 
 9. Paper Buildings. 10 Crown Office Row. 11- 
 Harcourt Buildings. 12. Fig Tree Court. 13. 
 Queen's Bench Office. 14. Inner Temple Hall Stairs. 
 15. The Hall, Library, Parliament Chamber, &c. 
 
 The Inner Temple gate, opposite Chancery Lane, 
 was built in the eighth year of the reign of James I., 
 by James Benet, Esq., then one of his majesty's ser- 
 jeants-at-arms. No. 1, to the right hand side, as you 
 
 * The Task.
 
 252 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 enter the Inner Temple lane, is called ' Dr. Johnson's 
 Stairs ; ' the great lexicographer having once resided 
 here. Madame de Boufflers, when in England, visited 
 the doctor in these chambers, in which also Boswell 
 seems first to have made his acquaintance. Boswell 
 lodged for some time at Farrar's Buildings. 
 
 A little chapel, dedicated to St. Anne, formerly 
 abutted from the- round of the church, and which, 
 it is said, was much resorted to by barren women. 
 
 Murray, afterwards Earl of Mansfield, had cham- 
 bers in the King's Bench Walks, where he was 
 frequently visited by Pope, and other distinguished 
 men of his day. Pope's lines, in his l Imitations of 
 Horace,' b. i. e. vi. 
 
 " Graced as thou art with all the power of words, 
 So known, so honour'd, at the House of Lords," 
 
 were happily ridiculed by a writer named Brown, who 
 parodied them : 
 
 " Persuasion tips his tongue where'er he walks, 
 And he has chambers in the King's Bench Walks" 
 
 Murray seems to have had chambers at No. 5 j for 
 Pope, in his ' Imitations,' b. iv. ode i. says : 
 " To number five direct your doves, 
 
 There spread round Murray all your blooming loves." 
 
 Charles Lamb, the essayist, was born at Crown Office 
 Row, and often speaks with enthusiasm of the Temple, 
 its gardens, fountains, and pleasant courts. " So may 
 the winged horse, your ancient badge and cognizance, 
 still flourish ! " exclaims Lamb, " So may future Hook- 
 ers and Seldens illustrate your church and chambers I "
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 253 
 
 Fig-tree Court, and the ancient Vine Court, no 
 doubt, acquired their names from trees which grew in 
 those places, in times when lawyers " lived under 
 their own vine and fig-tree." Elm Court, in the 
 Middle Temple, too, probably derived its name from 
 some venerable elm that flourished in that retired 
 region. A brick building was erected in Fig-tree 
 Court, in the fifteenth year of King James I., Sir 
 Thomas Coventry, then Solicitor- General, being trea- 
 surer; and, in the fifth of Charles I., new buildings 
 were made in the same court, Sir Richard Shelton, 
 Solicitor-General, being treasurer. Tanfield Court, 
 originally called ' Bradshaw's Rents,' from Henry 
 Bradshaw, treasurer, in 26 Hen. VIII., takes its 
 present name from Sir Laurence Tanfield, Lord Chief 
 Baron, who had his residence here. Twisden Build- 
 ings seem to be called after Sir Thomas Twisden, 
 Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 Hare Court is named, not after the hare that was 
 formerly hunted during the Inner Temple Revels, but 
 from Sir Nicholas Hare, Master of the Rolls, who 
 had his residence here. The pump of Hare Court 
 has derived celebrity from some satirical lines by 
 the poet Garth. The water both here and in Pump 
 Court is famed for purity. 
 
 Paper Buildings are celebrated as being the abode 
 of Selden. His chambers were on the uppermost 
 story, towards the garden stair-case, where he had 
 a little gallery to walk in. 
 
 In the time of Davis and Marlow, the Temple
 
 254 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Gardens seem to have been newly laid out, from the 
 following allusion in one of their pieces : 
 
 The fine youth Cyprius is more terse and neat 
 Than the new garden of the Old Temple is. 
 
 In the last century there was a rookery in the 
 gardens; Sir Edward Northey, a learned lawyer, of 
 the reign of Queen Anne, having brought a colony of 
 crows from his grounds at Epsom. The rookery 
 flourished in the time of Goldsmith, for he alludes, in 
 his ' Animated Nature,' to the movements of the crows, 
 which he had often, he says, observed from the win- 
 dows of his chambers in the Temple. 
 
 The poets, from Spenser and Shakspeare to the 
 author of the Pleader's Guide,* abound in allusions 
 to the localities of the Temple : 
 
 " Fig-tree or Fountain-side, or learned shade 
 Of King's Bench Walk, by pleadings vocal made 
 Thrice hallowed shades ! where slip-shod benchers muse, 
 Attorneys haunt and Special Pleaders cruise ! " 
 
 The Inner Temple Hall is the smallest of the halls 
 of the Four Inns. It is built on the site of the hall 
 of the Knights Templars, and part of the structure 
 is supposed to be as old as the reign of Edward III. 
 This hall has repeatedly suffered from fire, and has 
 undergone several repairs. It has of late years been 
 re-decorated, and is at present, though a small, an 
 elegant apartment, with a handsome screen. In the 
 hall are whole-length portraits of William and Mary, 
 
 * Anstey.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 255 
 
 Queen Anne, Sir Thomas Littleton, Lord Chief 
 Justice Coke, Lord Kenyon, &c. 
 
 The following Readers of the Inner Temple were 
 subsequently elevated to the judicial bench, &c. : 
 
 f Attorney-General. 
 Babmgton, 
 
 John Port, Justice of the King's Bench, 1515. 
 
 John Baldwin, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 
 1517. 
 
 William Shelly, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1518. 
 
 John Baker, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1522. 
 
 William Coningsby, Justice of the Common Pleas, 
 1526. 
 
 Thomas Audley, Lord High Chancellor of England, 
 1527. 
 
 John Whyddon, Justice of the King's Bench, 1529. 
 
 John Baker, Recorder of the City of London, 1530, 
 posted Attorney-General. 
 
 Nicholas Hare, Master of the Rolls, 1533. 
 
 Thomas Bromley, Justice of the King's Bench, 1534. 
 
 David Brook, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1535. 
 
 Henry Bradshaw, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1537. 
 
 Richard Harper, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1553. 
 
 Richard Onslowe, Recorder of the City of London, 
 1562. 
 
 Roger Manwood, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1564. 
 
 Francis Gawdy, Justice of the King's Bench, 1565. 
 
 Thomas Bromley, Recorder of the City of London, 
 1565. 
 
 Edmund Anderson, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 
 1566. 
 
 Edward Flowerdue, Baron of the Exchequer, 1568. 
 
 Francis Beaumont, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1581. 
 
 * These are the dates of their readings.
 
 256 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Edward Drew, Recorder of the City of London, 1584. 
 Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 1592. 
 
 Thomas Coventry, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1 595. 
 Lawrence Tanfield, Baron of the Exchequer, 1595. 
 
 Recorder of London. 
 
 Speaker of the House of Commons, 
 
 John Crooke, 
 
 1596. 
 
 Queen's Serjeant. 
 Justice of the Queen's Bench. 
 Thomas Foster, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1596. 
 George Crooke, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1599, 
 delude, Justice of the Queen's Bench. 
 
 Edward Bromley, Baron of Exchequer, 1605. 
 John Walter, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1607. 
 
 f Recorder of the City of London. 
 Thomas Coventry, < Attorney-General. 
 
 I Keeper of the Great Seal, 1616. 
 John Bridgeman, Justice Castries, 1616. 
 
 f Recorder of the City of London. 
 Robert Heath, < Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 
 
 ( 1619. 
 Thomas Trevor, Baron of the Exchequer, 1620. 
 
 /-. TT- f Baron of the Exchequer. 
 
 George Vernon, 
 
 (.Justice of the Common Pleas, 1621. 
 
 Heneage Finch, j Recorderof the City of London, 1622. 
 
 I Solicitor-General, &c. &c. 
 Richard Weston, Baron of the Exchequer, 1628. 
 
 / Solicitor-General. 
 Edward Littleton, J Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 
 1632. 
 
 \ Keeper of the Great Seal. 
 
 Thomas Gardiner, Recorder of the City of London, 
 1639. 
 
 Adjoining the Inner Temple Hall are the Par- 
 liament Chamber, Bencher's Rooms, and Library;
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 257 
 
 in the former of which are busts, portraits,* and 
 engraved likenesses, of the following royal guests 
 and eminent members of this house : 
 
 Busts of Lord Abinger, Lord Thurlow, SirW. W. Fol- 
 lett, Lord Ellenborough, and Sir Frederick Pollock, Lord 
 Chief Baron of the Exchequer. 
 
 Portraits of King George I. 
 
 Queen Caroline, Consort of George I. 
 
 Philip Neve, Serjeant-at-Law. 
 
 Sir John Pratt, Lord Chief Justice, 1728.f 
 
 Sir Simon Harcourt, Lord Chancellor, 1713. 
 
 Sir Martin Wright, Justice, 1740. 
 
 Sir Richard Fanshaw. 
 
 * There was formerly in the Inn a portrait of the notorious 
 Sir George Jefferies, Lord Chancellor, painted for the Society 
 by Sir Godfrey Kneller. In 1693 it was ordered by the bench 
 to be removed, that " Mr. Treasurer do declare to the Lord 
 JefFeries (Sir George's son) that, at his lordship's desire, the house 
 do make a present to his lordship of his father's picture now in 
 Mr. Holloway's chamber, who is desired to deliver the same to 
 his lordship or his order." It was accordingly delivered to his 
 lordship by Mr. Holloway, and was conveyed to the family house 
 at Acton, near Wrexham, in Denbighshire. 
 
 t A decision of this learned judge was thus humorously ver- 
 sified ; and was sung in one of the halls on grand day : 
 A woman having settlement, 
 Married a man with none : 
 The question was, he being dead, 
 
 If that she had was gone ? 
 Quoth Sir John Pratt, her settlement 
 
 Suspended did remain, 
 Living the husband but him dead, 
 It doth revive again. 
 
 CHORUS OF PUISNE JUDGES. 
 
 Living the husband but him dead, 
 It doth revive again.
 
 258 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Lord Keeper Coventry. 
 
 Sir Robert Heath, Lord Chief Justice. 
 
 Sir Nathan Wright. 
 
 Sir Joseph Yates. 
 
 Sir William Lee, Lord Chief Justice. 
 
 Geoffery Gilbert, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. 
 
 Sir Thomas Pengelly. 
 
 His Majesty King James II. 
 
 Polexfen, Judge. 
 
 Edward Lord Littleton. 
 
 Sir John Trenchard. 
 
 Earl Bathurst, 1681. 
 
 Sir Francis Pemberton, Lord Chief Justice. 
 
 Lord Trevor. 
 
 Audley, Lord Chancellor. 
 
 Sir Edward Coke. 
 
 Lord Henley. 
 
 Sir Peter King, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, 1724. 
 
 Charles Pratt, Earl Camden. 
 
 Charles Abbott, Lord Tenterden, Lord Chief Justice 
 of the King's Bench. 
 
 Sir Thomas Parker, Lord Chief Baron. 
 
 Lord Loughborough, Lord Chancellor. 
 
 Sir John Mitford, Lord Redesdale. 
 
 Sir John Vaughan, Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 Sir John Comyns, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. 
 
 Sir Eardley Wilmot, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas. 
 
 Sir Heneage Finch, Earl of Nottingham. 
 
 Lord John Finch.* 
 
 Sir William Morrice, Secretary to Charles II. 
 
 Sir John Powell, Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 * Son of the Earl of Nottingham, and not the Lord Keeper of 
 the same name ; admitted 23d October, 1711; called to the bar 
 14th June, 1719. Ex Regist. Inner Temple.
 
 INNER TEMPLE. 259 
 
 Sir Shouldeii Lawrence. 
 
 Sir Thomas Twisden, Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 Right Hon. Richard West, Lord Chancellor of 
 
 Ireland.* 
 
 The Right Hon. George Grenville. 
 John Gurney, Baron of the Exchequer. 
 Sir Edward Hyde East, Chief Justice of Bengal. 
 Sir George Crooke, Justice of the King's Bench. 
 Sir Joseph Jeykell, Treasurer of the Inner Temple, 
 
 1816. 
 
 Sir George Nares, Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 George Keate, Esq. 
 Sir John Blencowe. 
 Sir John King, Advocate-General, James, Duke of 
 
 York. 
 Sir John Fortescue Almand, Justice of the Common 
 
 Pleas. 
 
 Hon. W. Fortescue, Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 Francis Beaumont. 
 William Petyt, Esq. 
 Hon. Danes Barrington. 
 Francis Maseres, F. R. S., Cursitor Baron of the 
 
 Exchequer. 
 
 THE LIBRARY. 
 
 Two spacious and elegant apartments, commanding 
 a view of the garden and river, are appropriated to 
 the valuable library of this society. The library con- 
 sists of several thousand volumes on legal and general 
 subjects, and comprises original editions of scarce 
 works, and a large collection of MS. records, &c., con- 
 taining matter interesting to the lawyer, historian, and 
 antiquarian. The trustees of William Petyt, Esq. 
 
 * He died 1727, at the early age of 36 years. 
 
 s2
 
 260 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Keeper of the Records of the Tower, presented the 
 whole of the MSS. committed to their care, to the 
 Inner Temple as well as the sum of 150/. toward the 
 erection of a place of custody for them. Petyt be- 
 queathed 50/. for the use of the library of the Inner 
 Temple, and also left a similar sum to the Middle 
 Temple for the same purpose, and since that time this 
 library has been considerably augmented, receiving 
 fresh accessions every year. 
 
 CLIFFORD'S INN. 
 
 This Inn of Chancery is one of the lesser houses 
 of the Inner Temple. It was anciently the town resi- 
 dence of the Barons Clifford, and has since retained 
 their name. The inheritance of the Inn was granted 
 by King Henry II. to Robert de Clifford to hold by 
 the service of one penny to be paid into the exchequer 
 at Michaelmas. After the death of this Robert de 
 Clifford, Isabel his widow demised the house in the 
 18 Edw. III. to the students of the law (apprenticiis 
 de banco, says Dugdale, are the words of the record) 
 for the yearly rent of 10/. Afterwards, in consider- 
 ation of the sum of 600/., and the rent of 4/. per 
 annum, it was granted to Nicholas Sulyard, Esq., 
 principal of this house, Nicholas Guybon, Robert 
 Clinche, and other seniors of the inn. In the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth there were 100 students in term 
 in Clifford's Inn, and twenty students out of term. 
 Sir Edward Coke was a student in this inn before his 
 admission to the Inner Temple; and it deserves to be 
 mentioned that Sir Matthew Hale and the principal
 
 CLIFFORD'S INN. 261 
 
 judges sat in Clifford's Inn hall after the great fire of 
 London to settle the various differences that occurred 
 between landlord and tenant, and to ascertain the 
 boundaries of property. The arms of Clifford's Inn * 
 are Cheeky Or and Azure of fesse Gules within a 
 bardure of the third, charged with a Bezanet. 
 
 In the common place-book of T. Gibbon's Harl. 
 MSS.f I find the following note respecting Clifford's 
 Inn: 
 
 " Upon Clifford's Inn Hall window is a coat of arms, 
 Asure 3 Fesse Or, betuin 8 Golden Keyes, 3, #,2, I, 
 with this inscription: Will. Screen, electus et vocatus ad 
 statu et gradu servientis ad legem extra hospitiu istud et 
 non allude, vixit temp. R. II., Hen. IV., et Hen. V" 
 
 This William Screen was probably a Reader in this 
 Inn of Chancery, and had never filled the office in the 
 Inner Temple, the house of Court to which it was sub- 
 ordinate. At this early period it was the usual 
 practice to call to the state and degree of serjeant-at- 
 law those barristers of the Inns of Court only who 
 had been chosen on account of their experience, gra- 
 vity, and learning as Readers, in the four houses ; and 
 this record of a deviation from that practice, on ac- 
 count of some special circumstances, shews how rare 
 were the exceptions to the general rule, and how sin- 
 gular a circumstance it was accounted that a Reader 
 in one of the lesser inns, who had never read in the 
 hall of either of the principal houses, should be 
 honoured with the coif. 
 
 * Carter's ' Analysis of Honor.' t Harl. MSS. 980, p. 300.
 
 262 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 CLEMENT'S INN. 
 
 This inn, also one of the subordinate houses of the 
 Inner Temple, Avas an Inn of Chancery before the 
 reign of Edward IV. Of this inn the MS. view * of 
 the Four Famous Colleges, &c., gives the following ac- 
 count : " Clement's Inn beareth Argent, anchor with- 
 out a stock, in pale proper, entering a C for Clement 
 into the body thereof. This house sometimes was a 
 messuage belonging to the parish church of St. Clement 
 Danes from when it took its denomination : near to 
 this house is that fountain which is called Clement's 
 Well." In 2 Hen. VII. 1486, Sir John Cantlowe, Knt., 
 in consideration of xl marks' fine, and 4L ivs. vine?, 
 yearly rent demised the house to William and John 
 Eylot in trust, it is presumed, for the students of the 
 law. About 20 Hen. VIII. Cantlowe's interest therein 
 passed to William Holies, Knt., and Lord Mayor of Lon- 
 don and ancestor of the noble family of Newcastle, one 
 of whom, John Earl of Clare, whose residence was on the 
 site of the present Clare Market, demised it to the 
 principal and fellows of Clement's Inn. " The anchor 
 is engraven on stone over the gate of the first entrance 
 into the house, and is an hieroglyphic, figuring thereby 
 that Pope Clement, as he was pope, was reputed Caput 
 Ecdesice Romance for the Roman priesthood, or an- 
 chorage of Christendom figured by the anchor, and by 
 the text C the sacerdotal dignity. Some hold that 
 the device of the anchor was rather invented upon 
 
 * Harl. 1104.
 
 CLEMENT'S INN. 263 
 
 this reason; of the martyrdom of Pope Clement, as 
 Jacobus de Voragia writeth, that he received his mar- 
 tyrdom being bound to a great anchor and cast into 
 the sea by command of the Emperor Trajan." In the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth this inn contained 100 stu- 
 dents in term, and twenty out of term. That this 
 house was under the governance of the bench of the 
 Inner Temple appears from the * case of Clement's 
 Inn'* already cited. 
 
 There were many ' swinge-bucklers ' formerly in 
 the Inns of Court and Chancery, ' and town and 
 gown ' rows, were not unfrequent. Chaucer was 
 fined, at the Inner Temple, for beating a friar, in 
 Fleet Street, and in the reign of Henry VI., the prin- 
 cipals of Clifford's Inn, Furnival's Inn, and Barnard's 
 Inn were sent prisoners to Hertford Castle, in conse- 
 quence of a tumult between the students of all the 
 Inns of Court and Chancery, and the citizens of Lon- 
 don, in Fleet Street. " ! the mad days that I have 
 spent!" says Master Shallow, formerly of Clement's 
 Inn; where, according to Shakspeare, the students 
 were a riotorious set, " who knew where the bona- 
 robas were." Shallow also relates how " he did fight 
 with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer behind Gray's 
 Inn." Strype mentions that by reason of the " fre- 
 quent disturbances and unthrifts" of the gentlemen in 
 the Inns of Chancery, in the streets at night, the 
 inhabitants were obliged to keep watches. In the 
 year 1582, the Recorder himself, ' with six more of 
 
 * 1 Keeble, 135.
 
 264 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 the honest inhabitants,' stood by St. Clement's Church, 
 to see the lanthorn hung out, and watch for some of 
 these outrageous dealers. At about seven o'clock at 
 night, they saw, young Mr. Kobert Cecil, the Lord 
 Treasurer's son, (afterwards Secretary of State to 
 Queen Elizabeth,) pass by the Church. The parish 
 authorities, no doubt expecting 
 
 " To catch in the fact of an overt act " 
 one of the disturbers of their peace, were surprised 
 when young Cecil (who probably had some suspicion 
 of their business) gave them as he passed a civil 
 salute; at which Strype informs us, they said "Lo! 
 you may see how a nobleman's son can use himself, 
 and how he putteth off his cap to poor men: our 
 Lord bless him." The Recorder was quite charmed 
 with this evidence of Eobert Cecil's innocence, and 
 wrote a letter to his father, saying " your lordship 
 hath cause to thank God for so virtuous a son." It 
 appears that the students of Gray's Inn, where 
 Robert Cecil was a student, like the rest of the Inns 
 of Court-men, sometimes got into a scrape. The 
 following petition is among Lord Burghley's MSS. :* 
 
 To the Right Honorable the Lords and others of her 
 
 Majf most Honorable Pryvie Counsell, 
 " Most humblie shewen unto yo r LL., That whereas 
 we, Thomas Luttrell, and others, students in Grayes Inne, 
 through o r unadvised facte in defacinge Woodes Stake, 
 have incurred yo r Honors heavye displeasure, for w ch we 
 are more greeved then for our present Imprisonment. 
 Wee, therefore, w th sorrowfull and submissive myndes 
 
 * MS. Lansd. article 20, fol. 92.
 
 LYON'S INN. 265 
 
 most humblic beseeche your LL. of your accustomed 
 goodnesses to have favorable consideracon of us in this 
 case, and measure the matter w th our meaninge, w cb was 
 voide of gyvinge any cause of offence unto your Honours. 
 And all we the said offenders w to others, our fryndes, 
 shall remayne bounden unto yo r LL. in all, by any manner 
 of dutie and service duringe life, and, assuredlie praye 
 to God for yo r healthes and happines w th encrease of 
 much honor." 
 
 LYON'S INN. 
 
 This was an Inn of Chancery, as early as the time 
 of Henry V.* In the time of Queen Elizabeth it 
 contained eighty students in term, and thirty out of 
 term, and readings and mootings were observed with 
 great regularity. Sir Edward Coke was for some 
 time reader at Lyon's Inn, and a portrait of that 
 illustrious man is hung up in the hall. The learned 
 Selden was chosen as reader of this Inn of Chancery, 
 but he refused to read, and in consequence of his 
 refusal, was, in the year 1624, fined 20/. by the 
 Benchers of the Inner Temple, and excluded from 
 commons. The Hall of this Inn is now used by the 
 students of the four Inns of Court, for the meetings 
 of three forensic societies, which meet weekly during 
 the greater part of the year, for the discussion of 
 legal and historical questions: an annual rent being 
 paid by each society, for the use of the Hall, to the 
 principal and ancients of the society. The arms of 
 Lyon's Inn, are Checkie Or and Arg. a Lion Salient 
 sab. lanqued and armed Gules. 
 
 * Dug. Orig.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Middle Temple comprises 
 1. Buildings in the Middle 
 Temple Lane. 2. Brick Court. 
 3. Essex Court. 4. New Court. 
 5. Garden Court. 6. Pump Court. 
 7. Part of Church-yard Court. 8. 
 
 Lamb Buildings. 9. The Cloisters. 10. Elm Court. 
 
 11. Plowden Buildings. 12. The Hall, Library, &c. 
 
 13. The Garden. 
 
 The present gate of the Middle Temple was erected 
 
 in 1684, from a design, it is said, by Sir Christopher
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 2G7 
 
 Wren. Over the gate-way are the arms of the so- 
 ciety, and the following inscription : 
 
 " Surrexit impensis Societat. Med. Templi. 
 " M.DC.LXXXIV." 
 
 The old gate, which was then removed, was built 
 by Sir Amias Paulet, who filled the offices of Reader 
 of this Society, and Treasurer of the Middle Temple, 
 12 Hen. VIII. The story is, that when Wolsey was 
 a curate at Lymington, in Somersetshire, Sir Amias 
 Paulet, then 'a justice of peace,' put Wolsey in the 
 stocks, for being drunk and disorderly. The Cardinal 
 did not forget this indignity, and about the seventh 
 year of Henry VIII., ordered Sir Amias not to quit 
 London without a licence. Paulet took up his abode 
 in the Gate-house of the Middle Temple, which he 
 re-edified and ' sumptuously beautified ' on the out- 
 side, with the cardinal's arms, hat, cognisance, badges, 
 and other devices, in 'a glorious manner;' hoping 
 by this show of respect, to conciliate the offended 
 churchman. In the ninth year of the reign of James 
 I., some brick buildings adjoining the east side of the 
 Middle Temple Gate, were erected by Sir Walter 
 Cope and Sir Arthur George. 
 
 Brick Court, originally called Brick Buildings, was 
 erected in the eleventh year of the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, towards the charge of which Thomas 
 Daniel, sometimes Treasurer of the Middle Temple, 
 liberally contributed. This Court suffered from fire, 
 in the beginning of the last century, as appears by 
 the inscription : Phcenicis instar revivisco ; Mar-
 
 268 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 tino Ryder Thesaurario, 1704. Oliver Goldsmith 
 lived at No. 2, Brick Court, for some time, and 
 here composed his " History of the Earth and Ani- 
 mated Nature." His chambers were on the second 
 floor, on the right-hand side; and here he was often 
 visited by Burke, Boswell, Garrick, Reynolds, Percy, 
 Sir Philip Francis, and others of his distinguished 
 contemporaries. On the first floor of No. 2, Brick 
 Court, underneath Goldsmith, Sir William Black- 
 stone, had his chambers, and here, probably, he ar- 
 ranged the materials for his ' Commentaries.' In 
 this court, there is a sun-dial, with the inscription, 
 ' Time and Tide tarry for no man.' It appears from 
 the London Spy, that the inscription formerly was 
 ' Begone about your business.' Elias Ashmole, the 
 founder of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and son- 
 in-law of Sir William Dugdale, who seems to have 
 derived some of the information for his ' Chronica 
 Series ' from him, had chambers in the Middle Temple 
 Lane ; where Anthony a Wood mentions that he found 
 the two antiquaries in conversation. The east side of 
 the Middle Temple Lane, was erected in the early 
 part of the reign of Charles I. ; some of the houses 
 being described as ' fair brick buildings.' 
 
 There are several other sun-dials in the Middle 
 Temple one on a pedestal in the garden, one oppo- 
 site the entrance to the hall, one in Pump Court, and 
 another in the Middle Temple Lane, over the entrance 
 to Elm Court, with the inscription : Pereunt et im- 
 putantur.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 269 
 
 Essex Court derives its name from its neighbour- 
 hood to Essex House, which formerly stood near the 
 present Essex Street, and which was anciently called 
 the Utter or Outer Temple. Essex House derived 
 its name from Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, the 
 last favourite of Queen Elizabeth : 
 
 " Great England's glory and the world's wide wonder, 
 Whose dreadful name late through all Spaine did 
 
 thunder, 
 
 And Hercules two pillars standing near, 
 Did make to quake and fear." 
 
 Devereux Gate, which opens from the Temple 
 into Devereux Court, also derives its name from this 
 nobleman. 
 
 John Evelyn, the author of Sylva, &c., lived in 
 Essex Court, for some time, being a member of the 
 Middle Temple, to the customs of which, he fre- 
 quently alludes, in his Diary. During the Christmas 
 of 1642, Evelyn was chosen one of the Comptrollers 
 of the Middle Temple Revels ; "as the fashion of 
 y c young students and gentlemen was, the Christmas 
 being kept this year with great solemnity." In 1668, 
 he writes " went to see the Revels at the Middle 
 Temple, which is also an old but riotous custom, 
 and has relation neither to virtue nor policy." Eve- 
 lyn mentions that his brother, from Trin. Coll. Oxon., 
 also came to the Middle Temple, " as gentlemen of 
 the best quantity did, but without intention to study 
 the law as a profession." Edward Capell, lived in 
 Essex Court, in 1767.
 
 270 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 * The Cloisters ' are built upon the ruins of the 
 Cloisters, which, there can be little doubt, adjoined 
 the Temple Church, and were similar to the Cloisters 
 of Westminster Abbey, Norwich Cathedral, and others 
 of our ancient churches and monastic edifices. It 
 appears from the tablet on the existing buildings, that 
 the ancient structure on this site, was destroyed by 
 fire, in the year 1678 : 
 
 " Vetustissima Templariorum porticus igne consumpta, 
 anno 1078, nova haec, sumptibus Medii Templi, extructa 
 anno 1681, Gulielmo Whitelocke, armigero, thesaurario." 
 
 Elm Court is distinguished as the place where the 
 illustrious Lord Somers had his chambers. 
 
 The Water Gate, at the bottom of the Middle 
 Temple Lane, has existed from a very remote period ; 
 and it appears that, prior to the reign of Edward 
 III., the Justices, Clerks of the King's Courts, and 
 others, engaged in the administration of the law at 
 Westminster, had been accustomed to go from the gate 
 by water, to Westminster. The Lord Mayor of Lon- 
 don having closed the gates, Edward addressed the 
 following mandate to that functionary, ordering the 
 gates to be kept open to allow a free passage from the 
 Temple to Westminster, to the parties named : 
 
 " Rex Majori Londoniae et Escatori suo in eadem 
 civitate, salutem.* 
 
 Quia intelleximus quod, per medium Curiae Novi Templi 
 Londoniae, usque aquam Tamisiae, communis transitus, 
 pro justiciariis et clericis nostris, ac aliis, negotia sua 
 apud Westmonasterium prosequentibus, et per aquam 
 
 * Rymer's Foedera, torn. iv. p. 40 6.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 271 
 
 transire volentibus, esse debet, et solet, totis temporibus 
 retroactis. 
 
 Et quod vos portas Templi praedicti per diem clausas 
 tenetis, et ipsos justiciaries, et clericos nostros, et alios 
 praedictos, quominus per medium dictse curiae transire 
 possint impeditis : 
 
 Per quod tarn negotia nostra quam alia communia, 
 multotiens retardantur ; 
 
 Vobis mandamus quod portas dicti Templi per diem 
 apertas tenere faciatis, ita quod justiciarii et clerici 
 nostri ac alii, qui per aquam transire voluerint, ibidem 
 transire possint, prout hactenus facere consueverunt. 
 
 Teste Rege apud Kenelworth, secundo die Novembris.* 
 
 The arms of the Middle Temple are a holy lamb, 
 bearing a banner, surmounted by a red cross, on 
 a shield Argent charged with a cross Gules. f In 
 ancient times, this lamb, symbolizing our sacred Ke- 
 deemer, was embroidered on cloth, and, after epi- 
 scopal benediction, was worn by the faithful, with the 
 words of the Evangelist St. John,| agnus Dei qui tollis 
 peccata mundi. The lamb was also employed in the 
 
 * A.D. 1329, An. 3 Edw. III. 
 
 t " The Middle Temple beareth for distinction, Argent on a 
 plain cross Gules, the Holy Lamb Or." MS. ' Harl. Car. I. also 
 'Analysis of Honor, 1669.' Anciently the Knight Templars 
 before the Lamb did appropriate this ensign " A galloping horse 
 with two men on his back." Ibid. " It appeareth on record, and 
 in good authors that they (the Knights Templars) bore a shield 
 Argent charged with a cross Gules, and upon the nombrill 
 thereof a Holy Lambe ; and this I have seen enlumined in 
 ancient manuscript books of the foundation and statutes of this 
 order ; but before this they bear a -horse with two men riding on 
 him !" Sir George Buc. 
 t John v. 29.
 
 272 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 decoration of churches, and is yet to be met with in 
 many of our provincial and metropolitan churches. In 
 Catholic countries, the agnus del is still very generally 
 worn by the peasantry. This agnus del was assumed 
 as one of the appropriate ensigns of the Knights 
 Templars ; their bearings being a shield argent, a plain 
 cross, gules, and (brochant sur le tout), the holy 
 lamb bearing the banner of the order, surmounted by 
 a red cross : 
 
 " And on his brest a bloody crosse he bore, 
 The deare remembrance of his dying lord, 
 For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore, 
 And dead as living ever him ador'd. 
 Upon his shield the like was also scor'd, 
 For sovereign hope, which in his help he had."* 
 
 The holy lamb seems also to have been borne by 
 the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, 
 for I find one in the groined roof of St. John's Gate, 
 Clerkenwell. If this be so, as this order succeeded 
 the Knights Templars in the possession of their 
 house, at Temple Bar, and afterwards demised it to 
 the professors and students of the common law: we 
 have an additional reason why this ' glorious badge ' 
 should have been assumed as the armorial ensign of 
 the legal fraternity in the Temple. 
 
 The precise date at which the Middle Temple as- 
 sumed these arms must be left to conjecture. Being 
 the ancient arms of the Temple, it seems probably 
 that they were at a very early date adopted by the 
 
 * ' Faery Queeiie.'
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 273 
 
 lawyers, who became tenants of the place, and succes- 
 sors of many of the immunities of the Knights 
 Templars. But, for some cause, these arms fell into 
 oblivion ; for, when Sir George Buc (who had been, he 
 tells us, a student of the Middle Temple), wrote his 
 view of the ' Colleges of London,' 1612, it would 
 appear that the Middle Temple did not bear any 
 armorial ensign. 
 
 It seems to me probable, that the holy lamb and 
 cross had been obliterated by the zealots in the reign 
 of Hen. VIII., or Edw. VI., as a relic of ancient 
 superstition, in the same way as crosses and figures 
 of the saints were mutilated in many churches; and 
 that either the ancient badge of the Temple had been 
 forgotten, when the Inner Temple assumed the Pe- 
 gasus, or that the members did not wish to incur a 
 suspicion respecting their attachment to the re- 
 formed religion, by exhibiting such an emblem. The 
 use of agnus dels was strictly forbidden by 13 Eliz. 
 c. 2., in which they are designated " vain and super- 
 stitious things." 
 
 Having described both the arms of the Knight 
 Templars, Sir George Buc proceeds, "But, if the 
 fellows and gentlemen of the Inner Temple have taken 
 for the device or ensign of their college, a Pegasus, 
 or flying horse, sables or gules, upon a shield or, as 
 I hear that they did in the reign of the late queen of 
 immortal memory, then they are already fairly armed. 
 And, because the utter-Temple neither is, nor was 
 ever any college or society of students, and therefore not
 
 274 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 to be considered here, I will leave the choice of either 
 of these old devices and ensigns to the gentlemen of 
 the Middle Temple, they not having as yet, to my 
 knowledge, chosen or appropriated any ensign to their 
 society or college; to whom, and to their house and 
 studies, I wish all honour and prosperity, for my parti- 
 cular obligation, having been sometimes a fellow and 
 student (or, to confess a truth, a truant,) in that 
 most honourable house." The worthy ' Master of 
 the Revels ' * seems to have depended a good deal 
 on hearsay; but, whether his authority is to be 
 relied on or not, it is certain that, soon after the 
 date of his book, the Middle Temple revived their 
 ancient badge, and have ever since borne the lamb, 
 with the banner and cross. 
 
 From a MS.f description of the orders, customs, 
 and state of the fellowship of the Middle Temple, in 
 the reign of Henry VIIL, it appears that the fellow- 
 ship of this society was divided into two classes or 
 ' Companyes ; ' one called the clerks' commons, the 
 other masters' 1 commons ; the former being juniors 
 under two years' standing ; " and, until they be called 
 up to be of masters' commons, they shall not pay the 
 pension-money of 3s. 4d. a-piece, neither pay so much 
 for their commons, weekly, as the masters' commons 
 do, by 6d. a-piece: and they serve the masters' com- 
 mons of their meat, every day, at dinner and supper." 
 Again, the masters 1 commons, who were such above 
 
 * Sir George Buc held this office under the Crown. 
 t Cotton MSS. vit. c. ix.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 275 
 
 two years' standing, as had been called up by the 
 bench, were farther divided into * no utter-barristers, 
 utter-barristers, and benchers.' No utter-barristers 
 were such as had not yet been called to plead ; utter- 
 barristers were such as had continued five or six 
 years, and profited in the study of the law, and who 
 had been called to plead by the bench ; " and this 
 making of utter-barristers is as a preferment or de- 
 gree given him for his learning/' Benchers were 
 utter-barristers, who, after fourteen or fifteen years' 
 continuance, were chosen by the elders of the house, 
 'to read and expound some estatute.' During the 
 time of reading, he had the name of Reader, and 
 afterwards that of Bencher. 
 
 Respecting the readings in the Houses of Chancery 7 
 then dependant upon the Middle Temple, there is the 
 following memorandum : " Item, that the Middle 
 Temple doth find two readers, which are utter- 
 barristers, unto two Houses of Chancery; that is to 
 say, the Strande Inne and New Inne, which readers 
 do read unto them, upon some statute, in the term, 
 time, and grand vacations; and they of the Houses 
 of Chancery do observe the manner of disputations 
 and motyng, as they do in the Temple, and their 
 readers do bring each of them two with them of the 
 Temple, and they argue unto it also." 
 
 Occasionally, the gentlemen appear to have been 
 on ' short commons.' The fare on Wednesdays was, 
 " Supper meat to the value of I*/., and the third 
 part of 2c?., between two of the masters' commons. 
 
 T2
 
 27G INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Dinner meat to the value of Id., and the third 
 part of 2d., between two of the masters' commons." 
 On Saturdays they had better fare. "Dinner two 
 of the masters 1 commons have meat to the value of 
 4e?. Supper every one of the masters' commons and 
 clerks' commons have four eggs." The stipends of 
 the officers of the Middle Temple, in the time of 
 Henry VIII, were: 
 
 The steward's wages by the year 4 marks. 
 
 The chief butler's wages by the year 33s. 4fd. 
 
 The second butler's wages by the year 6*. 8d. 
 
 The third butler's wages by the year 6s. 8d. 
 
 The chief cook's wages by the year 40*. 
 
 The manciple* or steward's servant, his wages by the 
 year 26*. 8d. 
 
 The under-cook's wages by the year 2Qs. 
 
 The laundress of the clothes of the house her wages 
 yearly 6*. 8d. 
 
 Also at Christmas the three butlers have in reward of 
 every gentleman of the house I2d., and some give them in 
 reward more. 
 
 Also at Easter the cook's manciple has in reward of 
 every gentleman of the house \2d., or thereabouts. 
 
 With respect to apparel, they had no order 
 in the Middle Temple, in the reign of Henry VIII. ; 
 " but every man may go as him listeth, so that his 
 apparell pretend no lightness or wantoness in the 
 wearer ; for even as his apparell doth shew him to be, 
 even so shall he be esteemed among them." It ap- 
 pears that, in these days, every man might go in and 
 out, through the house, at " all seasons of the night," 
 
 * This office, it is interesting to notice, had existed in the 
 Temple from the time of Chaucer.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 277 
 
 and, that in consequence of this latitude, robberies, 
 and " other misdemeanours " sometimes occurred. 
 
 " If," says the record from which we have quoted, 
 "if it happen that the plague or pestilence be any- 
 thing nigh their house, they immediately break up 
 their house, and every man goeth home into his 
 country, which is a great loss of learning; for, if 
 they had some house nigh London to resort to, they 
 might as well exercise their learning, as in the 
 Temple, until the plague were ceased." 
 
 In ancient times the circular part of the church 
 stood open, and was a place of public resort. In 
 the same manuscript, there is the following memo- 
 randum : " Item, they have no place to walk in 
 and talk and confer their learning, but in the church ; 
 which place all the times hath in it no more quietness 
 than the pervyse of Pawles by occasion of the con- 
 fluence of such as are suitors in the law." The per- 
 vyse of Pawles, probably meant the pervyse of Paul's 
 the common way of designating St. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral. Pervyse originally meant a forensic or acade- 
 mical disputation, and was afterwards applied to the 
 porches or open part of churches where those dis- 
 cussions frequently took place. Selden was of opi- 
 nion that it was a corruption of the Latin word par- 
 vas employed in Oxford to designate the inferior or 
 afternoon disputations. Dr. Johnson thought that 
 the word, which he spells parvis, was Norman French. 
 It is certain that pervyse was applied both to the dis- 
 cussions or petty mootings in the Inns of Court, and
 
 278 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 to the porches of churches. We know, from the story 
 of ' Duke Humphrey,' * and his guests, that St. Paul's 
 was formerly a general rendezvous, and it was the 
 custom of the Serjeants in very ancient times to stand 
 under the pillars of St. Paul's giving counsel to those 
 who came to consult them. Chaucer speaks of 
 A sergeant-at-law ware and wise 
 That often had been at the pervyse. 
 
 Fortescue, speaking of the customs in the reign of 
 Henry VI., informs us that in the afternoons, when 
 Westminster Hall was closed, clients resorted ad pervi- 
 sum, consulting with Serjeants and other counsellors. 
 
 In Ben Jonson's play of the Alchemist there is an allu- 
 sion to the Temple church, which shews that in his time 
 the vestibule of the church was left open all the day : 
 
 " Here 's one from Captain Face, sir, 
 Desires you to meet him in the Temple Church 
 Some half hour hence ;" 
 
 and again: 
 
 " I have walked the Round 
 Till now." 
 
 Butler, also, in Hudibras, alludes to the Round as 
 a place of common resort : 
 
 " Retain all sorts of witnesses, 
 That ply i' th' Temples under trees 
 Or walk the Round, with knights o' th' posts, 
 About the cross-legg'd knights their hosts ; 
 Or wait for customers between 
 The pillar-rows in Lincoln's Inn ; 
 Where vouchers, forgers, common bail, 
 And affidavit-men ne'er fail, 
 T' expose for sale all sorts of oaths, &c. 
 
 * See Bishop Hall's ' Satires.'
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 279 
 
 ' The ancient and solemn revels ' were conducted 
 with ludicrous formalities. On the feast of All Saints 
 the judges and Serjeants who had issued out of the 
 Middle Temple were entertained in the Inn. They 
 came in their scarlet robes, and were received by the 
 readers at the lower end of the hall. The senior or 
 ancient reader had a 'white staff' in his hand, and his 
 colleague a * white rod,' with which he ushered in 'the 
 meat,' which was preceded by music. Young gentle- 
 men of the house under the bar brought the meat 
 to the table, and the reader received the dishes, and 
 placed them on the table 'in decent order;' and du- 
 ring the feast both the readers with solemn courtesies 
 welcomed the judges and Serjeants. The puisne 
 reader also served every mess throughout the halL 
 Dinner being ended the judges and Serjeants were 
 ushered either into the garden, or some other retiring 
 place, till the hall was cleansed and prepared. The 
 judges and Serjeants having returned, the ancient 
 reader took his stand at the upper end of the bar 
 table, the puisne reader placing himself at the cup- 
 board in the middle of the hall; where as soon as the 
 music had struck up he called twice for the Master of 
 the Revels, The ancient with his white staff then ad- 
 vanced, and began ' to lead the measures,' followed by 
 barristers and students, all according to their several 
 antiquities ; and when one measure was ended the reader 
 at the cupboard called for another, and so on in order. 
 Before the conclusion of the last dance the functionary 
 at the cupboard called to one of the gentlemen of the
 
 280 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 bar to give the judges a song, and the call being 
 responded to, the company joined in chorus. Whilst 
 the company were singing and walking round the hall, 
 the reader with the white rod left the cupboard for 
 the buttery, accompanied by a competent number of 
 utter-barristers and gentlemen under the bar, and 
 there delivered to every barrister a towel with wafers 
 in it, and to every gentleman under the bar in attend- 
 ance a wooden bowl filled with ipocras ; a solemn pro- 
 cession was then formed, and, with several low congees, 
 they presented a towel with wafers, and a bowl to every 
 judge and Serjeant ; who soon after took their departure, 
 being conducted to the court-gate by the readers. 
 
 The following account of the annual wages of all 
 masters or members of the Society of the Middle 
 Temple, and also of all servants, and their under-offi- 
 cers belonging thereunto, temp. Car. I. is curious : 
 
 s. d. 
 
 To the Lent Reader one special admittance 
 
 and a hogshead of wine, besides in money 11 00 
 
 To the autumn Reader the like allowances . 1100 
 
 To the reader of divine service in the church 
 10/. per annum, being a joint payment from 
 both houses, therefore only from this society 500 
 
 To the master of the Temple is paid rent from 
 the house, and his rents for the chamber, 
 per annum . . . . . 34 13 4 
 
 To the clerk of the church for carrying the 
 bell about, which summons them to prayers, 
 and for finding wax lights for the altar, mats, 
 bell ropes, &c., per annum . 5 13 4 
 
 To the under-treasurer the annual fee 20
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 281 
 
 The annual rent of the house and fees for the 
 payment of it into the Exchequer, their fees 
 and acquittance . . . . 10 7 8 
 
 Wages paid, to the steward , 
 To the chief butler I 4 marks a 
 
 To the chief cook j piece. 
 
 To the panyerman 
 To the four puisne butlers II. a piece . .400 
 To the porter . . . . . 7 10 
 
 To the gardiner . . . . 6 13 
 
 To the second cook . . . . 2 
 
 To the turnspit . . . .168 
 
 To the two wash-pots * a piece 
 
 To the laundress for washing the linen .16 
 
 To the porter of the lane and rents . .400 
 
 For keeping the parliament chamber, &c. .400 
 
 To music their yearly entertainment, besides 
 
 their diurnal pay for service . . .2130 
 
 To the cook for allowance for pewter . .500 
 
 To the panyerman for saucers . .170 
 
 To the under-treasurer for keeping and 
 cleansing all the house plate, being 780 
 ounces . . . .130 
 
 To the stage players on the two grand days for 
 
 each play 101. . . . 20 
 
 But note these are doubled and receive 40/. a play. 
 
 Every afternoon in term time a horn is blown in 
 the Middle Temple, at the blasts of which many a 
 hungry student has sung with Sternhold and Hop- 
 kins : 
 
 " Oh ! 'twas a joyful sound to hear." 
 
 Dugdale notices this custom, which seems to be a very 
 ancient one, " The panyer-man by the winding of his 
 
 * This expression occurs in the authorised version of the Bible. 
 Psahn Ix. 8.
 
 282 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 horn summons the gentlemen to dinner and supper." 
 I find the following returns of the numbers of the 
 chambers occupied, and members in the house in the 
 time of Queen Elizabeth : 
 
 THE MYDLE TEMPLE.* 
 
 There are in the Mydle Temple cxxxviij chambers. 
 There are ordynaryly in comens in Terme tyme cc, or 
 neare thereabouts. 
 
 There are ordynaryly in comens in the tyme off read- 
 yngs c. or near thereabouts. And in the mene vaca- 
 . cyons not passyng fyftye. 
 
 NEW INN. 
 
 There are ordynaryly in comens in the Terme tyme 
 Ixxx, or neare therabouts. 
 
 There are in comens in the tyme of Redyngs not pass- 
 yng xl., and in the mene vacacyons about xx. 
 
 Jo. POPHAM. 
 
 cclxxx in Terme. Ixx out of Terme. 
 
 The annexed letter, ' concerning the reformation of 
 disorders in y e Innes of Courte,' addressed to the 
 Bishop of London, and other ecclesiastical commis- 
 sioners apparently by the Star Chamber, is from the 
 same MS. collection f ; 
 
 " After our very hartie commendations. Where in the xi <h 
 yeere of the Queenes Majf reigne in the Term of Easter, 
 we did by o r Ires to the Auncyents and Benchers of the 
 [nnes of Courte, signifie what order was than taken in 
 the Sterre Chambre for reformation of a sorte of prsons 
 about that tyme detected to be in the. same houses, of 
 disordered demeanor and pverse disposition, specially 
 against the lawes and ordres Ecclesiasticall of the Churche ; 
 wh ch order being at good length, by o r sayd Ires than 
 
 * MS. Lansd. No. 10G, art. 16, fbl. 83. t Ib. No. 15, art. 74.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 283 
 
 declared and explanyd, we understand was for that tyme 
 reasonably executed, to the reformation of som who weare 
 therby proffitably reconcyled, and to the expulsion and 
 secluding of som others that weare so perverse, or rather 
 seditiously bent, to contynue in disordre as by no con- 
 venyent persuasion they weare than refourmyd : but after 
 som tyme expyred (as we are now credibly informyd), 
 the former disordres are revived, or rather increased, for 
 lack partly of the contynuance of som of those ordres 
 w*in the houses by the auncyents and Benchers, and partly 
 for that suche regarde hath not lately bene had by you, 
 the Commissioners Ecclesiasticall, to understand of the 
 sayd contempts, as was necessary. Wherefore, consyder- 
 ing how necessary a mater yt ys to provyde that in those 
 houses consisting of so greate companyes, where properly 
 obedience to lawes and observation of good orders shuld 
 be professed, ye contrary therof not nouryshed, and that 
 by suffrance the mischefe may, by the authors of suche 
 contempts, be dispersed abrode in the Realm, and y* w* 
 the more facilitie and danger allso to increase, where the 
 offenders shall gather credit among the vulgar sorte, by 
 profession of the knowledge and execution of the coinon 
 lawes of the relm. We have, upon good deliberation, 
 thought y* very necessary that yo r Lordship and others 
 having suffycient authoritie from her Ma tle to see to the 
 due execution of all the Lawes Ecclesiastical shuld heerof 
 be infourmyd, and so we requyre you that you will 
 speedily, before the end of this Term, send for som of 
 the Auncyents and Benchers of the discreetist and duty- 
 fullyest of every house or Inne of Courte, and likewyse 
 for som of the Innes of Chancery, and inquire of the 
 disordres in these kynd of causes concernyng the ob- 
 servacion of the lawes ecclesiasticall and the rytes of the 
 Churche. And as you shall fynde the same disordres 
 lykely to be increased, so to consider how the same may 
 be reasonably and speedily redressed, using therein, as
 
 284 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 cause shall require, conference eyther w' the Lord Keper 
 of the Greate Scale of England, and the twoo cheefe 
 Justices, or any of them, to whom partly doth belong 
 (as we understand) som regarde for the good ordering 
 of the said houses or Innes. And, therupon, as farforth 
 as appartaynith to the authoritye of your commission to 
 reform, or otherwyse to correcte, the parties offending, and 
 to lymytt som good orders for the due servyce of God in 
 those houses, and to staye and reforme the rest from the 
 entrye into lyke offences, wherein, surely, the wholle 
 realm shall take no small proffytt, both for the honor and 
 servyce of God, and for the better administration of lawcs, 
 and fynally by the gyving of a Generall good example of 
 obedience to the rest of the subjects." 
 A.D. 1572. 
 
 The following petition of the gentlemen of the 
 Four Inns of Court, presented to the House of Com- 
 mons in the year 1642, affords a striking illustration 
 of the distracted state of this kingdom at that 
 period : 
 
 " That you will be pleased to reflect upon the honorable 
 service of God, to behold him in his throne and dignity, 
 and that thereby the poor Protestants of this kingdom, 
 between the two extremities of zeal, may not suffer a 
 distraction of religion. 
 
 " That you will be pleased to serve God's anointed, his 
 immediate vicegerent, our true and lawful Sovereign Lord 
 the King, in his person and all his regal dignities and 
 lawful immunities without any impeachment of his regality, 
 in whose honour the reputation of the three kingdoms 
 depend. 
 
 " That you will be pleased to ratify and confirm all things 
 both concerning his Majesty and the state of this kingdom 
 as they were in those blessed days of Queen Elizabeth and
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 285 
 
 King James, that we may thereby live in these later and 
 turbulent times with as much peace to our consciences, 
 with as much dignity to our nation, in as true love and 
 obedience to our lawful sovereign, and with as much 
 liberty and liberality of our fortunes, as our forefathers 
 heretofore have done. 
 
 " That you will not suffer learning to be defaced, nor 
 discountenanced by the ignorant, but rather that you will 
 be pleased to advance it to its dignity, it being the main 
 supporter of lawful obedience, order, civility, and regu- 
 larity in all sorts. 
 
 " That you will be pleased to qualify the exorbitances of 
 the separatists and disorderly persons, that thereby the 
 city of London and the suburbs may be disburthened 
 from their continual cares and fears, besides their loss 
 of time, health, and fortunes, which by their train bands, 
 double and treble watches and wards, they continually 
 do sustain. 
 
 " That you will be pleased, as the state by election hatli 
 made you members of this honourable house, and adopted 
 you our fathers to govern our fortunes, to establish our 
 laws, and to regulate our actions ; so we now beseech you 
 to satisfy our consciences, to preserve our reputations, and 
 to admit of a liberal and free discourse in parliament con- 
 cerning all these things without interruption or fear of 
 punishment, that thereby the glory of God maybe exalted, 
 the dignity of our king and kingdom may be preserved, 
 the immunities of your house according to the ancient 
 custom of England continued, all precipitated tumults 
 opposed, and all discords as peaceably united, the valiant and 
 renowned actions of our predecessors revived, our totter- 
 ing fortunes established, our king and kingdoms united, 
 that so our minds and consciences may be fully sa- 
 tisfied."* 
 
 * I have taken this petition from a scarce quarto tract, con- 
 sisting of four pages, published A.D. 1642.
 
 286 INJ4S OF COURT. 
 
 One of the fanatical publications of * the yeare 
 of grace and reformation,' 1642, is entitled ' News 
 from Hell, Rome, and the Innes of Court? it con- 
 tains a letter from the Devil to the Pope, and 
 among other extravaganzas exhibits articles of agree- 
 ment between the high and mighty Prince Lucifer, 
 primate of the Roman Church, &c., of the one part, 
 and of certain lawyers of the other part, being signed, 
 sealed, and delivered in the presence of 
 
 William Laud, Bishop. 
 
 Isoprise Crawly, Judge. 
 
 Bribery Long, Justice. 
 
 Corrupt Fountaine, Lawyer. 
 
 Jumping Juniper, Atturney. 
 
 Johnson in Graine, Jayler. 
 
 Robert Kilfart, Solicitor. 
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL. 
 
 This noble Elizabethan Hall is one of the finest 
 structures in the metropolis, the interior being inferior 
 to none in beauty and stateliness. It was commenced 
 in the year 1562, the fifth year of the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, under the auspices of the learned Plowden, 
 who for nine years superintended the works. It was 
 finished in the year 1572 (14 Eliz). In order to 
 defray the expense of the building the members were 
 assessed by three different assessments. In 17 Jac. 
 an order was made by the bench in parliament that 
 forasmuch as by one decree made 8th of February, 
 13 Eliz., the old pensions had been augmented for 
 three years then next following, towards the payment
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 287 
 
 thereof, and by another order in parliament held 
 10th of February, 16 Eliz. that they had been aug- 
 mented one year more for the same purpose, and that 
 as funds were still wanted for the liquidation of the 
 debt, the augmentation of the said pensions should 
 continue yet one year longer. The length of the hall 
 is about 100 feet ; the breadth about forty. The 
 lofty and well proportioned roof of dark oak richly 
 carved and ornamented cannot fail to excite the ad- 
 miration of every one who sees it. " On entering the 
 hall by one of the doors beneath the music-gallery," 
 observes a visitor, " the coup-d'ceil which presents 
 itself is truly magnificent." The windows and walls 
 are decorated with the arms of distinguished members 
 of the inn. Over the dais is placed a portrait of 
 King Charles I. on horseback, the size of life, by 
 Vandyke ; being one of the three paintings of that 
 king by this great master; one of which is at Windsor 
 the other at Warwick Castle. There are also por- 
 traits of Charles II., James Duke of York, William 
 III., Queen Anne, and George II. There are busts in 
 imitation of bronze of the Twelve Casars ranged at 
 each side of the hall ; and busts in marble on pedes- 
 tals of Lord Stowell and Lord Eldon. The screen 
 and music gallery are exceedingly beautiful, being 
 of oak elaborately carved. This screen was erected in 
 17 Eliz., and towards the expense of its erec- 
 tion every master of the bench was assessed at 
 20. every master of the utter-bar, officer, and com- 
 mon attorney at 10s., and every other member of the
 
 288 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 society at 6s. 8d. In the music gallery there are 
 several pieces of armour consisting of breastplates, 
 helmets, &c. This Hall has upon three occasions been 
 honoured by the presence of royalty; Queen Hen- 
 rietta, consort of Charles L, Peter the Great, Czar of 
 Kussia, and King William III., having been enter- 
 tained with masques here. 
 
 ENTERTAINMENT OF KING WILLIAM III. IN THE MIDDLE 
 
 TEMPLE. 
 
 On the accession of King William III. his majesty, 
 it appears, was entertained at a banquet in the Mid- 
 dle Temple Hall, followed by a masque, which was the 
 last of these performances in the Inns of Court of 
 which any account has been preserved. In the Life of 
 Richard Nash, Master of the Ceremonies at Bath( better 
 known as Beau Nash), we are informed that being then 
 a member of the Middle Temple, and a very young 
 man, he was appointed to conduct the whole ceremony. 
 " At that early age, he was thought proper to guide the 
 amusements of his country, and to be the arbiter ele- 
 gantiarum of his time. In conducting this entertain- 
 ment, he had an opportunity of exhibiting all his 
 abilities ; and King William was so well satisfied with 
 his performance, that he made him an offer of knight- 
 hood. This, however, he thought proper to refuse. 
 1 Please your majesty,' replied he, ' if you intend to 
 make rue a knight, I wish it may be one of your poor 
 knights of Windsor, and then I shall have a fortune 
 at least able to support my title.' '
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 289 
 
 The following lawyers, who filled the office of 
 Reader of this house, were subsequently raised to 
 the Judicial Bench: 
 
 John Vavaseur, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1490. 
 Luke Pollard, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1515. 
 Richard Elyot, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1514. 
 John Fitz James, Justice of the King's Bench, 1 522. 
 John Bowering, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Ire- 
 land, 1507. 
 
 William Portman / J^ice of the King's Bench, 1547. 
 I Chief Justice of ditto, 1554. 
 
 Richard Brooke \ Justice of the Comraon Pleas > l521 - 
 I Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1526. 
 
 John More, Justice of the Common Bench, 1518. 
 Walter Luke, Justice of the King's Bench, 1553. 
 
 f Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1 530. 
 Richard Lister, < Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 
 ( 1546. 
 
 Humphrey Browne, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1543. 
 Thomas Englefield, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1527. 
 Edmund Mervin, Justice of the King's Bench, 1541. 
 Edward Montague, Chief Justice King's Bench, 1539. 
 Edward Sanders, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1559. 
 Richard Riche, Lord Chancellor of England, 1547. 
 Nicholas Luke, Baron of the Exchequer, 1 5 40. 
 Robert Broke, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1554. 
 Robert Catlyn, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 1559. 
 Reginald Corbet, Justice of the King's Bench, 1559. 
 James Dyer, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1559. 
 Anthony Browne, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1559. 
 Richard Weston, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1559. 
 John Walshe, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1562. 
 Thomas Carus, Justice of the Queen's Bench, 1564. 
 John Southgate, Justice of the Queen's Bench, 1562. 
 George Frevill, Baron of the Exchequer, 1 563. 
 
 U
 
 290 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Thomas Meade, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1578. 
 
 Robert Bell, Baron of the Exchequer, 1577, 
 
 John Popham, Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, 
 1592. 
 
 Thomas Gen*, Baron of the Exchequer, 1588. 
 
 George Snigg, Baron of the Exchequer, 1604. 
 
 Augustine Nicholls, Justice of the Common Pleas, 
 1612. 
 
 John Dodderidge, Justice of the Queen's Bench, 1612. 
 
 TT TV* f Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
 
 Henry Montague, -J _ P 77 . ,, 
 
 I Lord Keeper pnvati sigilli, 1616. 
 
 Anthony Ben, Recorder of the City of London, 1611. 
 
 George Shirley, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 
 Ireland, 1615. 
 
 Robert Hyde, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 1614. 
 
 Richard Martin, Recorder of London, 1615. 
 
 Nicholas Hyde, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 1626. 
 
 James Whitlock, Justice of the King's Bench, 1624. 
 
 John Bramston, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 1635. 
 
 Thomas Mallet, Justice of the King's Bench, 1641. 
 
 Robert Berkley, Justice of the King's Bench, 1632. 
 
 R' h d T -f Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1643. 
 ' I Keeper of the Great Seal. 
 
 Robert Brerewood, Justice of the King's Bench, 1643. 
 
 Among the British poets and dramatists, whose 
 works have immortalized their names, the Middle 
 Temple claims the following alumni : 
 
 JOHN DAVIS, Knt. 
 
 JOHN FORDE, admitted 16th Nov., 1602.* 
 
 * Ex Regist. Middle Temple. It has been erroneously stated 
 that Forde was of Gray's Inn. He dedicated his Lover's Melan- 
 choly, to his friends of that society, which accounts for the 
 error.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 291 
 
 NICHOLAS ROWE, admitted 4th Aug. 1G91, called to 
 the bar 22nd May, 1696.* 
 
 WILLIAM CONGREVE, admitted 17th March, 1690.f 
 THOMAS SHADWELL, admitted 7th July, 1658. 
 THOMAS SOUTHERNS, admitted 15th July, 1680. 
 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, admitted 6th April, 
 1773.|J 
 
 THOMAS MOORE, admitted 19th Nov., 1795.^1 
 Edward Montague, Lord Chief Justice of the 
 King's Bench, was of this house.** He was reader of 
 the Middle Temple, 16 Hen. VIII., and double reader 
 23 Hen. VIII., in which year he was called to the de- 
 gree of serjeant. On the 22nd of January, 30 Hen. 
 VIII., he was knighted, and constituted Lord Chief 
 Justice. The motto on his rings was equltas jmtiticB 
 norma. " In his times," Fuller remarks, " though the 
 golden showers of the Abbey-lands rained amongst 
 great men, it was long before he would open his lap, 
 scrupling the acceptance of such gifts, and at last re- 
 ceived but little in proportion to others of that age." 
 Sir Edward Montague drew up the Will of Edward 
 VI., settling the crown on Lady Jane Grey. He was 
 removed from his office by Queen Mary, but was per- 
 mitted to retire to the country, where he died, A. D. 
 1556. 
 
 Sir James Dyer, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas. This great luminary of the law was born in 
 the year 1511, at Roundhill, in the county of Somerset. 
 He entered, as a commoner, at Broadgate Hall, Ox- 
 
 * Ex Regist. Middle Temple. t Ibid. I Ibid. 
 
 Ibid. || Ibid. IT Ibid. 
 
 ** Fuller erroneously says be was of the Inner Temple. 
 
 u 2
 
 292 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 ford, and from thence removed to the Middle Temple. 
 He was elected Autumn reader of this house 6 Edw. 
 VI. In 1552 he was called to the degree of the 
 coif, in company with those famous lawyers, Staund- 
 forde and Broke. In the following year, Dyer and 
 Staundforde were constituted Queen's Serjeants ; and, 
 at the trial of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, for high 
 treason, Dyer assisted. In 1556, being then Recorder 
 of Cambridge, he was appointed one of the Justices 
 of the Common Pleas, and received the honour of 
 knighthood. In the following year he was removed 
 to a seat in the Queen's Bench, and on the 22nd 
 of May, 1 Eliz., Sir James Dyer was appointed Lord 
 Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, which office he 
 held, with the highest reputation for learning and 
 integrity, for twenty-four years. " Let his own works 
 praise him in the gates," exclaims old Fuller, "let 
 his learned writings, called his commentaries, or his 
 reports, evidence his abilities in his profession." He 
 died on the 20th of March, 1581. 
 
 Sir Robert Broke, Lord Chief Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas, the author of the great work cited as 
 Brake's Abridgement, which contains an abstract of 
 the year books from their commencement to the time 
 of Queen Mary, was of the Middle Temple.* He was 
 the son of Thomas Broke, Esq., of Claverley, in Shrop- 
 shire, and was educated at Oxford. From thence he 
 removed to the Middle Temple. He was appointed 
 
 * Stow erroneously states that he was of Gray's Inn. When 
 Broke was created Serjeant, the Serjeant's Feast was held in Gray's 
 Inn Hall.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 293 
 
 Autumn reader in this house 34 Hen. VIIL, and 
 double reader 5 Edw. VI. In Michaelmas Term, 1552, 
 he was called to the state and degree of serjeant-at- 
 law; and in the year 1554, 2 Ph. & M., he was 
 constituted Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas, having previously, according to Stow, 
 been Recorder of London, and Speaker of the House 
 of Commons. He was an able lawyer, and an up- 
 right judge. " His posterity," says Fuller, " still 
 flourish in a worshipful equipage at Nacton, near 
 Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk." 
 
 Edmund Plowden, Serjeant-at-law, the author of the 
 learned 'Commentaries' &c., was the son of Humphrey 
 Plowden, of Plowden, in Shropshire. Having spent 
 three years in the study of philosophy and medicine 
 at the University of Cambridge, he removed to 
 Oxford, when, in 1552, he was admitted to the 
 practice of physic. He subsequently abandoned the 
 medical profession, and entered as a student of the 
 common law in the Middle Temple. He attained 
 great proficiency in the law, and in 4 & 5 Ph. and M., 
 was elected reader of this society, and in 3 Eliz. 
 double reader. He was about this time called to the 
 degree of the coif. It was during the treasurership of 
 Plowden that the magnificent hall of the Middle 
 Temple was commenced, he having been specially 
 constituted treasurer for that work. He died in the 
 year 1584, and was buried in the Temple Church. 
 
 Sir John Davis, the author of Reports,* and 
 
 * See ante, page 38.
 
 294 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 several other legal works, and a poet of considerable 
 repute, was of this society. His father was a mem- 
 ber of New Inn, and a practitioner of the law, 
 in Wiltshire. At the Middle Temple, young Davis 
 became rather notorious for his irregularities, and, 
 having beaten Mr. Kichard Martin,* in the hall, he 
 was expelled the house. Afterwards, through the 
 influence of Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, he was re- 
 stored to his position in the Middle Temple ; and, in 
 1601, was elected a member of the House of Commons. 
 In 1603, he was appointed, by King James, Solicitor- 
 General in Ireland. In 1606, he was called to the 
 degree of Serjeant-at-law ; and, in the following year, 
 was knighted, by the King, at Whitehall. In 1612, 
 he published a book on the state of Ireland, which 
 is often referred to; and, soon afterwards, he was 
 appointed King's Serjeant, and Speaker of the House 
 of Commons in Ireland. On his return to England, 
 he published his reports of cases adjudged in the 
 King's Court in Ireland, the first reports of Irish 
 cases made public. The preface to these reports is 
 very highly esteemed. It has been said to vie with 
 Coke in solidity and learning, and equal Blackstone in 
 classical illustration and elegant language. Sir John 
 Davis died 7th of December, 1626. 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 'the courtier's, soldier's, 
 scholar's, eye, tongue, sword,' whose rise is marked 
 by so many romantic incidents, and whose fall and 
 melancholy death are attended with so many cir- 
 
 * Also a poet, and afterwards Recorder of London.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 295 
 
 cumstances to excite our sympathy, was a student 
 in this inn. Some remarks at his trial, in which 
 he professed himself unacquainted with the law, 
 have been interpreted by one of his biographers, as 
 a proof that he never had been a member of an Inn 
 of Court. The authority of Dugdale will, perhaps, 
 be enough to decide the matter; his work contains 
 the arms of Sir Walter Raleigh, copied from one of 
 the windows of the Middle Temple Hall, where they 
 are still to be seen, and placed, by him, among 
 the arms of the other distinguished members of this 
 society. Ealeigh, moreover, resided in chambers in 
 the Temple in 1576, as appears by the dedication 
 of a satire inscribed to him by George Gascoyne. 
 
 Peter Brychet, a student of the Middle Temple 
 in the year 1573, a puritan, whose mind became in- 
 flamed by fanaticism, struck Sir John Hawkins, the 
 celebrated navigator, with a poniard, as he was 
 riding near Temple Bar, toward the Temple, and 
 severely wounded him. Brychet mistook Sir John 
 Hawkins for Sir Christopher Hatton, whom he be- 
 lieved himself called upon to assassinate, as being 
 " a wilful papist, that hindreth the glory of God as 
 much as in him lieth." Brychet having been com- 
 mitted to the Tower, there murdered his keeper: 
 he was brought to trial and executed. 
 
 Sir John Saville, the author of ' Reports temp. 
 Eliz.,' was a member of this society. In 28 Eliz. he 
 was reader of the Middle Temple. He was after- 
 wards steward of the Lordship of Wakefield, York-
 
 296 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 shire; and, in 36 Eliz., was called to the state and 
 degree of Serjeant. On the 1st of July, 40 Eliz., 
 he was created one of the Barons of the Exchequer, 
 and was afterwards knighted by King James. He 
 died in the year 1606. His body was buried in St. 
 Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street; and his heart was 
 buried ill the church, at Medley, near Leeds. 
 
 William Fleetwood, the author of various legal 
 works, was the natural son of Robert Fleetwood, of 
 Hesketh, in Lancashire; he was educated at Oxford, 
 and from thence removed to the Middle Temple, 
 where he soon distinguished himself. In 6 Eliz. he 
 was elected reader, and in 11 Eliz. double reader. 
 In the following year he became Recorder of London, 
 in which office he manifested great zeal. In the year 
 1576, being informed that several of her majesty's 
 subjects were assembled to hear mass at the Charter 
 House, in the chapel of Geraldi, the Portuguese 
 ambassador, Fleetwood, with the two sheriffs, en- 
 tered the chapel during the service, dispersed the 
 foreigners, and committed the English subjects to 
 prison. The ambassador complained to the queen, 
 and it was thought necessary to punish Fleetwood, 
 by confinement in the Fleet, till the ambassador left 
 the kingdom. In 22 Eliz., Fleetwood was advanced 
 to the degree of Serjeant, and ten years afterwards 
 was created Queen's Serjeant. He died in 1593. 
 
 Nicholas Rowe, the author of ' the Fair Penitent,' 
 'Jane Shore,' &c., was the son of John Rowe, Ser- 
 jeant-at-law, the editor of Benlow and Dallison's
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 297 
 
 Reports, temp. Jac. II., who died in 1692, and was 
 buried in the Temple Church. Howe was born at 
 Little Beckford, in Bedfordshire, in 1673, and, after 
 studying at Westminster School, at the age of sixteen 
 was entered a student of the Middle Temple, on the 
 4th of August, 1691, where, according to Dr. John- 
 son, "for some time he read statutes and reports with 
 proficiency proportionate to the force of his mind, 
 which was already such, that he endeavoured to 
 comprehend law, not as a series of precedents or col- 
 lection of positive precepts, but as a system of 
 rational government and impartial justice." Rowe 
 was called to the bar 22nd of May, 1696;* but seems 
 never to have practised at the bar. He held various 
 offices: he was appointed Clerk of the Council to 
 the Prince of Wales, and was made Secretary of 
 Presentations by Lord Macclesfield, the Lord Chan- 
 cellor. 
 
 Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench, was the eldest son of Edward Popham, Esq., 
 of Huntsworth, in Somersetshire; he was born in 
 1531. He was for some time at Baliol College, 
 Oxford; and from thence removed to the Middle 
 Temple, where he was noted for his gaiety and dis- 
 sipation. "But, oh!" says Fuller, " if quicksilver 
 could be really fixed, to what a treasure would it 
 amount. Such is wild youth, seriously reduced to 
 gravity, as by this young man did appear." After his 
 call to the bar, he abandoned his pleasures, and 
 
 * Ex Regist. Middle Temple.
 
 298 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 applied himself sedulously to the study of the law. 
 He was elected Autumn reader 10 Eliz. In 20 Eliz. 
 he was called to the state and degree of Serjeant- 
 at-Law; but in the following year, on his appoint- 
 ment as Solicitor-General to Queen Elizabeth, was 
 ' exonerated ' from it. In 23 Eliz. he was appoint- 
 ed Attorney- General, and was that year made Trea- 
 surer of the Middle Temple. In the 34 Eliz. he was 
 constituted Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench. He 
 was one of the members of the Privy Council, forcibly 
 detained by the unfortunate Earl of Essex, and Sir 
 John appeared and was sworn in open court, as a 
 witness," 51 on the trial of Essex. Popham was the 
 author of * Reports, temp. Eliz.,' and of * Resolutions 
 and Judgements,' of the same period. 
 
 Sir George Buc, Knight, Master of the Revels, who 
 dedicated his discourse on ' All the Colledges, Ancient 
 Schools of Privilege, and of Houses of Learning, 
 within and about the famous City of London,' to 
 Lord Chief Justice Coke, was of the Middle Temple, 
 " to whom, and to their house and studies," he says, 
 " I wish all honour and prosperity, for my particular 
 obligation, having been sometimes a fellow and stu- 
 dent, (or, to confess a truth), a trewand in that 
 most honourable college." Master George Sallterne, 
 who is mentioned in Howe's Chronicle as one to 
 whom the author was beholden in the furtherance 
 of his work, was also a member of the Middle 
 Temple. 
 
 * Fuller's ' Worthies.'
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 299 
 
 Richard Crompton, author of a work on the * Ju- 
 risdiction of Courts, 1594,' was of the Middle Tem- 
 ple, and John Latch, the author of the 'Reports, 
 temp. Car. 1.,' was also a barrister of this Inn. 
 
 The unfortunate Sir Thomas Overbury, who was 
 poisoned* in the Tower of London, in the reign 
 of James I., had been a student in the Middle 
 Temple; his father, Nicholas Overbury, having been 
 a bencher of this house, and reader in the forty- 
 third year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Sir James Whitelock, a learned lawyer and anti- 
 quary, was born in London, 28th of November, 1570. 
 He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, was 
 elected a scholar of St. John's College, Oxford, and, 
 after taking his degree in civil law in that univer- 
 sity, became a student in the Middle Temple. In 
 17 Jac., he was the Autumn reader of this society, 
 in which year he was elected Member of Parliament 
 for Woodstock, and received the honour of knight- 
 hood. In 1620 he was appointed Chief Justice of 
 Chester; and, in Trinity Term, in the same year, 
 was called to the degree of Serjeant-at-law. Four 
 years afterwards he was constituted a Justice of the 
 King's Bench. King Charles I. said of him, that 
 he was " a stout, wise, and learned man, and one 
 who knew what belongs to uphold magistrates and 
 magistracy in their dignity." He died 22nd of 
 June, 1632. An essay, from his pen, on the An- 
 
 * See the ' Great Oyer of Poisoning,' by A. Amos, Esq., bar- 
 rister-at-law, &c.
 
 300 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 tiquity of Places for the study of Common Laws, 
 is in ' Hearne's Discourses.' 
 
 Bulstrode Whitelock, the author of ' the Memorials,' 
 and son of Justice Whitelock, was also a student of 
 the Middle Temple. He was one of the principal 
 managers in the magnificent masque presented by 
 the Four Inns of Court to King Charles I., at 
 Whitehall, described in another part of this volume. 
 Whitelock was one of the three Lords Commissioners 
 of the Great Seal, during the Commonwealth, in 
 which capacity he delivered his very learned address 
 to the Serjeants who had been called to the degree 
 of the coif, by order of the House of Commons; 
 among whom were Mr. Coniers and Mr. Puleston, of 
 the Middle Temple. 
 
 Sir Edmund Saunders, Lord Chief Justice of the 
 Court of King's Bench, towards the close of the 
 seventeenth century, and the author of the well-known 
 ' Reports,' was a member of this inn. He was ori- 
 ginally, it is said, a strolling beggar about the streets, 
 without known parents or relations. He was taken 
 notice of by an attorney in Clement's Inn, and by 
 him was taught to write, and was afterwards em- 
 ployed in copying. Young Saunders took every op- 
 portunity of improving himself, by reading such 
 books as he could borrow, and ultimately entered 
 the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar. Ac- 
 cording to North, and others, his manners were 
 coarse, and his personal habits repulsive, to the close 
 of his life.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 301 
 
 Henry Ireton, the Cromwellian general, was a 
 member of this inn. Anthony a Wood says that, 
 at Oxford, he had the character of being " a stub- 
 born and saucy fellow towards his seniors," and that 
 at the Middle Temple he learned some grounds of 
 the common law, and became "a man of working 
 and laborious brain." Ireton was accounted the best 
 prayer-maker and preacher in the army. 
 
 Sir Simonds d'Ewes, Bart., was a barrister of this 
 society; and, in his autobiography, gives a very 
 particular account of the manner of study in the 
 Inns of Court and Chancery, in the reign of 
 Charles I., to which allusion has already been made. 
 
 Francis North, Solicitor-General, and afterwards 
 Lord Keeper Guildford, was a member of the Middle 
 Temple, being called to the bar, in this society, in 
 1661. His reading on the statute of Fines has 
 already been noticed. While he was reader he gave 
 a grand feast in the Middle Temple Hall, which 
 was attended by Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and the grandees of the court, and which is described 
 by his brother, Roger North, who was also of this 
 society, as a scene of " debauchery, disorder, and 
 waste." Francis North was the last of the readers 
 in the Middle Temple, who gave these extravagant 
 banquets, and was on this account called ultimus 
 heroum. 
 
 Philip Yorke, first Earl of Hardwicke. One of the 
 six full-length carved figures on the screen in the New 
 Hall of Lincolris Inn represents this pre-eminently
 
 302 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 great man. He was the son of an attorney, at Dover, 
 and was born 1st of December, 1690. After leaving 
 school, he was placed in the office of Mr. Salkend, 
 a solicitor, in London, of extensive practice. Mr. 
 Salkend, discerning his promising abilities, induced 
 him to prepare himself for the bar. On the 29th 
 of November, 1708, he entered the Middle Temple, 
 and on the 27th of May, 1715, was called to the 
 bar. On the 10th of February, 1720, he was called 
 to the bench in the Middle Temple, and in the 
 following year was Treasurer and Autumn reader 
 of this house.* While a student, he became ac- 
 quainted with Mr. Parker, one of the sons of Lord 
 Chief Justice Macclesfield, and he was eventually 
 employed by Lord Macclesfield as tutor and com- 
 panion to his sons. Immediately on being called to 
 the bar, by the friendly support of Mr. Salkend, and 
 probably of some of his father's connections, at Dover, 
 and by the patronage of the Lord Chief Justice, he 
 forthwith acquired an extensive practice. Four years 
 after his call to the bar, through the influence of 
 Lord Macclesfield, who was now elevated to the 
 woolsack, he was elected Member of Parliament for 
 Lewes; in the same year he married Mrs. Lygon, 
 a young widow, niece of Lord Somers and Sir Joseph 
 Jekyl, then Master of the Rolls. In March, 1720, 
 within five years after his call to the bar, he was 
 appointed Solicitor-General. Professional jealousy, 
 roused by the rapid promotion of a young man, by 
 
 * Ex Regist. Middle Temple.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 303 
 
 palpable favouritism, predicted his failure and speedy 
 downfall. But Yorke was found fully adequate for 
 the duties of his office. Soon after his appointment 
 he was knighted, and in 1724 was appointed At- 
 torney-General. In July, 1724, he was admitted a 
 member of Lincoln's Inn, and on the 4th of Novem- 
 ber, in the same year, was called to the bench in that 
 society.* In the following year he was appointed Trea- 
 surer of Lincoln's Inn. In 1733, having held the office 
 of Attorney-General ten years, he was appointed Lord 
 Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and was created 
 Baron Hardwicke. He presided three years and a 
 half in the King's Bench, and, on the death of Lord 
 Chancellor Talbot, was appointed Chancellor. For 
 twenty years he held the great seal, dispensing jus- 
 tice throughout that period with the most consum- 
 mate skill. During the whole time that he presided 
 in the Court of Chancery, but three of his judgments 
 were appealed against, and those were confirmed by 
 the House of Lords. In 1754 he was created Earl 
 of Hardwicke, and Viscount Eoyston. He held the 
 great seal till the retirement of the Duke of New- 
 castle's ministry, and died 6th of March, 1764. 
 
 Sir William Blackstone, whose " Commentaries," 
 since the date of their publication, have formed an 
 almost indispensable introduction to the study of the 
 law, was a student at the Middle Temple, where he 
 was admitted on the 20th of November, 1741; he 
 was called to the bar on the 28th of November, 1746. 
 
 * Ex Regist. Lincoln's Inn.
 
 304 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 " He it is," remarks one of the editors of his works,* 
 "who first of all institutional writers has taught 
 jurisprudence to speak the language of the scholar 
 and the gentleman; put a polish on that rugged 
 science ; cleansed it from the dust and cobwebs of the 
 office; and if he has not enriched her with that pre- 
 cision that is drawn only from the sterling treasury 
 of the sciences, has decked her out, however, to ad- 
 vantage from the toilet of classical erudition; en- 
 livened her with metaphors and allusions; and sent 
 her abroad in some measure to instruct, and in still 
 greater measure to entertain the most miscellaneous 
 and even the most fastidious taste." Blackstone was, 
 in 1763, chosen a bencher of the Middle Temple, and 
 on the 12th of February, 1770, was called to the 
 state and degree of serjeant-at-law, on his nomination 
 as a Judge of the Common Pleas. He died on the 
 14th of February, 1780. 
 
 The following dates of the admission, call, &c., 
 of other illustrious members of this society, in- 
 cluding some distinguished in the history and litera- 
 ture of this kingdom, and two of the greatest of 
 modern lawyers, the brothers, Lord Stowell and Lord 
 Eldon, whose busts occupy so prominent a place in 
 the hall, have been extracted for this work from 
 the Registers of the Middle Temple : 
 
 * Lee.
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 
 
 305 
 
 
 Admitted. 
 
 Called to 
 the Bar. 
 
 Called to 
 the Bench. 
 
 Reader. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Lord Clarendon, > 
 
 1 Feb., 
 
 22 Nov., 
 
 
 
 
 (Hyde, Edw.) S 
 
 1626 
 
 1633 
 
 
 
 
 Arthur Onslow, t 
 
 23 May, 
 
 15 May, 
 
 9 Feb., 
 
 
 
 (Speaker.) } 
 
 1707 
 
 1713 
 
 1727 
 
 
 
 Charles Abbot, Lord j 
 Colchester, 
 (Speaker, 1802.) J 
 
 14 Oct., 
 1768 
 
 9 May, 
 1783 
 
 12 Feb., 
 1802 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 1805 
 
 
 Lord Somers. 
 
 * 24 May, 
 1669 
 
 t 5 May, 
 1676 
 
 10 May, 
 1689 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 1689 
 
 1690 
 
 Lord Stowell, (Wm. 1 
 
 24 June, 
 
 11 Feb., 
 
 4 July, 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 
 1 808 
 
 Scott.) J 
 
 1762 
 
 1780 
 
 1794 
 
 1799 
 
 i OvO 
 
 Lord Ash burton, (J. S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dunning,) apptd. ^ 
 
 8 May, 
 
 2 July, 
 
 29 Jan., 
 
 Aut. Reader, 
 
 1 780 
 
 Solicitor- General, t 
 
 1752 
 
 1756 
 
 1768 
 
 1776 
 
 j t "'' 
 
 27 Jan., 1768. J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lord Kenyon, "J 
 (Lloyd Kenyon,) /> 
 made Serjt. 1788,J 
 
 7 Nov., 
 1750 
 
 9 Feb., 
 1756 
 
 10 Nov., 
 1780 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 1787 
 
 
 Lord Kenyon, (Geo. { 
 
 12 June, 
 
 3 May, 
 
 28 June, 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 
 1823 
 
 Kenyon.) $ 
 
 1793 
 
 1811 
 
 1811 
 
 1815 
 
 
 Sir J. Jekyll, Mast. \ 
 
 30 June, 
 
 6 May, 
 
 29 Oct., 
 
 Aut. Reader, 
 
 
 of the Rolls, 171 7. I 
 
 1680 
 
 1687 
 
 1697 
 
 1699 
 
 
 Lord Eldon, (John \ 
 
 28 Jan., 
 
 9 Feb., 
 
 20 June, 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 
 1798 
 
 Scott.) S 
 
 1773 
 
 1776 
 
 1783 
 
 1792 
 
 
 Sir Robt. Chambers. \ 
 
 28 June, 
 1754 
 
 22 May, 
 1761 
 
 8 Nov., 
 1799 
 
 
 
 Lord Fred. Camp- ) 
 
 19 Jan., 
 
 24 Jan. 
 
 23 Jan., 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 
 1804 
 
 bell. S 
 
 1750 
 
 1754 
 
 1789 
 
 1796 
 
 
 Sir Geoffry Palmer, ~) 
 Atty.-Gen., 12 > 
 Claries II. J 
 
 14 June, 
 1016 
 
 23 May, 
 1623 
 
 1 June, 
 1660 
 
 
 
 Sir Geo. Wood, "| 
 made Serjeant 28 > 
 May, 1807. J 
 
 16 Nov., 
 1765 
 
 16 June, 
 1775 
 
 7 May, 
 1802 
 
 
 
 Sir II. Gould, made ( 
 
 16 May, 
 
 14 June, 
 
 3 May, 
 
 
 
 Ser. Mich., 1761. S 
 
 1728 
 
 1734 
 
 1754 
 
 
 
 Sir Earth. Shower. ) 
 
 9 Sept., 
 1676 
 
 21 May, 
 1680 
 
 25 May, 
 1688 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 1688, and Aut. 
 Reader 1691 
 
 1699 
 
 Sir George Treby, "j 
 (Recorder of the > 
 City of London.) J 
 
 24 Oct., 
 1663 
 
 2 June, 
 1671 
 
 28 Jan., 
 1680 
 
 Lent Reader, 
 1686 
 
 1689 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lord Guildford, (F.J 
 North.) S 
 
 27 Nov., 
 1655 
 
 28 June, 
 1661 
 
 5 June, 
 1668 
 
 1671, and ' 
 Solicitor- Gen. 
 
 
 Sir Thomas Reeve. ) 
 
 
 
 1 July, 
 1720 
 
 Lent Reader. 
 1722 
 
 1728,Att. 
 Duchy 
 Lane. 
 
 * John Somers. 
 
 t Sol.-Cen. Wm. and Mary, 1689. 
 X
 
 306 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 THE LIBRARY. 
 
 In the MS. account of the Middle Temple, in the 
 reign of Henry VIII., before referred to, there is the 
 following quaint memorandum : " They have now no 
 library, so that they cannot attaine to the knowledge 
 of divers learnings, but to their great charges by the 
 buying of such bookes as they lust to study. They 
 had a simple library, in which were not many books 
 besides the law, and that the library, by meanes that 
 it stood alwayes open, and that the learners had not 
 each of them a key unto it, it was at the last robbed 
 and spoiled of all the bookes in it." The students of 
 the Middle Temple of the present day are better pro- 
 vided. They have a handsome library, with a valu- 
 able collection of books suitable for lawyers, at the 
 south side of the hall in Garden Court, with windows 
 looking into the garden, and not a murmur to disturb 
 their meditations. All the Inns of Court are now 
 immeasurably beyond what they were in ancient 
 times, in this particular; and as the law, after all, is 
 a science to be mastered by reading, the well- stored 
 libraries of the present day with all the current 
 reports, reviews, magazines, journals, and publica- 
 tions devoted to law, and jurisprudence, statutes, 
 year-books and all the works of the sages of the law 
 afford facilities to study, which the elder lawyers, 
 who were of necessity compelled to resort more to 
 oral instruction, did not enjoy. The law library of Eas- 
 tall, J., in the reign of Ph. & M. and author of the
 
 MIDDLE TEMPLE. 307 
 
 * Entries,' consisted of but xxiiii volumes. The 
 library of each Inn of Court now comprises from 6,000 
 to 10,000 volumes. Mr. Robert Ashley, an ancient 
 barrister of the Middle Temple, was the founder of 
 the present library. There is a portrait of this bene- 
 factor in the library, with the inscription Robertus 
 Ashley hujus BibliotheccB Fundator, 1641. On the 
 29th April, in the year 1642, an order was made 
 by the bench of this society that the books given by 
 the last will and testament of Mr. Robert Ashley 
 should be kept under lock and key till a library were 
 built. A library appears soon afterwards to have 
 been erected; and it has since been augmented by 
 bequests and annual purchases from the funds of the 
 inn. 
 
 The parliament chamber of the benchers adjoins 
 the library : it is a pleasant and commodious apart- 
 ment, also commanding a view of the garden and the 
 river; and contains portraits of the following distin- 
 guished members of the Middle Temple, Sir W. 
 Blackstone, Lord Clarendon, Lord Eldon, Onslow, 
 Abbot, Speaker of the House of Commons, Lord So- 
 mers, Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton, Lord 
 Kenyon, Sir Thomas Smith, and Sir J. Jeykell, Master 
 of the Rolls. In an adjoining room there is a collec- 
 tion of engraved portraits, representing judges and 
 eminent men who have been members of this inn. 
 
 x2
 
 308 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 LECTURES. 
 
 At a Parliament holden on the 21st November, 
 1845, a motion having been made by Master Bethell, 
 of which the notice was as follows, viz : 
 
 " That for promoting the Legal Education of the Students 
 of this House, it is expedient that a Lecturer be ap- 
 pointed for the purpose of reading on Jurisprudence and 
 the Civil Law; and that two or more Exhibitions be 
 founded for the benefit of such Students as shall on exa- 
 mination, previous to their call to the Bar, shew the 
 greatest proficiency in the subjects of such Lectures ; 
 and that such Lectures be open to the attendance of Stu- 
 dents of the other Inns of Court ; and that from and after 
 the First Day of Easter Term, 1846, no Student of this 
 House be called to the Bar who shall not have attended 
 one of such Terminal Course of Lectures ; and that the 
 Societies of the other Inns be requested to concur with 
 this Society in the establishment of similar Lectureships 
 in other branches of Law ; and that it be referred to a 
 Committee to approve of proper Regulations for carrying 
 the above objects into effect;" 
 
 it was resolved and ordered by the bench, * That 
 it is expedient that steps be taken for promoting the 
 legal education of the students of this house; and 
 that it be referred to a committee to ascertain and 
 report to the bench the best mode of carrying this 
 resolution and the objects mentioned in the above 
 notice of motion into effect.' 
 
 A Committee was accordingly appointed, who, after 
 due consideration, recommended the appointment of a 
 reader on Jurisprudence and the Civil Law, as a step
 
 NEW INN. 309 
 
 best adapted for the commencement of a sound and 
 comprehensive system of legal education; having 
 reason to hope that the plan, thus begun, would be 
 followed out and completed by the proceedings of the 
 other societies. One of the recommendations of the 
 committee was as follows: 
 
 " As an additional inducement to attendance at the 
 Lectures, and to exertion at the examination, the Com- 
 mittee propose that two Exhibitions or Prizes of one 
 hundred guineas each should be given by the Society 
 to the two Students, who having diligently attended at least 
 three Terminal courses of Lectures, shall have passed the 
 most meritorious examination. The Committee believe that 
 these Exhibitions will not only prove to be a great in- 
 centive to attendance at the Lectures and at the Exa- 
 mination ; but that they will also be found of great benefit 
 to many young men of slender means ; and the Committee 
 trust that the number of these rewards may be hereafter 
 augmented." 
 
 At a parliament holden on the 16th day of January, 
 1846, on the motion of Master Bethell, " It was 
 ordered that the report of the committee on legal 
 education be approved of and confirmed. And it was 
 ordered that a lecturer be appointed, an examination 
 instituted, and two exhibitions established in the 
 manner and subject to the regulations recommended 
 by the said report." Since this date lectureships, 
 on various branches of the law, have been established 
 in all the Inns of Court. 
 
 NEW INN. 
 
 "This house," says Dugdale, " having been formerly 
 a common hostelry, or inne, for travellers, and from the
 
 310 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 sign of the Blessed Virgin, called the Our Lady Inne, 
 became first an hostel for students of the law, as the 
 tradition is, upon the removal of the students of 
 the law from an old inn of chancery, called ' St. 
 George his Inne,' situate near Seacole Lane, a little 
 south from St. Sepulchre's Church, without Newgate, 
 and was procured from Sir John Fineux, Knight, 
 sometime Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, for 
 the rent of vi/. per annum, by the name of New 
 Inne." 
 
 Sir Thomas More was a student in this Inn of 
 Chancery, in the reign of Henry VII., before he was 
 admitted to Lincoln's Inn ; and, in the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth, there were eighty students here in term, 
 and twenty out of term. 
 
 Sir Simonds d'Ewes makes frequent mention of the 
 moots, which were kept up in this Inn of Chancery 
 during his period of study in the Middle Temple. 
 " On Monday, at night, Nov. 18th, 1622," he re- 
 marks in his Diary, " after supper, our reader of 
 New Inn, as he was accustomed in term time, went 
 thither to argue a case, or moot-point, with two 
 students only of the same term, and I, making one, 
 performed the exercise with good success, this being 
 the second public law case I argued. The third, 
 being more difficult than either of the former, soon 
 after followed, on Thursday, the 12th day of De- 
 cember, when I argued a like moot-point, in our 
 Middle Temple Hall, in law-French, after supper, 
 to my good content."
 
 TEMPLE CHURCH. 311 
 
 Cemple 
 
 This elegant structure affords one of the most 
 beautiful specimens of early Gothic architecture in 
 England. Its exquisite lancet windows, fine stained 
 glass, marble pillars, the general design of the Round 
 and Oblong, arched doorway, and the figures of the 
 Knights Templars, have been admired by every person 
 who has visited this celebrated structure; which, 
 thanks to the taste, spirit, and liberality of the two 
 honourable and learned societies of the Middle and 
 Inner Temple, we are now enabled to see restored 
 in all its original splendour and beauty. Worthily to 
 describe the Temple Church would of itself require a 
 volume, and I feel it the less necessary to dwell upon 
 the subject, as its history has recently been ably writ- 
 ten by a learned member of the Inner Temple.* " The 
 Round," was consecrated A.D. 1185, by Heraclius, 
 patriarch of Jerusalem, on his arrival in England, 
 accompanied by the Grand Master of the Temple, 
 to obtain succour from Hen. II. against the power 
 of the famous Saladin. It was dedicated to the 
 blessed Virgin, and an indulgence of fifty days was 
 granted to those yearly seeking it. The oblong 
 portion of the church was consecrated Ascension Day, 
 1240, in the presence of the king and many of the 
 nobility, who, on the same day, after the solemnities 
 of the consecration had been completed, were enter- 
 
 * See ' History of the Temple Church,' by C. G. Addison, Esq., 
 Barrister of the Inner Temple.
 
 312 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 tained at a magnificent banquet, prepared at the ex- 
 pense of the Hospitallers. 
 
 The church narrowly escaped the flames in 1666, 
 and was ' beautified,' and a wainscot-screen (now hap- 
 pily swept away) set up in 1682. The south-west part 
 was newly built with stone in 1695. In 1706 the church 
 was whitewashed, gilt, and painted within, and the 
 pillars of the round tower wainscoted. A new battle- 
 ment and buttresses were added to the south side, and 
 other parts of the exterior were repaired. The figures 
 of the Knights Templars also were 'cleaned and 
 painted,' and the iron work inclosing them was 
 painted and gilt. The east end was beautified in 
 1707, and again with the north side repaired in 
 1736, and in 1811. In 1827 the whole south side of 
 the church, externally, and the lower part of the 
 circular portion, internally, underwent a restoration, 
 under the direction of Sir Robert Smirke; and since 
 then the whole of the interior has been perfectly 
 restored . 
 
 The length of the choir is eighty-three feet; its 
 breadth sixty feet ; the circumference of the Round is 
 one hundred and sixty feet. Before the recent resto- 
 ration there were several tombs, tablets, and monu- 
 ments in the church, among others those of Sir 
 Nicholas Hare, Plowden, Selden, Howell, Sir John 
 Vaughan, &c., which have now been removed to 
 the top of the Round. An account of the early 
 monuments are in Dugdale, and in Maitland's 
 History of London. Since the dissolution of the
 
 TEMPLE CHURCH. 313 
 
 Hospitallers in the time of Henry VIII., there has 
 been appointed a divine, by the name of the Master, 
 or Gustos, belonging to this church, who is constituted 
 by the queen's letters patent without institution or 
 induction. 
 
 MASTERS OF THE TEMPLE FROM THE SUPPRESSION OF 
 THE HOSPITALLERS.* 
 
 HUGH DE LlTCHFIELD. 
 
 WILLIAM LANGHAM. 
 
 WILLIAM ERMSTEAD, 1560. 
 
 RICH. ALNEY, B.D., 1568. 
 
 DR. HOOKER, 1585. 
 
 DR. BAYLEY, 1591. 
 
 THOMAS MASTER, B.D. 
 
 DR. PAUL MICKLETHWAITE. 
 
 DR. JOHN LITTLETON, 1638. 
 
 MR. TOMBS, 1645, 
 
 MR. RICHARD JOHNSON, 1647. 
 
 DR. BROWNRICK, Bishop of Exeter, 1658. 
 
 DR. GAUDEN, Bishop of Exeter, 1659. 
 
 DR. BALL, 1660. 
 
 DR. WM. SHERLOCK, Dean of St. Paul's. 
 
 DR. THOMAS SHERLOCK, Bishop of Bangor. 
 
 DR. SAMUEL NICHOLS, 1753. 
 
 DR. GREGORY SHARPS, 1764. 
 
 DR. WATTS, 4th June, 1771. 
 
 REV. MR. THURLOW, 1772. 
 
 REV. WM. PEARCE, 1787. 
 
 REV. THOS. REN NELL, 1798. 
 
 REV. CH. BENSON, 18th Oct., 1826. 
 
 REV. THOS. ROBINSON, 23rd May, 1845. 
 
 * From information politely afforded me in the Treasurer's 
 office, Inner Temple.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Inn. 
 
 THIS ancient Seminary of the 
 Law is situated in the manor 
 of Portepole, or Purpoole, near 
 Holborn, in the county of Mid- 
 dlesex; which manor, and the 
 lands thereunto belonging, were 
 
 the property of the noble family of the Grays of Wilton, 
 
 from the 22nd year of the reign of King Edward I. 
 
 until the 21st year of the reign of King Henry VII. ; 
 
 from which circumstance the inn has derived its
 
 GRAY'S INN. 315 
 
 name.* Our legal antiquaries agree in the opinion 
 that, in the reign of Edward III., this inn was the 
 residence of a society of students of the law, whose 
 successors have remained, first as tenants, and sub- 
 sequently as proprietors there, from that time until 
 the present day. Mr. Sayntlow Kniveton, a person 
 of great knowledge in antiquities,! came to this con- 
 clusion, on what he considered good authority, and 
 both Stow and Sir William Dugdale concur in opinion 
 with him. In the MS. in the Lansdown Collection, 
 entitled ' A View of all the Fowre Famous Colledges, 
 or Inns of Court, &c.,' it is asserted that, as early as 
 the reign of Edward III., it was an Inn of Court, 
 and that the students of this society took a grant 
 of it from Baron Grey, who lived in those days. 
 Dugdale mentions that, in his time, the tradition 
 among the ancients of the house assigned pretty 
 nearly the same date to the removal of the society 
 to this locality. The list of readers of the inn, too, 
 exists, in nearly unbroken succession, from the reign 
 of Edward III. All which is confirmed by the record 
 
 * In the old authorities and manuscripts, Gray's Inn is written 
 in various ways ; in ' Hall's Chronicles,' and the early entries 
 in the books of the Society it is Greis-Inne; in a MS. Harl. 
 Coll. and in the Masque called ' Certain Devises,' &c. it is Grayes 
 Inn j Greye's Inn, ' Parl. Hist.' Graies Inn is the mode adopted 
 by Lord Bacon, by Cooke in his ' Vindication of the Law,' &c. ; 
 and in the ' Masque of Flowers ;' Lord Burghley was accustomed 
 to write it Gray's Inn, as it is now universally written. 
 
 t ' See Archaeologia,' vol. iii., and ' Dug. Orig.' I regret very 
 much my inability to discover his observations on this subject. 
 They do not seem to be extant.
 
 316 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 of a post mortem inquisition,* taken at Holborn, be- 
 fore the Escheator, in the forty-fourth year of the reign 
 of Edward III., on the decease of Reginald de Grey 
 de Wilton. The jurors found that the fee of this Hos- 
 pitium belonged to the said Reginald, and that it, 
 together with the garden appertaining thereto, was 
 then let at a yearly rent of 100s. (centum solidos). 
 The expression, Hospitium, employed in the inqui- 
 sition, seems to point out that the house was then 
 an Inn of Court. In all the former inquisitions, 
 it is described as Messuagium ; and it appears, from 
 passages in the Year Books already noticed, that, at 
 this date, our legal colleges were styled Hostels, in 
 Latin, Hospitia; to which the apprentices of the 
 law then resorted. 
 
 In Michaelmas Term, "2 Henry IV., A. D. 1400, 
 we find an action of battery, brought by the 
 Chaplain of Greyes Inn, against a defendant, who 
 pleaded son assault demesne. It is reported in the 
 Year Book of that reign, 40. 41., Markham, pro- 
 nouncing the judgment of the court on the point 
 of law, brought before them for decision. 
 
 In an inquisition taken at Westminster, in the 
 twentieth year of the reign of Henry VI., A. D. 1422, 
 on the decease of Richard Grey de Wilton, it was 
 found that he died, seized in his own dominion, as 
 of fee of the manor of Portpole, in Holborne called 
 Grey's Inne. 
 
 * MS. ' Inquisition and Members of Gray's Inne,' Lib. Gray's 
 Inn.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 317 
 
 By an indenture of bargain and sale,* dated 12th 
 of August, 21 Hen. VII., made by Edmund Lord Grey 
 de Wilton unto Hugh Denuys, Esq., &c., the in- 
 heritance of this property passed from the family of 
 Grey, being described in the instrument by the name 
 of the manor of Portpole, otherwise Gray's Inne, 
 consisting of four messuages, four gardens, the site 
 of a windmill, eight acres of land, together with 10s. 
 of free rent, and the advowson of the chantry of 
 Portpole; and this bargain and sale was farther 
 confirmed by a release from the said Lord Grey, &c., 
 unto the said Hugh Denny s, Esq., &c. About 
 eight years subsequently, the manor of Portpole, with 
 the appurtenances, was purchased, in pursuance of 
 licence from the crown, by the Prior and Monks 
 of Shene, near Kichmond, in the county of Surrey; 
 and by the said Prior and Monks was demised to 
 the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, at the yearly 
 rent of 61. 13s. 4</., which continued to be paid 
 till the general dissolution of the greater monasteries, 
 30 Henry VIII., when the king granted the estate 
 to the inn in fee farm. 
 
 " It appeareth as well by a Decree in the Co* of Aug- 
 mentacons, bearinge date the 10 th of November, in y e 
 33 th yeare of y e Raigne of King Henry VIII., as also 
 by an Exemplificacon thereof, made y e 12 th of November, 
 in y e saide yeare, as also by another Exemplificacon 
 thereof granted by y e late Queene Elizab., dated at West- 
 minster the 12 th of February in the fourth yeare of her 
 raigne. That y e Treasurer of y e Court of Augmentations 
 
 * See ' Dug. Orig.'
 
 318 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 of y e said revenue of y e Crowne for the time beinge, 
 should yearely pay out of y e said Revenues to y e Treasurer 
 of y e house of Grayes Inn, Nigh Holborne, in y e County 
 of Midd, for y e time beinge y e sum of vj 1 . xiij*. iiij d ., in 
 recompense of a yearely stipend of vij 1 . xiij 8 . iiij d ., w ch 
 was duely proved before y e said Court of Augmentacons, 
 to bee issueing out of y e possessions of y e late Monastrie 
 of S 4 . Bartholomew in Smithfield, besides London, and 
 of right payable, time out of mind, by y e Prior and 
 Convent of the said Monastrie, and theire predecessors, 
 for y* findinge of a Chaplaine to celebrate divine service 
 in y e Chapell of Grayes Inne aforesaid, for y e students, 
 GentC, and fellowes of } e said house, w * 1 said sume of 
 vi 1 . xiii 8 . iiij d . hath beenn constantly paid and allowed to 
 y e Treasurer of Grayes Inne for y e time beinge ever since 
 y* said Decree out of y e revenues of the Crowne. 
 xxviij th Feb. 1661. 
 
 " Ex. p Jofcem Blomley in absen Aud rs ." 
 
 1518, \ Paid to y e Prior of Sheene'l 
 
 1520, v for halfe a yeares Rent r iij 1 . vj s . viij d . 
 
 !,) 
 520, I 
 524,) 
 
 1524, ) due for Grayes Inne, J 
 Comit Midd.* 
 
 The coat armour or ensign of honour appropriated 
 to this honourable society : Azure an Indian Griffin 
 proper sergreant, with the inscription, Integra lex 
 sEqui custos rectique magistra non habet affectus sed 
 causas jure gubernat. 
 
 The following is a description of this house, which 
 occurs in the replication in a casef reported in 1 Lord 
 Raymond, 594, argued on demurrer, before the Court 
 of King's Bench, Trin. Term, 12 Will. 3 :- 
 
 * MS. Harl. 1912, fol. 241. 
 
 t Sir Creswell Levintz, treasurer of Gray's Inn, v. Randolph.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 319 
 
 " Quod praedictum hospitium Graiense, communiter nuncupa- 
 tum Gray's Inn, in comitatu praedicto est a tempore diu et 
 longinquo praeterito fuit antiquum hospitium curiale et antiqua 
 laudabilis et honorabilis societas generosorum leges hujus regni 
 Angliae studentium, vocatum an Inn of Court, necnon unum 
 de quatuor societatibus et hospitiis curialibus vocatis inns of 
 Court, hujus regni Angliae studentes ad barram et in consiliarios 
 ad legem evocandi proficiendi et allocacdi admissi educati et 
 approbati sunt," &c. 
 
 Gray's Inn at present comprises 1. South Square. 
 2. Gray's Inn Square. 3. Field Court. 4. Gray's 
 Inn Place. 5. Raymond Buildings. 6. Verulam 
 Buildings. 7. The Garden. The chambers are well 
 adapted for study and retirement, commodious, airy, 
 quiet, and healthful, and free from the fogs which are 
 felt so oppressively in the winter season in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the river. The whole Inn is extra-paro- 
 chial.* 
 
 * In the standing orders of the governor and directors of the 
 poor and watch for the united parishes of St. Andrew, Holborn, 
 above the bars, and St. George the Martyr, Middlesex, made 
 pursuant to act of parliament, passed on the 13th of June, 1799, 
 and corrected 25th March, 1815, there is the following order, 
 " That it is ordered by the governors and directors that he do not 
 take charge of any prisoners or other persons, who may be brought 
 to the watch house by any of the police officers, that being an 
 especial care belonging to their duty ; nor from the Court of 
 Gray's Inn, being extra-parochial and not within the jurisdiction 
 of these parishes." These orders were produced in the suits Selby 
 v. Bardon, when the question as to whether Gray's Inn was or 
 was not within the above mentioned parishes, was tried. The 
 verdict was that it was not ; but had been from time imme- 
 morial extra-parochial. The benchers of Gray's Inn as a mark of 
 their approbation of the conduct of their steward, Thomas
 
 320 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 This venerable sanctuary of law has been the re- 
 treat of many distinguished persons, not members of 
 the society. Shirley the poet lived here; it was 
 sometime the residence of Chapman, the poet; Butler, 
 the immortal author of ' Hudibras,' seems to have 
 had a chamber some time in the Inn, as one of 
 his biographers has supposed that he was a mem- 
 ber of the house. Here Arthur Murphy, the dra- 
 matist and translator of ' Tacitus, 1 edited the Gray's 
 Inn Journal] and it is deserving of remark that 
 the Craftesman, a periodical paper conducted by 
 St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, and Pulteney Earl of 
 Bath, of whom Pope says : 
 
 " How many Martials were in Pulteney lost!" 
 professed to have been edited by ' Caleb Danvers, 
 Esq., of Gray's Inn.' William Cobbett, M. P. for 
 Oldham, the writer of the famous ' Political Register,' 
 was for some years a clerk in the chambers of a gen- 
 tleman in this Inn ; and the most brilliant of living 
 essayists in early life took up his abode within its 
 gates. Sir William Garrow lived for many years in 
 
 Griffith, Esq., during these important trials, presented him with a 
 piece of plate, of the value of fifty guineas, with the following 
 inscription : 
 
 Presented to 
 
 THOMAS GRIFFITH, ESQ., 
 
 Steward of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn. 
 By an order of pension, dated 1st day of July, in the year 
 1836, as a testimony of the high respect entertained by the 
 Bench of his general services and integrity, and particularly of the 
 indefatigable zeal and industry displayed by him in the course of 
 the two important suits Selby v. Bardons, which establish the 
 extra-parochiality of Gray's Inn.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 321 
 
 No. 11, Gray's Inn Place, which leads to the gardens. 
 While here some of the decorations of the mantel piece 
 and pillars in the dining-room, were designed for him 
 by the late Sir John Leach, Master of the Bolls, then 
 a young man studying architecture, and entertaining 
 no intention of entering the profession of the law. 
 Sir Allan Chambre afterwards resided many years in 
 the same house. No.. 10, Gray's Inn Place was, until 
 the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Shepperd, the resi- 
 dence of the preachers of Gray's Inn ; and in No. 2, 
 Gray's Inn Place one of the houses adjoining the 
 gardens lived Serjeant Cockell, well known in former 
 times on the northern circuit : 
 
 " Like a full harvest moon, there next in place 
 Shone portly Cockell's honest round red face : 
 Clearness of intellect was his, combined 
 With vast unbounded native powers of mind." 
 
 The hall, as it at present stands, was re-edified in 
 the reign of Philip and Mary. In the fifth year of 
 King Edward VI., the old hall was seiled with fifty- 
 four yards of wainscot at 2s. a yard, but in the 3 
 and 4 of Philip and Mary the society found it neces- 
 sary to re-edify it, and an entirely new roof of 
 oak was erected. Every fellow of the house having a 
 chamber was assessed towards the charge, upon 
 penalty of losing his chamber in case of failing to 
 pay the assessment. The work was finished in the 
 2 Eliz.; the whole charge being, according to the 
 account of Sir Gilbert Gerard, Knight, then trea- 
 surer, 863/. 10s. 8</. This spacious hall has an air 
 
 Y
 
 322 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 of grandeur and solemnity about it which is very im- 
 posing. The windows contain some fine specimens of 
 painted glass, nearly every pane containing a record of 
 some distinguished member of the house. The roof of 
 oak is divided into six bays or compartments, by seven 
 arched and moulded Gothic ribs or principals. The 
 spandles or spaces are divided by upright timbers, 
 with a horizontal cornice in the centre. At the ex- 
 tremity of the projecting spandels is a carved pendant 
 ornament, partaking of the nature of an entablature. 
 The screen of this hall is supported by six pillars 
 of the Tuscan order, with cariatides supporting the 
 cornice in accordance with the style of ornament pre- 
 valent at that time. The hall is also lighted by a 
 handsome louvre, on which was formerly a dial with 
 the motto, lux Dei^ lea; Dei. Paintings of King 
 Charles I., King Charles II., and King James II., 
 Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Bacon,* Lord Raymond, 
 Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, are hung 
 up in the hall. 
 
 In 35 Eliz. the sum of 100/. 3s. k.d. was contri- 
 buted by divers particular gentlemen of this house 
 for the building of the gate in Holborn, which seems 
 to have been erected about that time. 
 
 The library, which was rebuilt and enlarged in 
 1839-41, consists of three handsome apartments, 
 ceiled and wainscoted with oak; one appropriated to 
 the benchers and the two larger rooms to the barris- 
 ters and students of the Society. In this suit of 
 
 * Presented by Basil Montague, Esq., a barrister of this Inn.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 323 
 
 rooms there are original portraits of Lord Chief Jus- 
 tice Eyre,* Sir John Turton, Knight, Baron of the 
 Exchequer, f and afterwards a justice of the King's 
 Bench, formerly a bencher of Gray's Inn, the Kev. Dr. 
 Shephard, preacher of Gray's Inn: in the principal 
 room there is a bust of Lord Bacon. The library 
 contains a complete series of reports from the com- 
 mencement of the year books to the present day, with 
 a large collection of valuable legal treatises and au- 
 thorities, and several standard works on the civil 
 law ; and also comprises the writings of the Fathers of 
 the Christian Church, and some MS. missals, &c. 
 
 We have in another chapter given an account of 
 the masques and revels in Gray's Inn Hall, and of the 
 Serjeants' feasts which have always been observed with 
 much formality in this Society. Festum apud Gr aye's 
 Inne is a memorandum which we find frequently 
 attached to the records respecting the creations of 
 Serjeants. 
 
 On the 8th of November, 6 Edward VI., in pur- 
 suance of the acts of the legislature concerning the 
 reformation of religion, an order was made that the 
 pensioner and steward of this house should make sale 
 of certain utensils then being in the said chapel for 
 the behoof of the society; viz. 
 
 One vestment with a cross of red velvet, a holy water 
 
 * Presented by his relative, Harry Edgell, Esq., bencher of 
 Gray's Inn. 
 
 t Presented by William Turton, Esq., his descendant, a barris- 
 ter of this Inn. 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 stock of brass, two candlesticks, a little bell of brass, a 
 vestment of silk speckt with gold, and a pair of organs. 
 
 These being sold there remained, we are informed, 
 in the chapel, a chalice, a surplice, a bible of the 
 largest volume, a psalter, a book of service, an altar- 
 cloth, a table, a lanthorn of glass, a chest. On the 
 accession of Queen Mary, however, the chapel under- 
 went a fresh transformation ; a new altar was erected 
 and all the ornaments and appendages of the service 
 in the Roman Catholic Church were provided; the 
 charges of which were as follows : 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Nine ells of holland for three altar clothes, .12 6 
 
 Seven ells and a quarter of lockram for an albe, . 7 3 
 Three-quarters of an ell for a corporas, . .03 
 
 Five pieces for the albe and the ephobe, . .18 
 
 Tape for the ephode and the girdle, . .02 
 
 Two crewets, . :wv . . .18 
 
 Making of the albe, ephode, towels, and corporals 1 2 
 105 foot of oaken board for the altar, . .38 
 
 Six double quarters, . . . .20 
 
 For nayles, . . . . .05 
 
 For carriage, . . . . .06 
 
 For making the altar, . . . .28 
 
 For a painted cloth to hang before the altar, . 1 8 
 
 For hemming the altar clothes, . . .04 
 
 For a desk, . . . . .10 
 
 The chapel underwent another change in the fol- 
 lowing reign. In 11 Eliz., 13 June, it was ordered 
 that a pulpit be erected, that the partition should be 
 removed, and that stalls made according to the discre- 
 tion of the dean of the chapel ; the service of the al-
 
 GRAY'S INN. 325 
 
 tar being accommodated to the worship of the En- 
 glish church. In the 17 Jac. I. a proposition was 
 made to re-edify the chapel ; and by an order of pen- 
 sion, Sir Ewball Thelwall, Mr. Fleetwood, Mr. Philip 
 Gerard, and Mr. Thomas Jones, were appointed as a 
 committee to consider the subject; but nothing was 
 then done therein. During the last century the cha- 
 pel was completely modernised. The east window 
 contains the arms of William Juxon, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, of Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, of George Morley, Bishop of Winchester, and 
 Prelate of the Order of the Garter, and Walter King, 
 Bishop of Rochester, successively preachers of this 
 Society. Among other eminent divines who have 
 been preachers of Gray's Inn, may be mentioned Ri- 
 chard Sibbs, D.D., a learned puritan divine, and volu- 
 minous writer; Robert Moss, D.D., Dean of Ely, 
 author of several works; Henry Stebbing, D.D., Chan- 
 cellor of the Diocese of Sarum, Chaplain in Ordinary 
 to his majesty; and his son Henry Stebbing, D.D., 
 many of whose sermons and other writings on divinity 
 have been published. 
 
 Stowe, speaking of Gray's Inn Gardens in the time 
 of Elizabeth, says, " these gardens lie open to the 
 air, and the enjoyment of a delightful prospect of the 
 fields." They no longer command a pleasant prospect 
 of the Hampstead Hills ; but they are much resorted 
 to in the summer, and afford a delightful contrast to 
 the turmoil and bustle of Holborn. 
 
 As late as the year 1754 there was standing in
 
 326 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Gray's Inn Gardens* on the west side within that space 
 where, in (1798) there was a circle of trees, an octa- 
 gonal seat covered with a roof which had been erected 
 by Francis Bacon (afterward Lord Verulam) to the 
 memory of his friend, Mr. Bettenham : round the seat 
 outside was the following inscription : 
 
 " Franciscus Bacon, Regis Solicitor Generates, Executor 
 testamenti Jeremice Bettenham nuper Lectoris hujus hos- 
 pitii, viri innocentis, abstinentis, et contemplativi, hanc 
 sedem in memoriam ejusdem Jeremits extruxit, anno Dom. 
 1699." 
 
 Lord Bacon's chambers were in No. 1, Coney Court, 
 which formerly stood on the site of the present row of 
 buildings at the west side of Gray's Inn Square, 
 adjoining the gardens. The whole of Coney Court 
 was burnt down by fire, which occurred in the Inn 
 about the year 1678. 
 
 This Society made several efforts to prevent the 
 erection of buildings which would cut them off from 
 the country, the free and interrupted view of which, 
 as well as vicinage to the open fields, they had enjoyed 
 for centuries. The following entry on this sub- 
 ject is interesting, as marking the gradual ex- 
 pansion of the metropolis, and as exhibiting * the 
 brutal Scroggs,' whose memory is associated in in- 
 famy with that of Jefferies, in a more harmless 
 employment than that of perverting judgment. 
 
 "In pursuance of the Lord High Chancellor of 
 England's f- pleasure, declared in an order of the 7th 
 
 * Book of Orders, Gray's Inn. 
 
 t 'Book of Orders, Cray's Inn/ 1666 to 1730, fol. 279.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 327 
 
 of May last, made upon the petition of the said 
 society against Mr. William Skipwith and his ser- 
 vants, his lordship vouchsafed to come upon the 
 Tarras walk of Gray's Inn, and from thence to take a 
 view of Gravel Pit field, lying northward thereof, be- 
 longing to the said Mr. Skipwith, and to propose that 
 the said Mr. Skipwith and his assigns should have 
 liberty to erect two ranges of buildings, each of them 
 to consist of fifteen houses at the east end of the said 
 field, viz. : the one to front eastward from Gray's 
 Inn Lane, and the other to front westward upon the 
 said field ; and both the said ranges of buildings, with 
 the gardens or yards to the same belonging, at the 
 south end thereof, next to and parallel to the king's 
 way,* to contain in the whole depth one hundred feet ; 
 and the said range of buildings fronting westward to 
 go in a direct line, and to be continued northwards so 
 as to make an angle at the north end with the other 
 buildings. And that in lieu of such allowance and 
 liberty of building, the said Mr. Skipwith, his tenants, 
 and assigns, should leave the residue of the said field 
 .open, with a palisade pale extending the whole length 
 thereof, next to the king's said way south ; and that 
 they should agree and be bound, by decree and other 
 legal means, not to erect any sort of structure or 
 building elsewhere upon the said fields. It is ordered 
 that the said proposal made by his lordship, touching 
 the form of Mr. Skipwith building in Gravel Pit 
 
 * One of the streets now bounding Gray's Inn, on the north, is 
 called ' King's Street.'
 
 328 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 field aforesaid, be humbly accepted by this society ; 
 and that Mr. Solicitor- General, Sir John Otway, Sir 
 William Scroggs,* and such others of the bench as 
 they shall think fit, do accompany them to attend the 
 Lord Chancellor, and to signify the same to his lord- 
 ship, and to return the humble thanks of this society 
 to his lordship for the same." 
 
 There is a tradition in Gray's Inn, that the bench 
 tables were presented to the Inn by Queen Elizabeth, 
 and that her majesty honoured the society by par- 
 taking of a banquet in the hall. On every grand day, 
 * the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of Queen 
 Elizabeth ' is drunk with much formality ; three 
 benchers rise and drink the toast; when they sit 
 down, three others rise, and in this manner the toast 
 passes down the bar table, and from thence to the 
 students' tables. It deserves to be remarked, too, that 
 this is the only toast drunk in the hall ; and from the 
 pleasure which Elizabeth derived from witnessing the 
 performances! of the gentlemen of Gray's Inn at her 
 own palaces, and the distinction with which she on 
 several occasions received them, it seems probable 
 that the tradition to which reference has been made is 
 correct, more especially as the Cecils, the Bacons, the 
 Sidneys and other illustrious personages of her court, 
 were members of this house. 
 
 * The arms of Scroggs are in the north window, in the 
 Hall of Gray's Inn, with the inscription : Guel. Scroggs, Cap. 
 Just. Angl. anno Reg. Carolo Sed. xxx. Annoq. Dili. 1678. 
 
 t See chap. ' Inns of Court Masques,' p. 87.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 329 
 
 In ancient times it appears to have been no un- 
 common thing, not only for students, but more sage 
 professors of the law, to lodge double in the Inns of 
 Court. At a pension* held here 9 July, 21 Hen. 
 VIIL, John Hales, then one of the Barons of the Ex- 
 chequer, produced a letter directed to him from Sir 
 Thos. Neville, which was to request him to acquaint 
 the society that he would accept of Sir Christopher 
 Hales then Attorney-General, to be his bed-fellow in 
 his chamber in Gray's Inn ; and that the entry might 
 be made thereof in their book of their rules. This 
 practice of ' lodging double,' so repugnant to modern 
 customs, was prevalent in even higher circles. Hol- 
 inshed tells us that " The Lord Scroop was in 
 such favour with the king that he admitted him 
 sometime to be his bedfellow;" an allusion to which 
 occurs in Act II. sc. ii. of Shakspeare's play of King 
 Henry V. 
 
 " Nay, but the man that was his bed-fellow, 
 
 Whom he hath cloy'd and grac'd with princely favours. 
 
 That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell 
 
 His sovereign's life to death and treachery ! " 
 
 Several orders and regulations were made respect- 
 ing the office of Reader which in ancient times was 
 one of so much dignity and importance. In the 
 36 Eliz. an order was set down by the general consent 
 of the visitors as of the Bench of Graye's Inne, " That 
 none shall be called to read in regard of antiquity or 
 
 * Dug. Orig., Ex Regist. Hosp. Graienis.
 
 330 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 course, but such as are men of good sufficiency for 
 their learning, credit, and integrity to serve in the 
 commonwealth. The names of such as have read 
 double, or shall read double, shall be given to the 
 judges, who have promised to give them pre-eminence 
 of hearing, after Serjeants, and her majesty's learned 
 counsel, to the end to draw them thereto the more. 
 Every single reader shall continue out his reading 
 until the Friday in the third week, and shall observe 
 former orders touching moderating of excess in dyet? 
 Notwithstanding the latter salutary caution the same 
 costliness and extravagance observable at the feasts of 
 the readers of the other inns, seems to have prevailed 
 here. At a pension held 5 May, 16 Eliz., a special 
 order was made that every one thenceforth to be 
 chosen Reader should have allowance of one hogshead 
 of wine be the price more or less. On the 5 June, 
 26 Eliz. it was ordered that no Reader should thence- 
 forth have allowance either of reward or any other 
 allowances in respect of venison for above the number 
 of twenty brace of bucks, and a lease of stags, and the 
 same to be spent in the house. And in 28 Eliz. the 
 Reader for that summer was allowed for every week 
 ten bucks 'and no more.' In 4 Aug., 12 Jac., Mr. 
 Thomas Southworth, and Mr. Thomas Athowe, being 
 then readers, the house allowed two hogsheads of wine, 
 which wine and some other allowances of the house, 
 viz. thirty bushels of flour, thirty pound of pepper, 
 reward for thirty bucks and two stags, were equally 
 divided between the said readers. A more particular
 
 GRAY'S INN. 331 
 
 account of the readings in this inn is given in the 
 chapter on ancient readings.* 
 
 The manner of performing exercises in the hall was 
 as follows. If it were a whole week the first plead- 
 ing: 
 
 The first to the jurisdiction. 
 
 The second to the person. 
 
 The third to the count. 
 
 The fourth to the writ. 
 
 The fifth to the action, f 
 
 " If it be a broken week the action is to be a replevin 
 or other personal action. The pleadings are to be 
 repeated memoriter both within bar and without, or 
 the exercise is not to be allowed. The amerciament 
 for fail of this exercise is forty shillings upon the ut- 
 ter-barrister, to be forthwith recorded by the judges 
 who sit ; and if it be performed by deputy the amer- 
 ciament is twenty shillings, to be also then recorded. 
 The exercises in reading times are in the same man- 
 ner as in term times. Students under the bar being 
 above three years' standing such student may tender a 
 cap and a penny the day before in the hall to the 
 ancient mootman in commons, desiring him to be of 
 his counsel to perform it for him, and such mootman, 
 thereupon, is to undertake and perform the exercise 
 or be amerst the clyents amerciament. The plead- 
 ings are to be read by the two young gentlemen who 
 sit, and are to be repeated memoriter by him who 
 
 * Vide supra page 65. 
 
 t See Co. Lit. 303 a ; Lord Raym. 970, Pref. ' Doctrina Placi- 
 tandi,' 1 Chitty PI. 425.
 
 332 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 brings in the case, or the moot not to be allowed."* 
 These exercises, it appears, like the readings, were 
 frequently attended with banquets and suppers. On 
 the 16 June, 11 Jac., we find an order reciting that 
 whereas these banquets were grown to an excessive 
 charge that thenceforth no suppers, banquets, or 
 charges should be made or spent in respect of any, 
 upon pain that every man offending therein should 
 forfeit five pounds. 
 
 Several stringent regulations were made in this, 
 as well as in the other inns, respecting the apparel 
 of the students. On the 16th of June, 16 Eliz., 
 an order was made by the bench, that every person 
 of this society should frame and reform himself, for 
 the manner of his apparel, according to the procla- 
 mation then last set forth, and within the time 
 therein limited, else not to be accounted of this house. 
 And that none of this society should wear any gown, 
 doublet, hose, or outward garment of any light colour, 
 upon penalty of expulsion. And within ten days 
 following, it was ordered, that none should wear 
 any white doublet in the house after Michaelmas 
 term ensuing. On the 15th of November, 27 Eliz., 
 it was further ordered, that whosoever, being a fellow 
 of this house, did thenceforth wear any hat in the 
 hall, at dinner or supper time, he should forfeit, for 
 every time of such his offending, 3s. 4c?., to be cast 
 into commons, at the next account, to the use of 
 
 * See ' Les Cases de Grey's Inne,' which contains a collection of 
 points in Norman French, argued in this inn.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 333 
 
 the house, without any remission. Again, on the 
 llth of February, 42 Eliz., an order was made, that 
 no gentleman of this society do come into the hall to 
 any meal, with their hats, boots, or spurs, but with 
 their caps, decently and orderly, according to the 
 ancient orders of this house, upon pain for every 
 offence to forfeit 3s. 4o?., and for the third offence 
 expulsion. Likewise, that no gentleman of this 
 society do go into the city or suburbs, or to walk 
 in the fields, otherwise than in his gown, according to 
 the ancient usage of the gentlemen of the Inns of 
 Court, upon penalty of 3s. 4</. for every offence, 
 and for the third expulsion and loss of his chamber. 
 In Michaelmas Term, 7 Jac. I., it was ordered, that 
 all the gentlemen of this society, except the master 
 of the requests, and the King's Solicitor, should 
 thenceforth wear caps in the hall, both in term time 
 and vacation, except for the twelve days of Christ- 
 mas, upon penalty of 12c?. for every default; and 
 the butlers to present such defaults. The orders 
 against appearing in the hall in boots were also 
 repeated; and on the 24th of October, in the fol- 
 lowing year, it was found necessary to issue another 
 prohibition against boots, that if any gentleman of 
 this society should come into the common hall of 
 this house to breakfast, dinner, or supper, or to 
 hear any exercise of learning, being booted, that 
 he should be put out of commons, ipso facto, and 
 not to come into commons again until he had 
 done his conges. In the 2 Car. I., there was a
 
 334 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 farther order, that every gentleman of the society 
 should conform himself to wear a cap in the hall, at 
 dinner and supper time, upon penalty of 12rf. for 
 every default, according to the ancient rules of this 
 house. 
 
 The following rules, ' touching civilities, behaviour, 
 misbehaviour, contempts, punishments, &c.,' were 
 placed in a tablet, for the perusal of all members 
 of the society, 6th of March, 1629. 
 
 TOUCHING CIVILITIES, BEHAVIOUR, MISBEHAVIOUR, CON- 
 TEMPTS, PUNISHMENTS, ETC. 
 
 That civility and due respect be used by every Fellow 
 of the Society to the Readers and Ancients and other 
 his Seniors, upon pain of amerciament. 
 
 That such Fellows of the Society as come to commons 
 in the hall, or to exercises, or to pension, come in their 
 gowns or be amerst. 
 
 That no Fellow of the Society pass up or down the 
 hall, or from place to place there, with his hat on his head 
 when the society is at meals, or exercises, or other public 
 occasions. 
 
 That no Fellow of the Society stand with his back to 
 the fire. 
 
 That no Fellow of the Society make any rude noise in 
 the hall at exercises, or at meal times. 
 
 That no Fellow of the Society, under the degree of an 
 Ancient, keep on his hat at readings, or moots, or cases 
 assigned. 
 
 That if any Fellow of the Society being summoned to 
 attend pension, to answer to any matter laid to his charge, 
 and shall wilfully refuse to come, he is to be amerst for 
 his first offence, and for his second offence expelled. 
 
 That in all cases of wilful contempts by any Fellow 
 of the Society against the orders of the house, and of
 
 GRAY'S INN. 335 
 
 opposition to the execution of the penalties, the punish- 
 ments are: 
 
 Amerciament. 
 Screening his name. 
 Coming in with congees. 
 
 As the cases shall Loss of chamber. 
 
 Prosecution by Pension Writ. 
 
 Prosecution by Warrant from the 
 
 Judges. 
 
 Suit upon his bond. 
 \ Expulsion. 
 
 On the 30th of January, 40 Eliz., it was ordered 
 that to avoid disturbance and confusion of service, 
 every gentleman of this house, not being of the third 
 table, who should thenceforth go down to the dresser, 
 either to fetch his own meat or change the same, or 
 not presently to sit down to his meat when the servi- 
 tors have messed him, or take meat by strong hand 
 from such as should serve him, to be put out of 
 commons, ipso facto. 
 
 The following order was made on the 6th of 
 February, 29 Eliz.: "that the third butler should be 
 at the carrying forth from the buttery and also at 
 the distribution of the alms, thrice by the week at 
 Greyes Inne Gate, to see that due consideration be 
 had to the poorer sort of aged and impotent persons, 
 according as in former times he had used to do; and 
 an allowance was made to the pannyer-man and under 
 cook, to the end the whole of the broken bread and 
 almes-basket might go to the relief of the poor." 
 
 Celibacy seems to have been honoured as a virtue
 
 336 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 in certain stations in this society. On the 20th of 
 June, 41 Eliz., it was ordered thenceforward no 
 officers of this house, should keep or enjoy their 
 offices any longer than they should keep themselves 
 sole and unmarried, excepting the steward, the chief 
 butler, and the chief cook. And in the same year it 
 was resolved that a reader in divinity to the Inn be 
 elected ; that he be a man unmarried, and having no 
 ecclesiastical living other than a prebend without 
 cure of souls or readership in any other place; and 
 that he should keep the same place during his con- 
 tinuance unmarried and not being preferred to any 
 ecclesiastical living or other readership, and no longer. 
 On the 30th of October, 21 Jac., an order was made 
 that all women should be barred from the chapel at 
 sermons; and according to another order of the 
 bench, no laundresses or women called victuallers, 
 were to be permitted to come into the gentlemen's 
 chambers of this society, unless they were full forty 
 years of age; nor maid servants admitted into the 
 said gentlemen's chambers, upon penalty, for the first 
 offence, that he that should admit of any such, be put 
 out of commons, and for the second, be expelled the 
 house. 
 
 The first reader of this Inn whose name is recorded* 
 is William Shipwith, whose name occurs in the early 
 year books. He, together with John de Moubray, 
 was summoned by King Edward the Third, in the 
 
 * MS. Lib. Gray's Inn ; ibid. Harl. MS. with coats of arms 
 illuminated.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 337 
 
 year of our Lord 1355, to the rank of King's Serjeant- 
 at-law. In the year 1360, 34 Edw. III., he was 
 constituted a Justice of the Common Pleas, and 
 in 1363 was created Chief Baron of the Exchequer. 
 On the appointment of Skip with and Moubray as 
 Justices of the Common Pleas, they had the follow- 
 ing parcels delivered to them for their robes, &c., in 
 order to the reception of the degree of knighthood, as 
 bannerets at the Feast of the Nativity, viz. : 
 
 1. Each of them ten ells of cloth marbrune, mixt, long 
 in grayn. 
 
 2. Ten ells of green cloth, mixt, long, of Brucells. 
 
 3. A cloak of a hundred and twenty bellies of miniver, 
 pure. 
 
 4. Two furrs, each of seven tires of miniver, pure. 
 
 5. Two furrs of silk, each of them seven tires. 
 
 6. Two furrs of popre, two hoods, each of thirty-two 
 bellies of miniver, half pur. 
 
 7. Six ells of russet cloth, long, for making of one cote 
 and hood for the vigils. 
 
 8. Six ells of green tartarin streked. 
 
 9. Two cloth of gold sigastons. 
 
 10. One piece of fine linnen ynde beaten. 
 
 1 1 . Two pieces of Lombardie cardie. 
 
 12. And twenty-four pieces of Paris linnen cloth. 
 
 Sir Robert de Ashton, or Asheton, who was consti- 
 tuted Lord High Treasurer of England on the 26th 
 September, A.D. 1376, in the 49th Edward III., was, 
 it appears, a student in Gray's Inn.* He is described 
 as " Admiral at sea, Chief Justice of Ireland, and 
 Lord High Treasurer of England." 
 
 * MS. Gray's Inn. The names of twenty-six members of this 
 family are on the books. 
 
 Z
 
 338 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 The next member of this society whose name is 
 remembered is John Markham, one of the Judges 
 of the Common Pleas. Having filled the office of 
 reader in Gray's Inn, Markham was in the year 1391 
 called to the degree of a serjeant-at-law, and on 
 the 7th July, 1397, was constituted one of the 
 Justices of the Common Pleas, by King Richard II. 
 He was probably the father of John Markham, the 
 Lord Chief Justice of England, who was distinguished 
 for his honest and fearless opposition to the wishes of 
 the crown. The younger Markham was also a member 
 of this inn; and his arms are yet preserved in the 
 north-east window of the hall. On the 6th of 
 February, A. D. 1444, in the 22 Henry VI., he 
 was constituted one of the Justices ad Plac. cwam 
 Rege ; and on the 13th May, A. D. 1462,, was 
 created Lord Chief Justice by King Edward IY. 
 Stow informs us, " And because that Sir John Mark- 
 ham, then Chief Justice, determined somewhat against 
 the king's pleasure, that the offence done by Sir 
 Thomas Cooke (who was arraigned at the Guildhall, 
 on a vague charge of treason) was no treason, but 
 misprision, the which was no desert of death, but to 
 be fined at the king's pleasure; the Lord Rivers 
 and the Duchess of Bedford, his wife, procured that 
 he lost his office afterwards." Lord Coke enumerates 
 Sir John Markham as one of the famous and expert 
 sages of the law in the time of Littleton. 
 
 Contemporary with the elder Markham, among the 
 students of Gray's Inn, was William Gascoyne, the
 
 GRAY'S INN. 339 
 
 illustrious Lord Chief Justice, whose character has 
 been immortalized by poets, historians, and painters. 
 Gascoyne was one of the readers of this house,* and 
 in the year 1398, was called to the degree of king's 
 Serjeant-at-law. On the 15th November, 1401, he 
 was constituted Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
 His arms are still preserved on the window in Gray's 
 Inn Hall, which contains the arms of other members 
 of the society who have filled the office of chief 
 justice, and held the great seal. The arms are argent, 
 on a pale sable, a demy-luce Or. An engraving 
 of the arms is given by Sir William Dugdale, in 
 his collection of the heraldic memorials of this Inn, 
 and in an ancient MS. in the Harleian Collection, 
 among a miscellaneous collection of coats of arms, 
 sketched in pen and ink, there is a sketch of the 
 arms of Guel. Gascoyne, In hospitio vocat. Grayes 
 Inne. Sir William Gascoyne's general conduct as 
 a judge would have entitled him to be classed among 
 chief justices of the first merit; f but one act of his 
 life distinguishes him as the most independent judge 
 that ever presided in the judgment seat. " It 
 happened," says Eliot, in his 'Chronicle,' that a 
 servant of Prince Henry (afterwards the fifth English 
 king of that Christian name) was arraigned before 
 this judge for felony, whom the prince, then present, 
 endeavoured to take away, coming up in such fury, 
 that the beholders believed he would have stricken 
 the judge. But he sitting without moving, according 
 
 * MS. Harl. ; ibid. MS. Lib. Gray's Inn. t Palmer, 396. 
 
 z2
 
 340 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 to the majesty he represented, committed the prince 
 prisoner to the King's Bench, there to remain until 
 the pleasure of the prince's father were farther known. 
 Who, when he heard thereof by some pick- thank 
 courtier, who probably expected a contrary return, 
 gave God thanks for his infinite goodness, who, at the 
 same instant had given him a judge who could 
 minister, and a son who could obey justice."* The 
 reader will recollect the somewhat different version of 
 the circumstance given by Shakspeare in the second 
 part of Hen. IV., act 5.f Sir Henry Spelman de- 
 
 * See also 3 Inst. 225, Hall Chron. 543 a. 
 t King Henry V. How might a Prince of my great hopes forget 
 
 So great indignities you laid upon me ] 
 
 What ! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison 
 
 The immediate heir of England ! Was this easy 1 
 
 May this be wash'd in Lethe and forgotten 1 
 Chief Justice. I then did use the person of your father ; 
 
 The image of his power lay then in me ! 
 
 And in the administration of his law, 
 
 Whiles I was busy for the Commonwealth, 
 
 Your highness pleased to forget my place, 
 
 The majesty and power of Law and Justice, 
 
 The image of the King, whom I presented, 
 
 And struck me in my very seat of judgment; 
 
 Whereon, as an offender to your father, 
 
 I gave bold way to my authority, 
 
 And did commit you. If the deed were ill, 
 
 Be you contented, wearing now the garland, 
 
 To have a son set your decrees at nought ; 
 
 To pluck down justice from your awful bench ; 
 
 To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword 
 
 That guards the peace and safety of your person : 
 
 Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image, 
 
 And mock your workings in a second body. 
 
 Question
 
 GRAY'S INN. 341 
 
 scribes Gascoyne as " Romanes ille f&rtitudmis jus- 
 
 ticiarius" 
 
 " While dauntless Gascoyne from the judgment seat, 
 To Justice dares make princely pow'r submit : 
 Dares tame by law, him who all law could break, 
 And to a hero raise a royal rake, 
 Whilst we such precedents can boast at home, 
 Keep thy Fabricius and thy Cato, Rome.* 
 
 Sir William Gascoyne died on the 17th of Decem- 
 ber, 1413, and was buried at Harewood Church, 
 between Leeds and Knaresborough, in which parish 
 he was born. It deserves to be noticed that in the 
 same church the remains of Sir Thomas Deuison, a 
 Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, who died in 
 the year 1765, are interred; being placed, as the 
 
 Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours, 
 Be now the father and propose a son : 
 Hear your own dignity so much profan'd, 
 See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted, 
 Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd ; 
 And then imagine me taking your part, 
 And in your power soft silencing your son : 
 After this cold considerence, sentence me; 
 And as you are a King, speak in your state, 
 What I have done that misbecame my place, 
 My person, or my liege's sovereignty. 
 King. You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well ; 
 Therefore still bear the balance and the sword. 
 * * * * 
 
 You did commit me : 
 For which I do commit into your hand 
 The unstain'd sword that you have us'd to bear ; 
 With this remembrance that you use the same 
 With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit 
 As you have done 'gainst me. 
 
 * Epigram, Biog. Brit.
 
 342 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 inscription on his tomb states, " at his express desire, 
 near the Lord Chief Justice Gascoyne, who, by a 
 resolute and judicious exertion of authority, sup- 
 ported law and government, in a manner which has 
 perpetuated his name, and made his example famous 
 to posterity." 
 
 William Boothe, Archbishop of York, A. D. 1453, 
 was originally bred to the profession of the law in 
 Gray's Inn. Having, however, been offered a prefer- 
 ment in St. Paul's Cathedral, he abandoned the law 
 and took holy orders. He was next consecrated 
 Bishop of Lichfield, and was subsequently translated 
 to the archiepiscopal See of York. He died in 1464. 
 The next reader of Gray's Inn, after the Lord 
 Chief Justice Gascoyne, was Thomas Tildesley, who, 
 in the year 1403, in the third year of the reign of 
 Hen. IV., was created king's serjeant-at-law, together 
 with John Colpepper, also of this society; who, hav- 
 ing filled the office of reader, was constituted one of 
 the Justices of the Common Pleas, on the 17th of 
 May, 1406. The reader whose name is next men- 
 tioned, is William Cheyne, or Cheney, who, in the 
 year 1411, was summoned to the state and degree of 
 a serjeant, and who, having served as a Justice of the 
 King's Bench, was, on the 21st of January, 1424, 
 elevated to the distinction of Capitalis Justiciarius. 
 A descendant of this judge, Henry, afterwards Lord 
 Cheney was admitted on the 21st of January, 1562. 
 John Martin, serviens, A. D. 1411, Justiciarius de 
 Banco, A. D. 1423, and John Hals, or Hales, succes-
 
 GRAY'S INN. 343 
 
 sively Justice of the Common Pleas, and Queen's 
 Bench, to the taking of which offices he was ap- 
 pointed A. D. 1424, were also readers in this inn. 
 Among the other readers of Gray's Inn, at an early 
 period, who occupied seats on the bench, were William 
 Yelverton, 1444; Walter Moyle, 1454, Lord Chief 
 Justice of the King's Bench ; Thomas Billing, 1469 ; 
 Thomas Brian, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas. Lord Coke enumerates the three last-men- 
 tioned, among the luminaries of the law contem- 
 porary with Littleton; and the decision of Chief 
 Justice Brian, that if a tenant by custom, paying 
 his services, be ejected by the lord, he shall have 
 an action of trespass against him, which established 
 the independence of the copyholder, is quoted by Lit- 
 tleton, sec. 77. 
 
 READERS OF GRAY*S INN, AFTERWARDS JUDGES. 
 
 Wm. Hussey, Knt., Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 1482. 
 
 Humphrey Starkey, Capt. Bar. Sacc., 1481. 
 
 John Petitt, Baron of the Exchequer, 1528. 
 
 John Spelman, Justice of the King's Bench, 1533. 
 
 John Hind, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1544. 
 
 Christopher Hales, Knt., Master of the Rolls, 1537. 
 
 Richard Sackville, Cane. Curias Augment., 1530. 
 
 Edmund Mollineux, Knt., Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, 1550. 
 
 James Hales, Knt., Justice of the Common Pleas, 1 549. 
 
 Thomas Moyle, Knt., Speaker in Parliament, 1542. 
 
 William Coke, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1554. 
 
 William Dallyson, Justice of the King's Bench, 1559. 
 
 John Birch, Baron of the Exchequer, 1562.
 
 344 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Gilbert Gerrard, Knt., Master of the Rolls, 1581. 
 
 John Jeffereys,* j Justice of the Queen ' s Bench > 1576 ' 
 (. Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1577. 
 
 "William Gerrard, Chancellor of Ireland, 1578. 
 
 Francis Roodes, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1 584. 
 
 Robert Shute, Justice of the King's Bench, 1584. 
 
 John William Daniel, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1603. 
 
 James Altham, Baron of the Exchequer, 1606. 
 
 Edmund Pelham, Chief Justice of Ireland, 1606. 
 
 Henry Yelverton, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1602. 
 
 Thomas Chamberlain, Justice of the King's Bench, 1624. 
 
 Humphrey Davenport, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 
 1650. 
 
 Robert Shute, Recorder of London, 1620. 
 
 Eras. Crawley, Knt., Justice of the Common Pleas, 1632. 
 
 John Banks, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1640. 
 
 Francis Bacon, Justice of the King's Bench, 1642. 
 
 Roger Wilbraham, Knt, Solicitor-General of Ireland, 
 1599; Mag. Curiae Supplic. Libellorum. 
 
 Peter Feasant, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1644. 
 
 Edm. Rene, Knt., Justice of the Common Pleas, 1638. 
 
 Clement Spelman, Baron of the Exchequer, 1662f. 
 
 John Archer, Knt., Justice of the Common Pleas, 1663. 
 
 William Jones, Knt., j Solid tor- General, 1673. 
 
 I Attorney-General, 1675. 
 
 (Ancient, 1662. 
 Bencher, 167L 
 Reader, 1674. 
 Admitted, 1640. 
 Barrister, 1650. 
 
 William Gregory, 
 
 Ancient, 1667. 
 Bencher, 1673. 
 Reader A ut., 1675. 
 
 * A lawyer of great eminence, temp. Eliz. Co. Lit. Prooem. 
 
 t After the Restoration. 
 
 $ Father of Sir John Holt, Lord Chief Justice. 
 
 This is the last of the Readers mentioned in the MS.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 345 
 
 Among the worthies, whose arms decorate this 
 hall, is to be placed Anthony Fitzherbert, Lord Chief 
 Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in the reign 
 of Henry VIIL, the most distinguished writer on 
 the laws of England, . who flourished in the sixteenth 
 century. He was the author of the celebrated 
 book, ' De Natura Brevium,' and wrote a laborious 
 Abridgement of the Laws, contained in the Year 
 Books, fyc., and an index thereto : " monuments," as 
 Fuller remarks, " which will longer continue his 
 memory than the flat blue marble stone in Norbury 
 church, under which he lieth interred." Fitzherbert 
 was one of the lords who drew up the articles of 
 impeachment against Cardinal Wolsey, which con- 
 cluded by praying the king, " that he be so provided 
 for, that he never have any power, jurisdiction, or 
 authority, hereafter to trouble, vex, and impoverish 
 the Commonwealth of this your realm, as he hath 
 done heretofore, to the great hurt and damage of 
 every man, almost high and low." Fitzherbert was 
 descended from an ancient family, long resident in 
 Derbyshire, and was the son of Robert Fitzherbert, 
 of Norbury, in that county. According to Wood, 
 he was educated at Oxford. He filled the office of 
 reader, in Gray's Inn, as appears by the MS. list 
 of readers. In Michaelmas Term, 2 Hen. VIIL, he 
 was advanced to the degree of Serjeant-at-law. In 
 the year 1517 he was constituted one of the King's 
 Serjeants, and received the honour of knighthood, 
 and in 1522 was appointed a Judge in the Court 
 of Common Pleas. He died A. D. 1538.
 
 346 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Sir William Staunforde, or Stanford, for the name 
 is spelt differently, one of the most eminent lawyers 
 of the sixteenth century, and a Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, is described by Lord Coke, as ' a man excel- 
 lently learned in the common law.' He was the son 
 of a mercer of London, and was born in the year 
 1509, at Hadley, in Middlesex. " He received," 
 says Wood, " so much literature among the Oxo- 
 nians, that enabled him sooner than any other per- 
 son to conquer the rudiments of the municipal law." 
 He was admitted a student of Gray's Inn, in 1528, 
 and attained the degree of barrister in 1530; he 
 was created an ancient of the society in 1536, 
 Autumn reader 1546; (sed nulla Lectura causa in- 
 fectionis;)* he was chosen double Lent reader in 
 1551, was advanced to the state and degree of Ser- 
 jeant in 1552, was constituted Queen's Serjeant in 
 the following year, by Queen Mary. In Michaelmas 
 Term, 1554, he received the honour of knighthood, 
 and was appointed one of the Justices of the Court 
 of Common Pleas, which office he continued to fill 
 till his death, on the 25th of August, 1588. His re- 
 mains were buried at Hadley Church. His principal 
 works are Placita Coronce, and an Exposition of 
 the King's Prerogative; the English copy of which 
 
 * In the MS. list of members of Gray's Inn, the ' Chronica 
 Series ' of Dugdale, and the Preface to Lord Coke's Reports, part 
 x. he is called Stamford ; in Wood's ' Athense Oxonienses ' his 
 name is written Staunford ; but in the original editions of his 
 works his name is given as Staunforde, which, therefore, seems to 
 be the correct manner of writing the name.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 347 
 
 is inscribed to ' his singular friende, Nicholas Bacon/ 
 the dedication being dated from Grey's Inne." 
 
 In the great movement, at the period of the Re- 
 formation, some members of Gray's Inn were pro- 
 minent actors. The lawyers, as a body, were, at all 
 times, decided opponents of the extravagant and 
 illegal pretensions of the clergy, and, on several oc- 
 casions, boldly denied their claims to an authority, 
 jure divino, paramount to the laws of the land. 
 In the parliament held 21 Henry VIII. the first 
 blow was struck which ' opened the door 1 of the Re- 
 formation in this kingdom. Three bills were sent up 
 by the commons to the upper house restraining un- 
 reasonable fees for the probate of wills, mortuaries, 
 pluralities, nonresidence of the clergy, &c. ; prevent- 
 ing them from taking farms, and obliging them to 
 confine themselves to their spiritual functions. These 
 bills, according to Burnett, contained many ' morti- 
 fying regulations;' and we learn, from Hall, that 
 while the commons were ' in sore debate ' on these 
 bills, Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, addressed the peers 
 and charged the house of commons with 'lacke of 
 faith.' Fisher's speech is printed in 1 Parl. Hist. It 
 roused the commons to still more vigorous opposition ; 
 and a member, whose name is not mentioned either by 
 Hall or Lord Herbert, but who is described as ' a 
 gentleman of Greye's Inne, 1 addressed the house in 
 answer to the bishop's aspersion of * lacke of faith ' in 
 what was considered a speech of unprecedented bold- 
 ness. Before this speech, we are informed, no man
 
 348 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 was bold enough to attack the Church in parliament, 
 for certain ruin would have fallen on any one ' who 
 durst once presume to attempt anything contrary to 
 their profitte and advantage.' The speech of ' the 
 gentleman of Greye's Inne ' is also to be found in 
 1 Parl. Hist. After this address the house of com- 
 mons resolved to prefer a formal complaint to the king 
 against Bishop Fisher for charging them with ' lacke 
 of faith.' Sir Thomas Audley, and, according to 
 Hall, other learned men in the law being of the com- 
 mons, 'took much payne' on this occasion; and the 
 Bishop received a caution from the king to be hence- 
 forth more guarded in his speeches. 
 
 At a pension of the bench of Gray's Inn held 
 16th May, 31 Henry VIII., the king's command that 
 all images of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury in the reign of Henry II., should be removed 
 from all churches and chapels, was taken into consi- 
 deration, and it was ordered that Edward Hall, then 
 one of the readers of this inn, should take out a cer- 
 tain window in the chapel of this house, " wherein 
 the picture of the said archbishop was gloriously 
 painted," and place another in its stead descriptive of 
 Christ praying on the mount. This Edward Hall was 
 the well known historian, the author of the ' Chroni- 
 cles,' which furnished the foundation of so many 
 dramatic productions in the reign of Queen Eliza- 
 beth. He was for many years judge in the Sheriff's 
 Court, and died at an advanced age in the year 
 1547.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 349 
 
 Another individual, conspicuous at this period, was 
 Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex. He 
 was of humble extraction, and owed his advancement 
 to his admission into the household of Cardinal Wol- 
 sey who recognised his abilities, and rewarded his 
 devotion, and to whom he is said to have acted as 
 law adviser. The reader will recollect the fallen 
 statesman's well known apostrophe : 
 
 " Oh, Cromwell, Cromwell, 
 Had 1 but serv'd my God with half the zeal 
 I serv'd my king, he would not in my age 
 Have left me naked to mine enemies." 
 
 Cromwell was admitted of Gray's Inn, A. D. 1524; 
 in ten years afterwards he was one of the ancients of 
 the society; in the year 1535 he was advanced to the 
 offices of Secretary to the Privy Council, Chancellor 
 of the University of Cambridge, Master of the Kolls, 
 and Lord Privy Seal. He was known to be favour- 
 ably disposed towards the new doctrines : 
 
 Bishop Gardiner. Do I not know you for a favourer 
 Of this new sect ? Ye are not sound. 
 
 Cromwell. Not sound ? 
 
 Gar. Not sound, I say. 
 
 Crow. Would you were half so honest ! 
 
 Men's prayers then would see you, not their fears. 
 
 Gar. I shall remember this bold language. 
 
 Crom. Do. 
 
 Remember your bold life, too.* 
 
 Cromwell was successively created visitor-general of 
 * Hen. VIII. act v. scene i.
 
 350 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 English monasteries, Baron Cromwell and Vicar-Ge- 
 neral and Vicegerent, in all religious matters the next 
 in authority to the king, who had declared himself 
 supreme head of the Church. In 1537 he was ap- 
 pointed Chief Justice of all forests beyond Trent, 
 and was elected Knight of the Garter. In the fol- 
 lowing year he was made Constable of Carisbrook 
 Castle, and finally was created Earl of Essex, and 
 Lord Chamberlain of England. His great wealth and 
 accumulated honours excited public discontent; the 
 clergy viewed him as their deadly enemy, and to the 
 nobility he was odious on account of the meanness of 
 his birth. Having fallen into disfavour with the 
 capricious tyrant who had elevated him, on the 10th 
 of June, 1540, he was committed to prison. He was 
 impeached before parliament, the articles accusing 
 him of being ' the most false and corrupt traitor and 
 deceiver that had been known in that reign/ of being 
 a ' detestable heretic,' and of having acquired ; innu- 
 merable sums of money and treasure by oppression, 
 bribery, and extortion.' He was not allowed to 
 answer these charges in open court ; and was sentenced 
 to be beheaded. He was executed on the 28th of 
 July, 1540, at Tower Hill. Cromwell's arms are yet 
 preserved in the hall of Gray's Inn. 
 
 Cromwell's great adversary, Stephen Gardiner, Bi- 
 shop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor of England, 
 was also of Gray's Inn. Having studied the civil 
 and canon law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he appears 
 to have entered Gray's Inn, as churchmen and noble-
 
 GRAY'S INN. 351 
 
 men were formerly accustomed to do, for the purpose 
 of acquiring some knowledge of our municipal laws. 
 Gardiner was a man of great ability, and it is impos- 
 sible not to admire his inflexible courage and adhe- 
 rence to his principles under the most trying cir- 
 cumstances; but he was ambitious, unscrupulous, 
 and revengeful, even to blood. He died Nov. 12th, 
 1555. 
 
 The name of Whitgift, the third primate after the 
 Reformation, distinguished for his learning, piety, 
 and integrity, is also entered on the books of Gray's 
 Inn: he was admitted on the 10th of March, 1592. 
 Fuller describes him as ' one of the worthiest men 
 that ever the English hierarchy did enjoy.' He was 
 a patron of learning. His influence obtained for 
 Hooker the mastership of the Temple; and in grati- 
 tude for previous favours Hooker dedicated his great 
 work on ' Ecclesiastical Polity ' to the archbishop. 
 
 Whitgift's successor in the archiepiscopal see, 
 Richard Bancroft, was admitted of Gray's Inn, 27th 
 of February, 1588. His character is summed up as 
 ' a learned controversialist, an excellent preacher, a 
 great statesman, and a vigilant governor of the 
 church.' Among his other preferments, before his eleva- 
 tion as Archbishop of Canterbury, he held the rectory 
 of St. Andrew's, Holborn. 
 
 The next clergyman among the Society of Gray's 
 Inn is the learned and illustrious James Usher, the 
 distinguished Irish prelate, Archbishop of Armagh, 
 whose father was one of the Masters in Chancery, and
 
 352 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Recorder of the City of Dublin. He was admitted 
 26th of January, 1623. In 1647, Usher was chosen 
 preacher to the Society of Lincoln's Inn : he resided 
 in chambers in the inn, and during eight years regu- 
 larly preached there in term. 
 
 Another of the ornaments of the English church 
 connected with this inn (admitted 16th March, 1589) 
 is Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, a man 
 whose vast learning, and shining talents, were en- 
 hanced by his exemplary piety, gentleness, hospitality, 
 and charitable munificence. Milton has written an 
 elegy on the death of this estimable man. 
 
 Another distinguished churchman, whose name ap- 
 pears on the Books of this inn, is Joseph Hall, suc- 
 cessively Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, one of the 
 most eminent divines of the Engish Church, an able 
 controversialist, a polished satirist, and an eloquent 
 preacher. Hall's ' Contemplations,' are still much 
 esteemed for the force and brilliancy of their lan- 
 guage, and the fervour of their piety; the modern 
 collection of his works occupies ten volumes, octavo. 
 Hall was born at Ashby-de-le-Zouch, in 1574; he 
 was consecrated Bishop of Exeter, in 1627, and was 
 translated to the See of Norwich, in 1641. He was 
 admitted a member of Gray's Inn, on the 1st of No- 
 vember, 1615, twelve years before his appointment as 
 bishop. 
 
 William Juxon, Bishop of London, and afterwards 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, was admitted a member 
 of Gray's Inn on the 2nd May, 1635. This prelate,
 
 GRAY'S INN. 353 
 
 it will be remembered, attended the unfortunate King 
 Charles I. on the scaffold, endeavouring to support 
 his royal master while preparing himself for the block, 
 by suitable exhortations. " There is Sir," cried Juxon, 
 "but one stage more, which though turbulent and 
 troublesome, is yet a very short one. Consider, it 
 will soon carry you a great way; it will carry you 
 from earth to heaven; and there you shall find to 
 your great joy the prize to which you hasten, a crown 
 of glory." " I go," replied the king " from a cor- 
 ruptible to an incorruptible crown ;" and in a moment 
 afterwards his head was severed from his body by 
 a man in a vizor; another, also masked, held up 
 the head streaming with blood, crying aloud, this 
 is the head of a traitor ! 
 
 Archbishop Laud was also a member of this Inn; 
 he was admitted on the 1st November, 1615. Speak- 
 of Laud, Fuller quaintly remarks, " Indeed, I could 
 instance in some kind of course venison, not fit for 
 food when first killed ; and therefore cunning cooks 
 bury it for some hours in the earth, till the rankness 
 thereof being mortified thereby, it makes most pala- 
 table meat. So the memory of some persons, newly 
 deceased, are neither fit for a writer's or reader's 
 repast, until some competent time after their inter- 
 ment. However, I am confident that impartial 
 posterity, on a serious review of all passages, will 
 allow his name to be reposed among the heroes of our 
 nation, seeing such as behold his expense on St. 
 Paul's as but a cypher, will assign his other benefuc- 
 
 A A
 
 354 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 tions a very valuable signification ; viz., his erecting 
 and endowing an alms-house in Heading; his in- 
 creasing of Oxford Library with books, and St. 
 John's College with beautiful buildings." He was 
 beheaded Jan. 10th, 1644. 
 
 Among other churchmen, who were members of 
 Gray's Inn, were the following* : 
 
 BISHOPS AND ABBOTS ADMITTED OF THIS SOCIETY. 
 
 Lord Abbott of Westminster, A.D. 1520. 
 
 Lord Abbott of Furneis, A.D. 1520. 
 
 Lord Abbott of Bellow, A.D. 1520. 
 
 Abbas beatae Marias, 1520. 
 
 Prior Sanctae Bartholomaei, 1520. 
 
 Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Chan- 
 cellor of England, 1555. 
 
 Doctor Attwater, Bishop of Lincoln, 1520. 
 
 Lancelott Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, aand Chan- 
 cellor of the Order of the Garter, admitted 16th March, 
 1589. 
 
 Thomas Morton, Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield, 
 2 Feb., 1662. 
 
 Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, 1 Nov. 1615. 
 
 James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh, 26 Jan., 1623. 
 
 William Williams, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, 
 12 Aug., 1621. 
 
 George Morley, Bishop of Winchester, and Prelate of 
 the Garter. 
 
 John Dalbon, Bishop of Rochester. 
 
 Abraham Fraunce, the learned author of the 
 Lawiers Logike, printed A.D. 1588, and many other 
 works, was a student of Gray's Inn, having prior 
 to his admission, studied at St. John's College, 
 
 * MS. Regist. Gray's Inn/
 
 GRAY'S INN. 355 
 
 Cambridge. He dedicated his work on ' Logike ' to 
 the learned lawyers of England, especially the gentle- 
 men of Gray's Inne; and warming with his subject 
 exclaims, "Good God, what a world is this? What 
 an age do we now live in? A sophister in times 
 past was a title of credit, and a word of commen- 
 dation; now, what more odious? Aristotle, then the 
 father of philosophy ; who, now less favoured ? Ramus 
 rules abroad, Ramus rules at home, and who but 
 Ramus. Antiquity is nothing but dunsicality, and 
 our fathers' inventions unprofitable trumpery. New- 
 fangled, young-headed, hair-brained boys, will needs 
 be masters that never were scholars ; prate of method, 
 who never knew order ; rail against Aristotle as soon 
 as they are crept out of the shell. Hereby it comes 
 to pass that every cobbler can cogge a syllogism, every 
 carter crake of propositions. Hereby is logic pro- 
 phaned, and lyeth prostitute, removed out of her 
 sanctuary, robbed of her honour, left of her lovers, 
 ravished by strangers, and made common to all, 
 which before was proper to schoolmen, and only 
 consecrated to philosophers." Fraunce is unsparing 
 of his censure of lazy lawyers ; and lashes the clergy 
 of his day with no small vigour. " When they have 
 wearied menne with reading skarce true English 
 on Sonday, all the weeke after they may plague poore 
 boyes with false Latin in a belfraye. Or else, if 
 the ould parson be not yet dead, they stay a little 
 longer, and vnder a precise cloake of divinitie (not- 
 withstanding they be arch-asses in all humanitie) creepe 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 in among Batchelers of Artes with crosse caps on their 
 grosse pates, and sheepes skinnes cast over their lubber- 
 like shoulders, whereof they are more prowde than ever 
 was any foole of his bell and bauble." 
 
 William Cecil, Lord Burghley, the great statesman 
 and confidential minister of Queen Elizabeth, who 
 so long guided the affairs of this kingdom with 
 consummate ability, was a member of this inn, and 
 took an active interest in the administration of its 
 affairs, as appears from his collection of papers, to 
 which frequent reference has been made in the course 
 of this work : 
 
 He was admitted a student in the year 1540. 
 Called to the degree of Barrister, 1541. 
 Penconer, 1545. 
 Ancient, 1547. 
 Knight, 1554. 
 Secretary of State, 1558. 
 
 Baron Burghley, and Lord High Treasurer of England, 
 1571. 
 
 His sons Robert, Earl of Salisbury, afterwards 
 Prime Minister, and Thomas, Earl of Exeter, were 
 also students in this society. 
 
 Lord Burghley seems to have taken great pleasure 
 in witnessing the recreations which at certain seasons 
 were observed with so much state in Gray's Inn. 
 His lordship was present at a splendid masque in this 
 hall in 1587, a memorandum concerning which, en- 
 dorsed in his own hand-writing, is among his lord- 
 ship's papers, and in 1594, the Lord Treasurer came 
 to see the grand revels of the * Prince of Purpoole,'
 
 GRAY'S INN. 357 
 
 described in a previous chapter. Lord Burghley not 
 only had exact returns of the numbers in Gray's Inn 
 and the other houses, but was furnished with a list, 
 containing the name of every member of this house. 
 He died on the 4th August, 1598, in the seventy- 
 eight year of his age, having held the station of 
 Prime Minister of England for upwards of half a 
 century. 
 
 Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 
 of England, during the first twenty-five years of the 
 reign of Elizabeth, was the first* of this illustrious 
 family whose name occurs on the admittance book of 
 Gray's Inn. He was the second son of Robert Bacon, 
 of Drinkston, in Suffolk, by Isabel, daughter of John 
 Gage, of Pakenham in the same county, and was born 
 in the year 1510 at Chiselhurst, in Kent. Having 
 studied at Cambridge University, he went abroad for 
 the purpose of finishing his education. In the year 
 1532 he was admitted a student in Gray's Inn; and 
 in the following year was advanced to the degree of 
 barrister, according to a practice then prevalent. In 
 the year 1536 he was admitted to the degree of An- 
 cient in the society, and in the following year was 
 appointed solicitor to the Court of Augmentations; 
 and nine years afterwards was promoted to the office 
 of attorney of the Court of Wards, having in the 
 year 1550 been created a bencher of Gray's Inn. He 
 adopted the Protestant faith, and during the reign of 
 
 * In the course of about a century I find upwards of thirty 
 persons of the name of Bacon as students of this house.
 
 358 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Mary was excluded from public employment; but in 
 1559, Queen Elizabeth having dismissed Lord Chan- 
 cellor Heath, who was, also, Archbishop of York, she 
 placed the Great Seal in the hands of Sir Nicholas 
 Bacon, which he retained till his death, on the 20th 
 of February, 1579. 
 
 But the name of which above all others this so- 
 ciety is proud, is that of Francis Lord Bacon, the 
 youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon. He was born at 
 York House in the Strand, on the 22nd of January, 
 A. D. 1561, and from the earliest childhood gave proof 
 of a superior mind. He entered Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, at the age of twelve years, and the super- 
 intendence of his education was given to Dr. Whitgift, 
 afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. The following 
 are the dates of his admission* as a student in Gray's 
 Inn, of his various degrees in the society, and of his 
 subsequent promotions : 
 
 Francis Bacon admitted 1576. 
 Ancient, 21 November, 1576. 
 Barrister, 27 June, 1582. 
 Bencher, 1586. 
 Reader, 1588. 
 Duplex Reader, 1600. 
 
 * MS. Gray's Inn. On the 21st November, 1576, the following 
 members of the Bacon family were admitted as Ancients of Gray's 
 Inn : 
 
 Bacon, Nicholas, A 
 
 Bacon, Nathaniel, v admitted some years previously. 
 
 Bacon, Edward, ) 
 
 Bacon, Anthony, 
 
 -p . f admitted on the same date. 
 
 Bacon, Francis,
 
 GRAY'S INN. 359 
 
 Knight, 1603. 
 Solicitor-General, 1607. 
 Attorney-General, 1613. 
 Lord Keeper, 1616. 
 Baron Verulam, 1617. 
 Lord Chancellor, 1617. 
 Viscount St. Albans, 1620. 
 
 Under the head of Ancient Readings an account is 
 given of Lord Bacon's Readings in the hall of this 
 society; and in our sketch of the Inns of Court 
 Masques, his name frequently occurs as one of the 
 foremost in promoting those fashionable pastimes. 
 Lord Bacon, at all periods of his life, took a lively 
 interest in the welfare of the Inns of Court, in 
 which he exerted himself to promote wholesome disci- 
 pline and sound learning. He was a most active 
 member of Gray's Inn, to which he was especially 
 attached; and as a bencher and reader was diligent 
 in the performance of his duties. Lord Bacon's fame 
 as a scholar has, in some measure, obscured his repu- 
 tation as a lawyer; but he was thoroughly versed 
 in the principles and maxims of the law, and was 
 endowed with admirable forensic powers. His legal 
 works attest his sagacity, erudition, and industry; 
 and his rhetoric at the bar is admitted to have been 
 of a high order. His errors and foibles, which were, 
 probably, exaggerated by the malice of enemies, have 
 died with him ; but his writings will exercise an in- 
 fluence for good on mankind as long as our language 
 lasts ; and his * name and memory,' which he proudly 
 bequeathed ' to foreign nations, and to his country-
 
 360 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 men, after some time passed over/ will long be re- 
 garded as one of the most valuable inheritances of 
 this ancient and honourable society. 
 
 The arms of Sir Christopher Yelverton, an eminent 
 lawyer in the reign of Elizabeth, are in the hall. 
 He was successively Queen's Serjeant, Speaker of the 
 House of Commons, and a Justice of the Queen's 
 Bench. In a collection of letters of this time there 
 is a private note from Sir Walter Mildmay, sometime 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, to Sir Christopher 
 Hatton, from which it appears that some charge 
 had been preferred to the queen against Yelverton. 
 " He doth assure me," says Mildmay, " that he is 
 utterly guiltless of any of those matters whereof her 
 majesty hath been informed against him, and doubt- 
 eth not fully to satisfy you when it shall like you 
 to hear him, which my request to you is, that you 
 will vouchsafe to do; for it will be grievous unto 
 him, that her highness should retain any such opinion 
 of him, whereof he hath given no just cause." Mild- 
 may adds, " Touching the matter I wrote of to you, 
 for him, I assure you it was altogether without his 
 knowledge or privity. I remain of opinion as I was, 
 that there is not a fitter man ; and, these impediments 
 being removed, I trust her majesty will be his graci- 
 ous lady." Sir Christopher Yelverton was admitted of 
 Gray's Inn,* A.D. 1552 ; advanced to the degree of bar- 
 rister, 1553; of ancient, 1563; a reader, 1573; duplex 
 
 * MS. From the years 1546 to 1671 there were no less than 
 fourteen of this family admitted members of Gray's Inn.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 361 
 
 reader, 1584; Queen's Serjeant-at-law, 1589; Speaker 
 of the House of Commons, 1597; Justice of the 
 Queen's Bench, 1602, in 44 Eliz.; knighted, 1603, 
 by King James I. His friend, Sir Walter Mildmay, 
 who is mentioned as a man of excellent judgment, 
 gravity, and wisdom, by Lord Coke, was also a mem- 
 ber of this society, having been admitted in the year 
 1546. Mildmay was the founder of Emanuel Col- 
 lege, Cambridge. 
 
 Henry, the son of Sir Christopher Yelverton, was, 
 perhaps, the most distinguished of all this remarkable 
 family. He was born at Islington, where his father, 
 who had his chambers at Gray's Inn, had ' country 
 lodgings.' Having studied at Oxford, he removed 
 to Gray's Inn ; he was probably admitted in the year 
 1594.* Having been called to the degree of bar- 
 rister, he was elected member of Northampton, in the 
 first Parliament, James I. Mr. Yelverton was, about 
 this time, created Recorder of Northampton; and, in 
 the Lent of 1606, was appointed Reader of Gray's 
 Inn ; being then, according to Wood, " accounted a 
 religious gentleman, and a person well read in the 
 municipal laws." Having enjoyed full business, and 
 a high reputation in Westminster Hall, he was, in 
 1613, made His Majesty's Solicitor-General. Ten 
 days afterwards, the king conferred upon him the 
 honour of knighthood. In 1616 he was created 
 Attorney-General. Having given some offence to the 
 
 * The MS. page containing the entry of his admission ; and 
 the dates when he officiated as Reader, &c. are wanting.
 
 362 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 king's favourite, the Earl of Buckingham, Sir Henry 
 Yelverton was cited before the Star Chamber, on a 
 charge of having passed certain clauses, in a charter 
 then lately granted to the city of London, " not agree- 
 able to his majesty's warrant, and derogatory to his ho- 
 nour and profit." He was fined 4,000/., and was sen- 
 tenced to imprisonment in the Tower during the king's 
 pleasure. While a prisoner in the Tower, he was re- 
 elected for Northamptonshire. In April, 1621, charges 
 were preferred against Yelverton, in the House of Lords, 
 accusing him of improper conduct, relating to certain 
 patents. How he replied to these charges, appears 
 by a message from the king to the House of Lords, 
 " that he understands Sir Henry Yelverton, being 
 called here before them as a delinquent, answered 
 not as such, but as a judge or accuser of a member 
 of this house, the Lord of Buckingham. And, where- 
 as, in his first speech here, in this house, he touched 
 the king's honour, saying he suffered for the patents 
 of inns, or to that effect; he was so far from ex- 
 tenuating the offence, that the last day he had aggra- 
 vated the same." On the 16th of May, the lords 
 passed the following sentence upon him : " 1. That, 
 for his speeches uttered in this court, which do touch 
 the king's majesty in honour, he be fined to the king's 
 majesty 10,000 marks. 2. That he shall be impri- 
 soned in the Tower during the king's pleasure. 3. 
 That he shall make such acknowledgment of his fault, 
 and such submission to his majesty, as shall be pre- 
 scribed unto him by this court." There is a curious
 
 GRAY'S INN. 363 
 
 passage in one of Sir Henry Yelverton's petitions 
 to the king, from the Tower : " Pardon, most merci- 
 ful sovereign, him, whom, by misconstruction only, 
 hath thus long been wrapped and chained in your 
 highnesses displeasure; for, if ever, either by way 
 of comparison or otherwise, any word did ever slip 
 me, either in disgrace or diminution of the state of 
 the Scotish nation, I neither wish mercy from God, 
 or grace from your majesty." Buckingham having 
 visited Sir Henry in the Tower, incognito, a recon- 
 ciliation took place, and Yelverton was released from 
 confinement. He returned again to his chambers in 
 Gray's Inn, and resumed his practice at the bar; and 
 in the month of April, 1625, received a warrant from 
 the king, intimating his intention of appointing him 
 a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He con- 
 tinued to fill this office till his death, January, 1630. 
 Yelverton's Keports, from 44 Eliz. to 10 Jac. I. 5 
 were published after his death, by Serjeant Wilde.* 
 
 Sir Henry Finch, Knight, author of the work 
 called Finch's Law, which is so frequently quoted by 
 Blackstone, and which, till the appearance of the 
 Commentaries, was usually the first book recommend- 
 ed to the attention of law students, was of this Inn. 
 He was born in the county of Kent, ' of right wor- 
 shipful extraction.' The names of several of his 
 family are on the books of this society, being, accord- 
 ing to Fuller " a family which had, and hath, an 
 
 * Henry Yelverton, probably son of Sir Henry, was Prince of 
 Purpoole, in the revels, 1G39.
 
 364 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 ' hereditary happiness of eminency in the study of the 
 law." He was admitted in the year 1577. He 
 became Autumn Reader in 2 Jao. I. ; was advanced to 
 the degree of Serjeant-at-law on the llth of June, 
 1614, and was made King's Serjeant two years sub- 
 sequently. His work on Law was originally pub- 
 lished in French, the author describing himself as 
 * Henrie Finch, de Gray's Inne, apprentice del ley ;* 
 it was afterwards translated by himself. 
 
 John, Lord Finch, the son of Sir Henry Finch, 
 was born on the 17th of September, 1584. His 
 name was placed on the books of Gray's Inn in the 
 year 1600. The following is a statement of his 
 various degrees, and subsequent promotions : 
 
 Admitted, 1600.* Serviens ad legem, 1634. 
 
 Barrister and Ancient, 1611. Capt. Jus. de Banco, 16.35. 
 
 Bencher, 1617. Chanc. to the Queen, 1636. 
 
 Reader, Aut., 1618. Lord Keeper, 1639. 
 
 Knight, 16. Baron Fordwich, 1640. 
 Speaker in Parl., 1628. 
 
 We have already seen,f that Sir John Finch was 
 one of the committee appointed on behalf of this inn 
 to make arrangements for the masque presented by the 
 Inns of Court jointly to the king and queen in 1633. 
 Sir John Finch advised his majesty to secure to the 
 people their rights and liberties by way of bill; as- 
 serting that of late there had been ' public violation 
 of the laws and the subjects' liberties'* by some of his 
 majesty's ministers. Notwithstanding this independ- 
 ent language, we find Finch sanctioning the levy- 
 
 * Ex Regist. Gray's Inn. f Vide supra, page 107.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 3G5 
 
 ing of ship-money^ which he declared to be a legal im- 
 post. He thereby incurred the vengeance of the Long 
 Parliament, who the day after the impeachment of Arch- 
 bishop Laud, directed articles of impeachment to be 
 prepared against Lord Finch, " on account of his many 
 attacks upon the liberties of the people, but chiefly of 
 his corrupt and arbitrary conduct in the case of the 
 ship-money." Sir John Bramstone, Chief Justice of 
 the King's Bench, Sir Humphrey Davenport, Chief 
 Baron of the Exchequer, and Mr. Justice Crawley, 
 were compelled to put in bail to answer charges pre- 
 ferred against them; and to such lengths did the 
 ascendent faction then proceed, that Sir Robert Berk- 
 ley, one of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, 
 was arrested and taken off the bench in Westminster 
 Hall by the usher of the black-rod, on a charge of 
 high treason, for his opinions on the ship-money. 
 Lord Finch made his escape to Holland on the 22d of 
 December, 1640. At the expiration of about eight 
 years he was permitted to return to England, and 
 spend the remainder of his days in retirement. Lord 
 Finch's arms are emblazoned on one of the windows in 
 Gray's Inn Hall. 
 
 Of a far different class is the next member of this 
 inn who demands notice, John Bradshaw, president of 
 the court that condemned King Charles I. to death. 
 " A stout man," to quote the words of Whitelock, " and 
 learned in his profession: no friend to monarchy." 
 He entered Gray's Inn in the year 1622, was called 
 to the bar on the 23rd of April, 1627, and was ad-
 
 3G6 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 vanced to the degree of ancient on the 23rd of June, 
 1645. He had considerable chamber practice, espe- 
 cially among the partizans of the Parliament. In 
 1644, he was employed by Parliament, in conjunction 
 with Prynne and Newdigate, to prosecute Lords Mac- 
 quire and Macmahon. He was subsequently appointed 
 one of the three Commissioners of the Great Seal, and 
 Chief Justice of Chester. In June, 1647 he was 
 named by the Parliament as one of the counsel to 
 prosecute Judge Jenkins. On the 12th of October, 
 1648, by order of Parliament, he received the degree 
 of serjeant-at-law.* But his name is not in Dugdale's 
 1 Chronica Series/ a contemptuous blank, marking the 
 time of the Commonwealth, * Dominante perduel- 
 lione justitiam.' Bradshaw, although a stern repub- 
 lican, stained with the blood of his sovereign, was a 
 man of high principle and great moral courage. He 
 resolutely opposed the domination of Cromwell, and 
 when he heard that the speaker Lenthall had been 
 seized in the House of Commons, he went to the coun- 
 cil, and having declared his abhorrence of that detest- 
 able action, abruptly left the council. A few days 
 after this occurrence he died, Nov. 22, 1659, and 
 was buried in state in Westminster Abbey, from which 
 his body was dug up and dragged to a gibbet after 
 the Restoration. 
 
 * During the Commonwealth the following members of Gray's 
 Inn were ordered by the House of Commons to be called to the 
 degree of Serjeant-at-law : Sir Thomas Widdrington, Sir 
 Thomas Beddingfield, Mr. Keeble, Mr. Thorpe, and Mr. Brad- 
 shaw.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 307 
 
 Thomas May, the dramatist and translator of Lu- 
 can's ' Pharsalia,' was a barrister of Gray's Inn. He 
 was the son of Sir Thomas May, who was descended 
 from an ancient family in Sussex. On the death of 
 Ben Jonson, May was opposed to Sir William Dave- 
 nant as candidate for the office of poet laureate. Da- 
 venant was successful, and May afterwards joined the 
 parliamentary party, in whose favour he composed 
 ' The History of the Parliament of England which 
 began Nov. 3rd, 1640.' May died in 1650, and was 
 buried in Westminster Abbey, near the tomb of Cam- 
 den the historian. After the Restoration, however, 
 his monument was pulled down, and his body was dug 
 up, and placed in a large pit in the churchyard of 
 St. Margaret's, Westminster. 
 
 John Cook, Solicitor-General, who arraigned King 
 Charles on his trial, was also of. Gray's Inn. He was 
 the author of a work entitled a Vindication of the 
 Profession and Professors of the Law ; and it is im- 
 possible to read the speech which he made on his 
 trial, after the Restoration, without being convinced 
 that he was an able man, and an expert lawyer. He 
 was tried with the other surviving regicides * in the 
 reign of Charles 1L, and met his fate with his cha- 
 racteristic firmness. 
 
 John Lambert, the celebrated parliamentarian 
 general, who, like Ireton, abandoned the study of the 
 law to take up arms, was also a member of this inn, 
 having been admitted in the year 1631. 
 
 * See Trial of the Regicides. " State Trials."
 
 368 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 A striking contrast to Bradshaw, Cook, and Lam- 
 bert, is presented in the person of the intrepid Judge 
 Jenkins, the famous champion of the royal cause : a 
 man of undaunted courage and unbending loyalty to 
 the crown ; whom neither the menaces of the Parlia- 
 ment nor protracted imprisonment could intimidate 
 or subdue. He was admitted a student of Gray's 
 Inn, 1602 ; he was called to the bar in Michaelmas 
 Term, 1609; and on the 28th of May, 1622, was 
 advanced to the degree of ancient in this house. On 
 Monday, 21st of Feb., 1647, the Keeper of Newgate 
 brought Judge Jenkins, described as " Mr. David 
 Jenkins, a Judge in Wales, now a prisoner in that 
 gaole," to the bar of the House of Commons upon an 
 impeachment of high treason. The charges against him 
 were four in number. 1 . That he did condemn several 
 innocent men to suffer death for aiding the Parliament. 
 2. That he did himself take up arms against the Par- 
 liament. 3. That he did combine and stir up forces 
 to levy war against the Parliament. 4. That he did 
 charge the Commissioners of the Great Seal with coun- 
 terfeiting a great seal, because it was not delivered to 
 them by his majesty. On being asked by the speaker 
 what he had to say for himself, we are informed in a 
 contemporaneous account of his arraignment,* David 
 Jenkins said, " That they had no power to try him, 
 and at the bar, and in the open house, gave very con- 
 temptuous words and reproaches against the Houses 
 and the power of Parliament. He threatened Parlia- 
 * 4. Lond. 1647.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 3G9 
 
 ment with the king's numerous issue, " With divers 
 other reproachful words, such as the like were never 
 offered in the face of a parliament. After he came 
 out of the house he put off his hat and spake to this 
 effect before the souldiers of the guard, and divers 
 gentlemen at the doore : 
 
 "'Gentlemen, God bless you all, protect the laws of the 
 kingdom.' " 
 
 His carriage was declared to be an high contempt 
 and misdemeanour, a breach of the privileges of 
 parliament, and it was ordered that he be fined 1000/., 
 and sent back to Newgate. While in Newgate and 
 the Tower, Judge Jenkins composed and published 
 several works, taking as his motto Plebs sine lege 
 ruit. 
 
 Underneath the portrait prefixed to his works,* are 
 the following lines by some anonymous royalist 
 poet : 
 
 " Here Jenkins stands, who, thundering from the Tower, 
 Shook the bold senate's legislative power ; 
 Six of whose words twelve reams of votes exceed, 
 As mountaines mov'd by graines of mustard-seed, 
 Thus gasping laws were rescued from the snare, 
 He that will save a crowne must know and dare." 
 
 Sir William Williams, Bart., Speaker of the House 
 of Commons, and Solicitor General in the reign of 
 Charles the Second, and, who, in the reign of James 
 the Second, conducted the prosecution of the seven 
 
 * ' His Remonstrance,' A. D. 1648, is dedicated ''to the Ho- 
 nourable Societies of Grave's Inne, and of the rest of the Innes 
 of Court, and to all the Professors of the Law.' 
 
 B B
 
 370 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 bishops, was called to the bar in this society on 
 the 5th November, 1658. A few months after 
 James had ascended the throne, he directed a prosecu- 
 tion against Sir William Williams, for a libel pub- 
 lished in certain transactions of the House of Com- 
 mons, and published by the authority of the House 
 while he filled the Speaker's chair. The report of the 
 case in the King's Bench affords a striking illustration 
 of the mode in which justice was administered under 
 the Stewarts: 
 
 Dominus Rex v. Williams, Term Pasch., 1 Jac. II. B. R.* 
 
 Information for publishing an infamous libel called 
 Dangerfield's Narrative; Defendant pleads that, by the 
 law and custom of England, the Speakers of the House 
 of Commons have signed and published the acts of the 
 House, &c. 
 
 Mr. Attorney-General demurs. 
 
 Mr. Jones was beginning to argue, and took some ex- 
 ceptions as that he doth not aver the libel in the infor- 
 mation and that in the plea to be the same. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice : We will not in such a case debate 
 the formality of such an idle insignificant plea. Let us 
 hear what they have to say for it. 
 
 Mr. Pollexfen began : The Court of Parliament, &c. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice : Court do you call it ? Can the 
 order of the House of Commons justify this scandalous, 
 infamous, flagitious libel ? 
 
 Mr. Pollexfen then said : I have no more to say. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice : Let judgment be entered for the 
 King. 
 
 And afterwards Mr. Williams was fined 10,000/., and 
 upon payment of 8,000/. of it, satisfaction was acknow- 
 ledged upon record. 
 
 * Shower's Rep. 471.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 371 
 
 Williams seems to have been soon again received 
 into favour, as to him was committed, three years 
 afterwards, the conduct of the trial of the seven 
 bishops in Westminster Hall. The arms of Sir 
 William Williams are in Gray's Inn Hall. 
 
 Robert Frances, who was tried* and executed for 
 killing Thomas Dangerfield, one of the witnesses in 
 the Meal Tub Plot, two days after he had been whipt 
 from Aldgate to Newgate, and from Newgate to 
 Tyburn, was a barrister of this Inn. Having re- 
 proached Dangerfield, who was in a coach opposite 
 Hatton Garden, with his perjuries, Dangerfield called 
 him a son of a w e ; whereupon Frances struck 
 him with his cane in the eye, and death resulted. 
 Mr. Frances had no personal quarrel with Danger- 
 field; but, according to Bishop Burnet, was only 
 transported with the zeal of the time. Though great 
 intercession was made for him, King's James II. 
 refused to interfere in his behalf, and he was hanged 
 at Tyburn. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice Holt is deservedly regarded 
 as one of the most illustrious ornaments of Gray's 
 Inn, and his escutcheon occupies a prominent place 
 in the principal window in the hall of this society. 
 John Holt, afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the 
 King's Bench, was the son of Sir Thomas Holt, 
 a gentleman of considerable property in Oxfordshire, 
 a bencher of Gray's Inn, Serjeant-at-law, and recorder 
 of Abingdon. He was born at Thame, in Oxford- 
 
 * Vol. xi. ' State Trials,' 503. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 shire, on the 30th December, 1640, or according 
 to some, 1642*. He went for some years to the free 
 school of Abingdon, and in his sixteenth year entered 
 as a gentleman-commoner at Oriel College, Oxford; 
 where he was notorious for his wild and licentious 
 habits. In the year 1652, before he had attained 
 his twelfth year, he was entered upon the books 
 of this society, and was called to the bar on the 2nd 
 February, 1663. On the 17th April, 1676, he was 
 admitted to the degree of Ancient in the society. 
 He rose rapidly into notice as a lawyer, and was 
 employed in several of the state trials as counsel 
 for the defence. Having been advanced to the 
 degree of Serjeant-at-law, he was appointed Re- 
 corder of the City of London in the year 1685; but 
 from his manly opposition to the measures of the 
 court, was removed from his office by King James 
 II. He was elected a member of the Convention 
 Parliament in 1688, and was appointed one of the 
 managers at the conferences held with the lords 
 concerning the vacancy of the throne. In April, 
 1689, King William III. appointed him Lord Chief 
 Justice of the King's Bench, which office he held till 
 his death. On the removal of Lord Somers he was 
 offered the Chancellorship, but he declined the offer. 
 Sir John Holt's demeanour on the bench was lofty 
 and dignified, and he set an example of spirit and 
 
 * The date of his birth is stated on his tomb to be the 30th 
 Dec. 1640, and probably that is correct, though his biographers 
 assign the year 1642 as the date.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 373 
 
 temper, which have continued since his day to dis- 
 tinguish the English bench. On several occasions he 
 found himself compelled, in the discharge of the 
 duties of his office, to resist the encroachments as 
 well of the crown as of the houses of parliament. Sir 
 John Holt died in March, 1709, leaving behind him, 
 observes his biographer, a "reputation for learning, 
 honour, and integrity, which has never been sur- 
 passed even among the many eminent individuals 
 who have succeeded him in his dignified office." He 
 was buried in the parish church of Redgrave, Suffolk, 
 near to his seat, Redgrave Hall, which having been 
 built by one of the abbots of Bury St. Edmund's, and 
 after the dissolution of the monasteries having passed 
 into the hands of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, 
 was purchased by Sir John Holt.* There is a monu- 
 ment of white marble in the chancel representing Sir 
 John Holt sitting in a chair, in his judicial robes, 
 with the figures of Justice and Mercy on either side of 
 him. Beneath is the following inscription from the 
 pen of Dr. Halley :f 
 
 M. S. 
 
 D. JOHANNIS HOLT, Equitis Aur., 
 
 Totius Angliae in Banco Regis 
 
 per xxi Annos continues 
 
 Capitalis Justiciarii ; 
 
 * In the period between 1587 and 1663, I find the names of 
 no less than fifteen persons of the family of Holt on the Admission 
 Books of Gray's Inn. 
 
 t There is a sketch of the character of Lord Chief Justice 
 Holt in the 14th number of the Taller.
 
 374 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Gulielmo Regi, Annseque Reginae, 
 
 Consiliarii perpetui ; 
 
 Libertatis ac Legum Anglicarum 
 
 Assertoris, Vindicis, Custodis 
 
 Vigilis, Acris, et Intrepidi. 
 
 Rolandus Frater unicus et Haeres 
 
 Optimo de se merito 
 
 Posuit ; 
 Die Martis v to 1709 sublatus est 
 
 Ex oculis nostris, 
 Natus xxx Dec. anno 1640. 
 
 Though the Inns of Court were instituted chiefly 
 for the profession of the law, yet, from a very early 
 period, those seminaries were resorted to by the 
 youth of riper years of the nobility and gentry, to 
 whom it was thought fitting to give some instruc- 
 tion in the principles and maxims of the municipal 
 law. Fortescue, alluding to this practice, says : " So 
 that for the endowment of virtue and abandoning of 
 vice, knights and barons, with other states and noble- 
 men of the realm, place their children in those inns, 
 though they desire not to have them learned in the 
 laws, nor to live by the practice thereof." We have 
 already seen that churchmen who aspired to dignities 
 in the church and state, and who were so frequently 
 called on to discharge the functions of judges, legisla- 
 tors, and magistrates, were accustomed to enter those 
 learned societies. The following is a list of noblemen, 
 who were students in Gray's Inn, prior to the reign 
 of Jac. II., extracted from the MS. in the Harleian 
 collection :
 
 GRAY'S INN. 
 
 375 
 
 DUKES. 
 
 Lineux. 
 
 Cheney. 
 
 Albemarle (Gene- 
 
 Marr. 
 
 Cobham. 
 
 ral Monck).* 
 
 March. 
 
 Compton. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 Northumberland. 
 
 Dacree. 
 
 Northumberland. 
 
 Nottingham. 
 
 Darcey. 
 
 Lineux. 
 
 Northampton. 
 
 Delaware. 
 
 Ormond.f 
 
 OrmondJ 
 
 Evers. 
 
 
 Oxford. 
 
 Fairfax. 
 
 MARQUESSES. 
 
 Pembrooke. 
 
 Finch. 
 
 Dorchester. 
 
 Rutland. 
 
 Gray de Wilton. 
 
 Hambleton. 
 
 Southampton. 
 
 Gerrard. 
 
 Northampton. 
 
 Suffolke. 
 
 Hales. 
 
 
 Salisbury. 
 
 Hollis. 
 
 EARLS. 
 
 Warwicke. 
 
 Lovelace. 
 
 Bedford. 
 
 "Westmorland. 
 
 Morley. 
 
 Clintard. 
 
 
 Montegle. 
 
 Derby. 
 
 VISCOUNTS. 
 
 T-? | v-| f\ f\n 
 
 Montjoy. 
 
 Devonshire. 
 
 JJ111U.U11. 
 
 Norris. 
 
 
 H AVl^^TI 
 
 
 Dunbar. 
 
 JJ L uLUll. 
 
 North.ll 
 
 Essex. 
 Exeter. 
 
 Hunsden. 
 St. Albans. 
 
 1 1 
 
 Pagitt. 
 Pawlett. 
 
 Hartford. 
 
 Wentworth. 
 
 Rich.^f 
 
 Huntington. 
 
 BARONS. 
 
 Scroop. 
 
 Kent 
 
 Abergenny. 
 
 Stafford. 
 
 Kildare. 
 
 Aunger. 
 
 Sheffield. 
 
 Lecester. 
 
 Carew. 
 
 Stanly. 
 
 Linsey. 
 
 Bukley. 
 
 Stanhope. 
 
 Lincolne. 
 
 Burghley. 
 
 St. John. 
 
 * The arms of General Monck are emblazoned in the north- 
 east window of Gray's Inn Hall. 
 
 t Jas. Butler admitted 1660. t Thos. 1566 ; Jas. 1618. 
 
 John Manners, 1566 ; Roger Manners, 1597. 
 
 || Sir Roger North, 29th of December, 1561 ; and Dudley 
 North, 10th of August, 1619. 
 
 IT There were five Barons of this title successively members of 
 this Inn.
 
 376 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Sidney. Seymour. Wharton.* 
 
 Shandos. Wentworth. Zouch. 
 
 KNIGHTS. 
 
 Ashton, Sir Ralph, 1624. | Hewett, Sir Wm., 1566. 
 
 Camden, SirWm., (Claren- Mildmay, Sir Walter (Chan- 
 
 cieux King -at -Arms,) cellor of Exchequer). 
 
 author of ' Britannia.' Parry, Sir Charles, 1560. 
 
 Dethicke. Segar, Sir Wm. (King-at- 
 Danners, Sir John, 1589. Arms).|| 
 
 Digley, Sir K. St. George. 
 
 Diggs.J Sidney, Sir Henry, 1563. 
 
 Dugdale, Sir W. (Garter Spencer, Sir John, 1594. 
 
 King-at-Arms). Tucker, Sir Owen, 1458. 
 
 Grimston, Sir Harbottle, Walsingham, Sir F., 1552. 
 
 1594. Waller. 
 
 Gresham, Sir T. (Founder Wolley, Sir John, 1591. 
 
 of Royal Exchange). Wriothsley. 
 
 Among other students of this inn, distinguished in 
 literature, may be here mentioned Sir Philip Sidney, 
 the learned author of 'Arcadia/ and gallant governor 
 of Flushing ;^f George Gascoyne, a poet in considerable 
 repute, in the time of Shakspeare; Mr. Sayntlow 
 Kniveton, the antiquary; Francis Davison, author of 
 the ' Poetical Rapsodie ; ' and, of a subsequent date, 
 William Rough, author of various dramas, and Rymer, 
 
 * Philip 2nd of Feb., 1580, and George 8th of Aug., 1595. 
 
 t Dates of Admission. 
 
 t Nine of this family were members of Gray's Inn. 
 
 Ancestor of the Master of the Rolls, Car. II. 
 
 || There were seven of this family members of this house. 
 
 IT Philip Sidney, (son of Sir Henry Sidney, also a member of 
 Gray's Inn,) was admitted on the 2nd of Feby., 1567. Robert 
 Sidney, Earl of Leicester, father of Algernon Sidney, was ad- 
 mitted on the 25th of Feby., 1617. MS. Gray's Inn.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 377 
 
 whose work, the * Fcedera,' has given him a European 
 reputation. Rymer was born in Yorkshire, he studied 
 at Cambridge, and from thence removed to Gray's 
 Inn; and, adopting the profession of the law, in 
 1692, succeeded Shad well, as historiographer to King 
 William III. 
 
 Among the distinguished lawyers, besides those 
 already mentioned, whose works are cited as autho- 
 rities, the following members of this inn will be 
 recognized : 
 
 Sir Thomas Ireland, 'Abridgment of Dyer's Reports,' 
 &c., 1551. 
 
 Robert Challis, ' Statute of Sewers,' &c. 
 
 William Leonard, ' Reports and Cases Adjudged,' 
 tern. Eliz. 
 
 Thomas Ashe, author of ' Epeikeia,' &c. 
 
 William Hughes, * Reports, temp. Jac. and Car. I.' 
 ' Translation of the Miroir,' &c. 
 
 Sir Thos. Hetley, Knt. Serjeant-at-law, * Rep. temp. Car.' 
 
 Edmund Wingate, tutor to Henrietta, Queen of Charles 
 I., * Reason of the Common Law, &c.' 
 
 William Shepheard, * Abridgment of the Law.' 
 
 Sir Thomas Raymond, ' Rep. temp. Car. II.' 
 
 Sir Creswell Levintz, ' Rep. temp. Car. II.; Jac. II.; 
 Will. III.' 
 
 Sir Edward Lutwyche, ' Rep. temp. Car. II.' 
 
 J. Keble, ' Rep. temp. Car. II.' 
 
 Peere Williams, 'Rep. 1695 to 1734-.' 
 
 John March, barrister of this Inn ; subsequently B. D., 
 and Vicar of St. Nicholas, Newcastle ; ' Rep. or New 
 Cases, Car. I.;' * Actions for Slander,' other legal works, 
 and several sermons. 
 
 R. S. D. Roper, ' Law of Property of Husband and 
 Wife ; ' ' Legacies, &c.'
 
 378 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 William Fulbeck, D. C. L., * Study of the Law,' dedi- 
 cated to the Students of Gray's Inn. 
 
 Isaac Espinasse, Rep. ' Law of Evidence,' &c. 
 
 T. Wood, LL.D., Author of 'The Institute of the 
 Laws of England;' ' Civil law,' &c., a barrister of this 
 Inn, and subsequently Rector of Hardwick, in county 
 of Bucks. 
 
 Danby Pickering, * Lectures on Law ; ' ' Statutes at 
 Large.' 
 
 Robert, Lord Raymond, was admitted 1st November, 
 1682, called to the bar, 12th November, 1697; appointed 
 Solicitor-General, 1710; Attorney-General, 1720; Justice 
 of the Common Pleas, 1 723 ; Commissioner of the Great 
 Seal, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1724; created 
 Baron, 1730. There is a portrait of this distinguished 
 judge in Gray's Inn Hall. His arms also are emblazoned 
 on the north-east window. Lord Raymond's ' Reports ' 
 have always been held in high estimation. His lordship 
 has given its name to that part of this Inn called 'Raymond 
 Buildings.' 
 
 Sir Thomas Clarke, Master of the Rolls, 1754, and 
 Sir Salathiel Lovel, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, 
 were also called to the bar in Gray's Inn. 
 
 Sir James Eyre was called to the bar in this Inn on the 
 25th November, 1755. In 1763 he was appointed Re- 
 corder of London; in 1772, Baron of the Exchequer; 
 in 1787, Lord Chief Baron; in 1793, Lord Chief Justice 
 of the Common Pleas. There is an original portrait 
 of this Judge in the library. 
 
 Sir Allan Chambre was a bencher of this Inn. He was 
 admitted 13th November, 1764 ; called to the bar 28th 
 May, 1767. He was constituted a Baron of the Ex- 
 chequer in 1799 ; and was appointed a Justice of the 
 Common Pleas in the following year. 
 
 Sir George Sowley Holroyd was admitted 20th April, 
 1774 ; and was called to the bar 26th June, 1787. He 
 was constituted a Justice of the King's Bench 1816.
 
 GRAY'S INN. 379 
 
 Sir John Bayley, author of the well-known work on 'Bills 
 of Exchange,' &c., &c., was admitted 12th November, 1783; 
 and was called to the bar 22nd June, 1792. He was 
 constituted a Justice of the King's Bench, 1808.* 
 
 Sir Stephen Gaselee was admitted 29th January, 1781 ; 
 was called to the bar 20th November, 1793 ; and was con- 
 stituted a Justice of the Common Pleas, 1824. 
 
 Sir John Hullock was admitted 7th May, 1788 ; was 
 called to the bar 16th May, 1794. He was constituted a 
 Baron of the Exchequer in 1823. 
 
 Sir Joseph Littledale having first entered at Lincoln's 
 Inn, was admitted of Gray's Inn 22nd November, 1793. 
 He was called to the bar in this society on the 26th June, 
 1798 ; and was constituted a Justice of the King's Bench 
 in 1824. 
 
 "We close this illustrious catalogue with the name 
 of Sir Samuel Romilly. He was admitted on the 5th 
 of May, 1778; and was called to the bar on the 2nd 
 of June, 1783. Having been called to the bench, he 
 filled the office of Treasurer in 1803; and in 1806 
 was appointed his Majesty's Solicitor-General. The 
 arms of this unrivalled advocate and eminent friend 
 of human improvement are in Gray's Inn Hall; the 
 motto being Persevere. 
 
 GIFTS AND BEQUESTS. 
 
 Among the various gifts and bequests from mem- 
 bers to the Inn, the following plate for the use of 
 
 * 12th June, 1799. John Bayley, Esq. took his leave of the 
 Society on being called to the degree of Serjeant-at-law, with the 
 usual ceremonies. Edward King, Esq., the Treasurer, presented 
 the new serjeant with a purse containing ten guineas. N.B. The 
 Societies of Staple Inn and Barnard's Inn attended on the occa- 
 sion. Rcgist. Gray's Inn.
 
 380 
 
 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 . 
 
 d. 
 
 9 7 
 
 38 4 5| 
 
 11 
 
 the hall and chapel deserve notice. The arms of the 
 donor are engraved on each : 
 
 ozs. dwts. ozs. diets. 
 
 An eure, weight, . 31 ^ 1 102 10 
 A bason, weight, .71 8 j 
 Ex dono Jeremise Bettenham, Lectoris hu- 
 jus Hospitii, anno 1650, 
 
 An eure, weight, .38 8 ) , . j 8 
 A bason, weight, .116 10 j 
 Ex dono Richardi Newdegate, Servientis ad 
 Legem, xv June, 1673, 
 
 A flagon, weight, . 56 8 
 
 Ex dono Jofiis Gulston, arm. sedi Pro- 
 
 thonotarii Curiae Dni Regis de Banco, ) 
 A flagon, weight, . 52 15 1 
 
 Ex dono Roberti Dewhurst, Custodis Bre- f 13 12 
 
 viu de Banco Regis, anno 1633, ) 
 
 Robertus Lewes, Armig. qui in hoc Grayen- 
 sis Hospitio annos quadraginta et octo in 
 studio Juris municipalis exegit, hancce 
 Diotam argenteam eidem moriens Testa- 
 mento legavit, anno 1650, 
 
 A pott, weight, .38 15 
 
 A cup with a cover, I ~ ., 
 
 weight, I 62 5 
 
 Ex do Justiani Pagit, Arm., Custodis Bre- 
 
 viu, &c., in usum Hospitij Graijensis, 
 
 anno 1671, 
 
 Two cups, . . }8 15 
 
 Ex dono Allani Lockart, Arm., Prothono- 
 
 tarij &c.,in usum Hospitij, anno 1670. 
 A cup with cover, ) , K ) 
 
 weight, } 63 15 
 
 Ex dono Johannis Plomer, anno 1672, ) 
 
 A salt, weight, . 38 5 ) 
 
 Legatum Thomae Crew, Militis Servientis f 
 
 Dni Regis at Legem. j 
 
 A silver dish ex dono Jofiis Math. Grim- 
 wood. 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 14 9 6 
 
 16 9 
 
 9 17 
 
 30
 
 STAPLE INN. 381 
 
 Several other minor articles of plate have been 
 presented to the society, and there is annually a pre- 
 sentation from the treasurer. 
 
 STAPLE INN. 
 
 According to tradition, this inn was formerly called 
 Staple Hall, being a place where wool-merchants re- 
 sorted, and the tradition seems to be confirmed by 
 the arms of the inn, which are Port de Vert un 
 pacquet de doyne Arg. It was an Inn of Chancery 
 in Henry V.'s reign, and probably at an earlier date. 
 By indenture of bargain and sale, dated 10th of No- 
 vember, 20 Hen. VIII., the inheritance of Staple Inn 
 passed from John Knighton, and Alice, his wife, 
 daughter of John Chap wood to the benchers and 
 ancients of Gray's Inn. On the 4th of June, 20 Jac., 
 Sir Francis Bacon, Knt., then Lord Verulam, &c., 
 enfeoffed, Sir Edward Moseley, Knt., Attorney-General 
 of the Duchy of Lancaster, Sir Henry Yelverton, and 
 other ancients of Gray's Inn, thereof by the name of 
 " all that messuage or Inne of Chancery, called Staple 
 Inne, and of one garden thereunto adjoining with 
 all and singular their appurtenances, situated in the 
 parish of St. Andrews, Holborn, in the suburbs of 
 London, which messuage &c., the said Francis, Lord 
 Verulam, lately had together with John Brograve, 
 Esq., Attorney to Queen Elizabeth, of her Duchy of 
 Lancaster ; Richard Aunger ; William Whyskins, and 
 others then deceased of the grant and feoffment of Sir 
 Gilbert Gerard, Knt., then Master of the Rolls ; Ralph
 
 382 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Brereton, Esq., and William Porter, gentleman, as by 
 their deed, dated on the 18th of May, 32 Eliz., more 
 fully appeareth to have and to hold to the said Sir 
 Edward Mosely, and others, their heirs and assigns 
 to the only use and befroof of the same Edward, 
 Henry, and their assigns for ever." In the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, there were 145 students in Staple 
 Inn, in term; and 69 out of term the largest num- 
 ber in any of the houses of Chancery. Reading and 
 Mootings were also observed here with regularity. 
 Sir Simonds d'Ewes mentions that on the 17th of 
 February, 1624, in the morning he went to Staple 
 Inn, and there argued a moot point or law case with 
 others, and were engaged in that exercise, till near 
 three o'clock in the afternoon. A fire broke out in 
 No. 1, Staple Inn, on the 27th of November, 1756, 
 which entirely consumed the chambers of Mr. Ward, 
 Mr. Brooke, Mr. Sharpe, and Mr. Sackville; two 
 females and two children perishing in the flames. 
 The hall fortunately escaped from destruction. 
 
 BARNARD'S INN. 
 
 This is another Inn of Chancery belonging to 
 Gray's Inn. " In the thirteenth year of the reign of 
 King Henry VI., it was a messuage belonging to John 
 Mackworth, then Dean of the Cathedral Church of 
 Lincoln, and in that time in the holding of one, 
 Lyonel Barnard, who next, before the conversion 
 thereof into an Inn of Chancery, dwelt there; and 
 it hath ever since retained the name of Barnard's
 
 BARNARD'S INN. 383 
 
 Inn, or Barnard's House. Barnard's Inn beareth 
 party per Pale, indented Ermin. and Sab. a Chevron 
 Gul. and Pretty."* 
 
 In the time of Queen Elizabeth there were 112 
 students in this Inn, in term, and 24 out of term ; 
 at present there are, including the principal ancient 
 and companions, in all, 18 members. In the hall 
 of the inn there is a fine full-length portrait of Lord 
 Chief Justice Holt, (who served the office of principal 
 of Barnard's Inn,) of Lord Burghley, Lord Bacon, 
 and Sir William Daniel,f all of Gray's Inn, three 
 judges whose names are not known, and portraits 
 of Charles II. and Lord Keeper Coventry. Gray's 
 Inn, Staple Inn, and Barnard's Inn, are connected 
 for the purposes of taxation ; the three places being 
 comprehended in the district of Gray's Inn. The 
 benchers of Gray's Inn are Commissioners of Taxes, 
 and appoint the officers for this purpose. 
 
 * MS. Harl. in Lansd. 
 
 f There are some Latin verses in praise of this judge, printed 
 in Stow's { Lond.' 
 
 c C
 
 384 REGULATIONS OF INNS OF COURT. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 REGULATIONS OF THE FOUR INNS OF COURT. 
 ADMISSION OF STUDENTS. 
 
 IN the Inner Temple there is a rule, that no person 
 can be admitted a member of the society who is 
 under fifteen years of age.* In the other inns 
 there appears to be no rule on the subject. Sir 
 Simonds d'Ewes was admitted a member of the 
 Middle Temple before he was nine years old, and 
 Holt, afterwards Lord Chief Justice, was admitted >a 
 member of Gray's Inn before his twelfth year. 
 
 Before any person can be admitted a member of 
 either of the four societies, he must sign a statement 
 in writing, describing his age, residence, and condi- 
 tion in life, and comprising a certificate of his re- 
 spectability and fitness to be admitted. It is ex- 
 pected that he shall be aptus, habilis, et idoneus 
 moribus et scientia. 
 
 A Student, previously to his keeping any of the 
 terms requisite for his call to the Bar, must deposit 
 with the treasurer of the society 100/., to be re- 
 turned, without interest, on his being called to the 
 Bar, or, in case of death, to his personal represen- 
 tatives; but this rule does not apply to any person 
 
 * Adopted 29th Jan. 1819.
 
 ADMISSION. 385 
 
 who shall produce a certificate of his having kept 
 two years terms in any of the Universities of Oxford, 
 Cambridge, Dublin, or (at the Middle Temple) of 
 London or Durham, or of his being a Member of 
 the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland ; and before 
 he can enter into Commons, he must sign a bond 
 with surety, conditioned to pay the dues. 
 
 By a Regulation in the Inner Temple, dated 1st 
 of February, 1780, a person in holy orders cannot 
 be admitted a member of the Society.* In ancient 
 times several distinguished ecclesiastics were, as we 
 have seen, admitted as members of the Inns of 
 Court, and in the three other Inns there appears still 
 to be no rule against the admission of clergymen as 
 members; although there is a rule in each of the 
 four Societies, prohibiting a clergyman from being 
 called to the Bar. By an Order of Pension, in 
 Gray's Inn, dated the 8th day of July, 1794, it was 
 ordered (after a conference with the other Inns of 
 Court) that a person in deacon's orders ought not 
 to be called to the Bar : it having previously (in 
 the year 1799) been declared to be the opinion of 
 the Society, that a person in priest's orders was not 
 a proper person to be called to the Bar, regard being 
 had to the 76th Canon, made in 1603. 
 
 If any objection appear against the admission of 
 any person, it is laid before the Benchers, and they 
 
 * This regulation was made in consequence of the application 
 of John Home Tooke, who had been admitted at the Inner 
 Temple in 1756, and who in 1760 had received priest's orders. 
 
 cc2
 
 386 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 investigate the same and decide as to its validity or 
 invalidity. In Wooller's case, reported as The King 
 v. The Benchers of Lincoln s Inn* it was held that 
 the judges had no power as visitors to interfere with 
 the regulations of the Inns of Court respecting the 
 admission of Students, and also that the Court of 
 King's Bench could not in such case interfere by 
 mandamus.^ 
 
 On the 24th of January, 1837, the following Re- 
 solution was adopted by the Benchers of the Inner 
 Temple: 
 
 " The judges are requested to entertain the appli- 
 cation of any gentleman who may be refused ad- 
 mission into this Society; this Society being willing 
 to be bound by the decision of the judges upon such 
 application." 
 
 No case has, however, since arisen for reference to 
 the judges. 
 
 It is understood to be generally a rule in the four 
 Societies that rejection at any one Inn is a sufficient 
 ground of rejection at all the others, though it ap- 
 pears that this rule might be subject to exceptions 
 under very special circumstances. When admission 
 is refused at one Inn a notification of that refusal is 
 
 * 4 Barn, and Cres. 855. See also Raym. 69; 2 Show. 
 178. 
 
 f No mandamus lies to the Archbishop of Canterbury to 
 issue his fiat for the admission of a doctor of Civil Law gra- 
 duated at Cambridge, as an advocate of the Court of Arches. 
 Rex v. Cant. 8 East, 212. The masters and fellows of a 
 College, cannot be compelled to admit a particular individual 
 a member : Littledale, 4 Barn, and Cres. 855.
 
 ADMISSION. 387 
 
 transmitted with the party's description to the other 
 Inns of Court. 
 
 KEEPING TERMS. 
 
 The expense of commons for keeping the neces- 
 sary terms is about 11. per annum ; the expense of 
 commons during the whole of the four terms is from 
 101. to 121* A bottle of port is allowed to each 
 mess of four, and a comfortable and substantial 
 dinner is provided. On grand day there is an extra 
 course, and before dinner in Gray's Inn Hall the 
 grace cup with sack is passed round. Respecting 
 the practice of keeping terms the Commissioners on 
 the Courts of Common Law express the following 
 favourable opinion : " We conceive that that part 
 of the present system of all the Societies, by which 
 Students, in whatever part of the kingdom they 
 may be resident, are required to dine in the Common 
 Hall a few days in the course of every term, is 
 founded on just views, and attended with beneficial 
 effects. Amongst these may be noticed, that of its 
 making known the person of the Student, and ex- 
 posing him, if his character be disreputable, to more 
 easy detection by the Society, before the period of 
 
 * FORM OF EATING COMMONS BILL. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn. A. B., Esq. 
 
 Michaelmas Term, 1847. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 One whole week . . . . . 14 
 
 Grand week \ ., - . . . . 14 
 
 180
 
 388 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 his application to be called to the Bar. It also 
 gives an opportunity of attending the courts, and of 
 associating with students and other members of the 
 profession." 
 
 The method of keeping the term slightly varies 
 in each of the Inns ; but every information is given 
 the Student by the officers of the respective Socie- 
 ties. The dinner hour is five o'clock, and the doors 
 remain open till half-past five. Students are re- 
 quired not to leave the hall until grace is said after 
 dinner. 
 
 The Rules of the different Inns of Court in refer- 
 ence to the admission of the Students, the manner of 
 keeping Terms, the system of Legal Education, and 
 the calling of Students to the Bar, are now consoli- 
 dated together, the following Report having been 
 adopted and directed to be carried into effect by 
 Orders of each of the several Societies, and the 
 Regulations therein suggested are now the Rules of 
 the four Inns of Court. 
 
 Your Committee have considered the subjects which were 
 referred to them, and have to report to the several Societies 
 that they have agreed on the following Rules and Regu- 
 lations : 
 
 " 1. That the four Inns of Court shall act in concert 
 with each other in the joint establishment and maintenance 
 of an uniform system for the Legal Education of Students 
 before admission to the Bar. 
 
 " 2. That a standing Committee or Council be established, 
 to consist of eight Benchers, two to be nominated by each
 
 LECTURES. 389 
 
 of the Inns of Court, and of whom four shall be a quorum. 
 The Members shall remain in office for two years, and each 
 Inn shall have power to fill up any vacancy that may occur 
 in the number of its nominees during that period. To this 
 Council shall be entrusted the power and duty of super- 
 intending the whole subject of the Education of the Stu- 
 dents, and of arranging and settling the details of the 
 several measures which may be deemed necessary to be 
 adopted. 
 
 "3. That for the purpose of affording to the Students 
 the means of obtaining instruction and guidance in their 
 legal studies, five Readerships or Professorships shall be 
 established, which shall consist of the three Readerships 
 already established by the Societies of the Middle Temple, 
 the Inner Temple, and Gray's Inn, viz., on Jurisprudence 
 and the Civil Law, the Law of Real Property, and the 
 Common Law, and also of a Reader on Equity, to be 
 named by the Society of Lincoln's Inn, and of a Reader- 
 ship on Constitutional Law and Legal History, to be 
 founded by the four Societies jointly. The Readers shall 
 be appointed for a period of three years, and the Reader 
 on Constitutional Law and Legal History shall be chosen 
 by the standing Council. 
 
 " 4. That the duties of the Readers (subject to regula- 
 tion by the standing Council) shall consist of the delivery 
 of three courses of Lectures in each year, of the formation 
 of Classes of Students for the purpose of giving instruc- 
 tion in a more detailed and personal form than can be sup- 
 plied by general Lectures, and of affording to Students 
 generally advice and directions for the conduct of their 
 professional studies. 
 
 " 6. That the four Inns of Court shall form a Common 
 Fund by annual contributions, the amounts of which shall 
 be mutually agreed on, and out of which Fund shall be 
 drawn the stipends to be assigned to the Readers, and such 
 Studentships as shall from time to time be conferred upon 
 Students.
 
 390 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 " 6. That the Lectures and Classes of the Readers shall 
 be open to the Students of all the Societies without dis- 
 tinction, subject to the payment of such fees as are herein- 
 after directed. 
 
 " 7. That the stipends of each Reader shall be Three 
 hundred guineas per annum, and such stipend, and also the 
 expense of the Studentships, shall be wholly defrayed out 
 of the Common Fund to be raised by the contributions of 
 the several Societies. 
 
 " 8. That each Student shall on admission pay a sum of 
 Five guineas, which shall entitle him to attend the Lectures 
 of all the Readers. 
 
 " 9. That the Fund composed of such last-mentioned 
 payments shall be annually divided among the five Readers 
 equally, in addition to their stipends. 
 
 " 10. That (subject to regulation by the Council) every 
 Student shall be at liberty to attend such Classes as he may 
 think necessary, upon payment of a moderate fee to the 
 Reader, but care shall be taken by the Council that such 
 fees shall not in any year exceed the sum of Three 
 guineas. . - 
 
 "11. That for the purposes of Education the legal year 
 shall be considered as divided into three Terms, or periods, 
 one commencing with the 1st of November and ending on 
 the 22nd of December, the second commencing on the 
 llth of January and ending on the 30th of March, and the 
 third commencing on the 15th of April and ending on 
 the 31st of July, subject to a deduction of the days inter- 
 vening between the end of Easter and the beginning of 
 Trinity Term. 
 
 " 12. That no Student shall be eligible to be called to 
 the Bar who shall not either have attended during: one 
 
 ... ^ 
 
 whole year the Lectures of two of the Readers, or have 
 satisfactorily passed a Public Examination. 
 
 " 13. That Public Examinations shall be instituted, to 
 be held three times a-year, for the Examination of all such 
 Students as shall be desirous of being examined previ-
 
 LECTURES. 391 
 
 ously to being called to the Bar, and such Examinations 
 shall be conducted by at least two Members of the Council 
 jointly with the five Readers, and Certificates of having 
 honourably passed such Examination shall be given to such 
 Students as shall appear to the Examiners to be entitled 
 thereto. 
 
 " 14. That such Examinations shall be held in Michael- 
 mas Term, Hilary Term, and Trinity Term. 
 
 " 15. That as an inducement to Students to propose 
 themselves for Examination, Studentships shall be founded 
 of Fifty guineas per annum each, to continue for a period 
 of three years, and one such Studentship shall be conferred 
 on the most distinguished Student at each Public Exami- 
 nation ; and further, the Examiners shall select and certify 
 the names of three other Students who shall have passed 
 the next best Examinations, and the Inns of Court to which 
 such Students belong, may, if desired, dispense with any 
 Terms, not exceeding two, that may remain to be kept by 
 such Students previously to their being called to the Bar. 
 Provided that the Examiners shall not be obliged to confer 
 or grant any Studentship or Certificate, unless they shall be 
 of opinion that the Examination of the Students they select 
 has been such as entitles them thereto. 
 
 " 16. That at every call to the Bar those Students who 
 have passed a Public Examination, and either obtained 
 a Studentship or a Certificate of honour, shall take rank in 
 seniority over all other Students who shall be called on the 
 same day. 
 
 " 17. That the standing Council shall have power to 
 grant dispensations to Students who shall have been pre- 
 vented by any reasonable cause from complying with all 
 the regulations as to the attendance on Lectures which shall 
 from time to time be established. 
 
 " 18. That it is expedient that henceforward there should AS 
 be uniformity of usage at the respective Inns of Court admission, 
 as to the admission of Students as Members of those dents. 
 Societies.
 
 392 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 " 19. That it is expedient that no attorney at law, soli- 
 citor, writer to the Signet, or writer of the Scotch Courts, 
 proctor, notary public, clerk in Chancery, parliamentary 
 agent, or agent in any Court, original or appellate, clerk 
 to any Justice of the Peace, or person acting in any of 
 these capacities, and no clerk of, or to, any barrister, con- 
 veyancer, special pleader, Equity draftsman, attorney, soli- 
 citor, writer to the Signet, or writer of the Scotch Courts, 
 proctor, notary public, parliamentary agent, or agent in 
 any Court, original or appellate, clerk in Chancery, Clerk 
 of the Peace, clerk to any Justice of the Peace, or of, or 
 to, any officer in any Court of Law or Equity, or person 
 acting in the capacity of any such clerks, should be ad- 
 mitted a Member of any of the said Societies for the pur- 
 pose of being called to the Bar, or of practising under the 
 Bar, until such person, being on the Roll of any Court, 
 shall have taken his name off the Rolls thereof, nor until 
 he and every other person above named or described shall 
 have entirely and bona fide ceased to act or practise in any 
 of the capacities above named or described. 
 
 " 20. That it is expedient that no Member of any of the 
 said Societies should be allowed to apply for, or take out, 
 any Certificate to practise, either directly or indirectly, as 
 a special pleader, or conveyancer, or draftsman in Equity, 
 without the special permission of the Masters of the Bench 
 of each Society respectively, and that no such permission 
 should be granted until the Member applying shall have 
 kept twelve Terms. 
 
 "21. That such permission should only be granted for 
 one year from the date thereof, but may be renewed an- 
 nually by order, as aforesaid. 
 
 " 22. That it is expedient that no person be allowed to 
 obtain any such Certificate unless he shall have attended 
 such Lectures, or passed such an Examination, as under 
 the preceding Rules would be necessary to entitle him to be 
 called to the Bar. 
 
 " 23. That it is expedient that the following forms
 
 LECTURES. 393 
 
 should be adopted by the said Societies on applications for 
 admission as Members : 
 
 " ' I, of aged the son 
 
 of of in the county of 
 
 [add Father's profession, if any, and the condition in life 
 and occupation, if any, of the applicant], , do 
 
 hereby declare that I am desirous of being admitted a 
 Member of the Honourable Society of , for the 
 
 purpose of keeping Terms for the Bar, and that I will not, 
 either directly or indirectly, apply for, or take out, any 
 Certificate to practise, directly or indirectly, as a Special 
 Pleader, or Conveyancer, or Draftsman in Equity, without 
 the special permission of the Masters of the Bench of the 
 said Society. 
 
 " * And I do hereby further declare, that I am not an 
 attorney at law, solicitor, a writer to the Signet, a writer of 
 the Scotch Courts, a proctor, a notary public, a clerk in 
 Chancery, a parliamentary agent, an agent in any Court, 
 original or appellate, a clerk to any justice of the peace, 
 nor do I act, directly or indirectly, in any such capacity, or 
 in the capacity of clerk of, or to, any of the persons above 
 described, or as clerk of, or to, any officer in any Court of 
 Law or Equity. 
 
 " < Dated this day of 
 
 (Signature) 
 
 " ' We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that we be- 
 lieve the above-named to be a gentleman of 
 respectability, and a proper person to be admitted a Mem- 
 ber of the said Society. 
 
 < Barristers of 
 
 Approved | 
 
 " ' Treasurer, or in his absence, by two Benchers.' 
 " 24. That it is expedient that every Member of the said 
 Societies should have kept twelve Terms before being called 
 to the Bar, unless any Term or Terms shall have been dis- 
 pensed with under the 15th preceding Rule.
 
 394 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 " 25. That it is expedient that every Member of the said 
 Societies should have attained the age of twenty-one before 
 being called to the Bar. 
 
 " 26. That it is expedient that Members of the said 
 Societies, who shall at the same time be Members of the 
 Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, London, Dur- 
 ham, or the Queen's University in Ireland, should be 
 enabled to keep Terms by dining in the halls of their 
 respective Societies any three days in each Term. 
 
 " 27. That Members of the said Societies, who shall not 
 at the same time be Members of the said Universities, 
 should be enabled to keep Terms by dining in the halls of 
 their respective Societies any six days in each Term. 
 
 " 28. That it is expedient that no day's attendance in the 
 respective halls should be available for the purpose of keep- 
 ing Term, unless the Member so attending shall have been 
 present at the grace before dinner, during the whole of 
 dinner, and until the concluding grace shall have been said. 
 
 " 29. That it is expedient that no Member of any of the 
 said Societies, desirous of being called to the Bar, should 
 be so called until the name and description of such Can- 
 didate shall have been placed upon the screens hung in the 
 Halls, Benchers' rooms, and Treasury or Steward's Offices, 
 of each Society, fourteen days in Term before such call. 
 
 " 30. That it is expedient that the name and description 
 of every such Candidate should be sent to the other Inns 
 of Court, and should also be screened for the same space of 
 time, in their respective Halls, Benchers' rooms, and Trea- 
 sury or Steward's Offices. 
 
 "31. That it is expedient that the above regulations as 
 to screening names, &c., should be applied to Members 
 seeking Certificates to practise as special pleaders, convey- 
 ancers, or Equity draftsmen. 
 
 " 32. That it is expedient that no call to the Bar should 
 take place except during Term. And that such call should 
 be made on the same day by the several Societies, namely, 
 on the 16th day of each Term, unless such day happen to 
 be Sunday, and in such case on the Monday after.
 
 LECTURES. 
 
 395 
 
 " 33. That all the foregoing Rules and Regulations shall 
 come into operation on the 1 st day of Trinity Term, 1 852, 
 and shall apply to all persons entering as Students on and 
 after that day, and also to all existing Students who shall 
 not by the 1st day of Trinity Term, 1852, have kept more 
 than four Terms ; but all other Students shall, if they desire 
 it, be admitted to the benefit of the Lectures and Classes, 
 and be entitled to submit themselves to Public Examination 
 upon the same terms, and subject to the same regulations 
 as are hereby made applicable to Students entering on and 
 after the 1st day of Trinity Term, 1852. 
 
 " The Committee have abstained from framing any scheme, 
 or making any suggestion, as to the fees or dues charged 
 by the Inns of Court to their respective Members, or the 
 deposits on the entrance of Students, as they consider that 
 these are matters of internal arrangement, which may with 
 more propriety be left to the discretion and regulations of 
 the Societies respectively. 
 
 RICHARD BETHELL (Chair- 
 man). 
 
 JOHN ROMILLY. 
 ED. B. SUGDEN. 
 J. L. KNIGHT BRUCE. 
 EDWARD RYAN. 
 S. LUSHINGTON. 
 
 R. T. KlNDERSLEY. 
 
 JOHN DODSON. 
 A. E. COCKBURN. 
 W. P. WOOD. 
 BIGGS ANDREWS. 
 RlCHD. BUDDEN CROWDER. 
 CHAS. JAS. KNOWLES. 
 WM. JOHN ALEXANDER. 
 GEORGE ROSE. 
 
 R. B. ARMSTRONG. 
 HENRY HALLAM. 
 WM. JOHN BRODERIP. 
 SAMUEL TURNER. 
 ARCHER RYLAND. 
 JOHN ROLT. 
 HENRY S. KEATING. 
 CLEMENT T. SWANSTON. 
 CHRISTOPHER TEMPLE. 
 SPENCER H. WALPOLE. 
 ROUNDELL PALMER. 
 J. G. PHILLIMORE. 
 FRANCIS WHITMARSH. 
 G. LONG. 
 JOHN G. TEED. 
 W. COULSON.
 
 395a INNS OF COURT. 
 
 PUBLIC EXAMINATION. 
 
 Trinity Term, 1855. 
 " THE COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION have approved of 
 
 the following Rules for the Public Examination of the 
 
 Students : 
 
 " The attention of the Students is requested to the fol- 
 lowing Rules of the Inns of Court : 
 
 " ' As an inducement to Students to propose themselves 
 for Examination, Studentships shall be founded of Fifty 
 Guineas per annum each, to continue for a period of three 
 years, and one such Studentship shall be conferred on the 
 most distinguished Student at each Public Examination; 
 and further, the Examiners shall select and certify the 
 names of three other Students who shall have passed the 
 next best Examinations ; and the Inns of Court to which 
 such Students belong, may, if desired, dispense with any 
 Terms, not exceeding two, that may remain to be kept by 
 such Students previously to their being called to the Bar. 
 Provided that the Examiners shall not be obliged to confer 
 or grant any Studentship or Certificate, unless they shall 
 be of opinion that the Examination of the Students they 
 select has been such as entitles them thereto. 
 
 " ' At every call to the Bar those Students who have 
 passed a Public Examination, and . either obtained a Stu- 
 dentship or a Certificate of Honour, shall take rank in 
 seniority over all other Students who shall be called on the 
 same day. 
 
 " ' No Student shall be eligible to be called to the Bar 
 who shall not either have attended during one whole year 
 the Lectures of two of the Readers, or have satisfactorily 
 passed a Public Examination.' 
 
 " Rules for the Public Examination of Candidates for 
 Honours, or Certificates entitling Students to be called 
 to the Bar. 
 " An Examination will be held in next Trinity Term, to 
 
 which a Student of any of the Inns of Court, who is desi-
 
 PUBLIC EXAMINATION. 3956 
 
 rotis of becoming a Candidate for a Studentship or Ho- 
 nours, or of obtaining a Certificate of fitness for being 
 called to the Bar, will be admissible. 
 
 " Each Student proposing to submit himself for Exami- 
 nation, will be required to enter his name at the Treasurer's 
 Office of the Inn of Court to which he belongs, on or 
 before Friday, the llth day of May next, and he will fur- 
 ther be required to state in writing whether his object in 
 offering himself for Examination is to compete for a Stu- 
 dentship or other honourable distinction ; or whether he is 
 merely desirous of obtaining a Certificate preliminary to a 
 Call to the Bar. 
 
 " The Examination will commence on Friday, the 1 8th 
 day of May next, and will be continued on the Saturday 
 and Monday following. 
 
 " It will take place in the Benchers' Reading Room of 
 Lincoln's Inn ; and the doors will be closed ten minutes 
 after the time appointed for the commencement of the 
 Examination. 
 
 " The Examination by printed Questions will be con- 
 ducted in the following order: 
 
 " Friday morning, the 18th May, at half-past Nine, 
 on Constitutional Law and Legal History ; in the 
 afternoon, at half-past One, on Equity. 
 " Saturday morning, the 19 th May, at half-past Nine, 
 on Common Law; in the afternoon, at half-past 
 One, on the Law of Real Property, &c. 
 " Monday morning, the 2lst May, at half-past Nine, 
 on Jurisprudence and the Civil Law ; in the after- 
 noon, at half- past One, a Paper will be given to the 
 Students, including questions bearing upon all the 
 foregoing subjects of Examination. 
 " The Oral Examination will be conducted in the same 
 order, during the same hours, and on the same subjects, as 
 those already marked out for the Examination by printed 
 questions, except that on Monday afternoon there will be 
 no Oral Examination. 
 
 " The Oral Examination of each Student will be con-
 
 395c INNS OF COURT. 
 
 ducted apart from the other Students ; and the character 
 of that Examination will vary according as the Student is 
 a Candidate for honours or a Studentship, or desires simply 
 to obtain a Certificate. 
 
 " The Oral Examination, and printed Questions, will be 
 founded on the books below mentioned ; regard being had, 
 however, to the particular object with a view to which the 
 Student presents himself for Examination. 
 
 " In determining the question whether a Student has 
 passed the Examination in such a manner as to entitle him 
 to be called to the Bar, the Examiners will principally have 
 regard to the general knowledge of Law and Jurisprudence 
 which he has displayed. 
 
 " A Student may present himself at any number of 
 Examinations, until he shall have obtained a Certificate. 
 
 " Any Student who shall obtain a Certificate may pre- 
 sent himself a second time for Examination as a Candidate 
 for the Studentship, but only at one of the three Exami- 
 nations immediately succeeding that at which he shall have 
 obtained such Certificate ; provided, that if any Student so 
 presenting himself shall not succeed in obtaining the Stu- 
 dentship, his name shall not appear in the list. 
 
 " Students who have kept more than eleven Terms shall 
 not be admitted to an Examination for the Studentship. 
 
 " The READER on CONSTITUTIONAL LAW and LEGAL 
 HISTORY will expect the Candidates for honours in 
 the ensuing Examination to have mastered the 
 
 " First, Second, Seventh, Eighth and Fifteenth Chap- 
 ters of Hallatn's Constitutional History. The 
 Chapter in Foster's Crown Law relating to the 
 Law of Treason ; and the chapter on the same 
 subject in Mr. Serjt. Stephens edition of JBlackstone's 
 Commentaries. The chapters in Rapin's History 
 of England, containing the reign of Charles I., and 
 those in TindaTs continuation of Rapin, or Bels- 
 ham's History, containing the reign of William III. ; 
 and the First volume of Clarendon's History of the 
 Rebellion.
 
 PUBLIC EXAMINATION. 395d 
 
 " He will expect them to be acquainted with the remark- 
 able State Trials in the reigns of Charles II. and Wil- 
 liam III. 
 
 " He will expect the Candidates for a Pass to be able to 
 answer any question bearing upon the leading events of 
 English History, and to be well acquainted with 
 
 " The First, Eighth and Thirteenth Chapters of Hal- 
 lams Constitutional History, and the chapters in 
 Rapin, containing the History of Charles I. 
 
 " The READER on EQUITY proposes to examine in 
 the following Books and Subjects : 
 
 " 1 . Smith's Manual of Equity Jurisprudence. The 
 Act for the Improvement of Equity Jurisdiction, 
 15 & 16 Viet. c. 86. 
 
 " 2. White and Tudor 's Leading Cases (with the 
 Notes), vol. 1, particularly as regards the subjects 
 of Voluntary Settlements, and the Rights of Mar- 
 ried Women recognized in a Court of Equity only. 
 " Candidates for Certificate of fitness to be called to the 
 Bar will be expected to be well acquainted with the books 
 mentioned in the first of the above classes. 
 
 " Candidates for the Studentship or honours will be 
 examined in the books mentioned in the two classes. 
 
 " The READER on the LAW OF REAL PROPERTY 
 proposes to examine in the following Books and 
 Subjects : 
 
 " 1. WILLIAMS, Real Property ; STEPHEN, Commenta- 
 ries, vol. 1 ; SUGDEN, Powers, vol. 1 . 
 
 " 2. The Statute of Limitations; 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27. 
 
 " 3. The Statute of Wills ; 1 Viet. c. 26, ss. 2433. 
 
 " 4. Sales of Real Estate by Trustees or Executors in 
 pursuance of a trust or a power ; and the liability of 
 Purchasers to see to the Application of their Pur- 
 chase Money ; SUGDEN, Powers, vol. 1, p. 129; vol. 
 2, p. 464. Stroughill v. Anstey, 1 De G. M. & G. 
 
 635. 
 
 c c*
 
 396 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 " Candidates for honours will be examined in all the 
 foregoing Books and Subjects. Candidates for a Certi- 
 ficate will be examined in those mentioned in Part I. 
 
 " The READER on JURISPRUDENCE and the CIVIL 
 LAW proposes to examine Candidates for honours in 
 the following Subjects : 
 
 " 1. The First Two Books of the Commentaries of 
 GAIUS. 
 
 " 2. The Last Two Titles of the Fiftieth Book of the 
 Digest, ' De Verborum Significatione ' and ' De 
 Regulis Juris! 
 
 " 3. The Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Lectures of KENT 
 on International Law. 
 
 " 4. The Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Chapters of 
 the Second Book of GROTIUS, ' De Jure Pacts et 
 Belli: 
 " Candidates for a Pass Certificate will be examined in 
 
 " 1. The First Two Books of the Institutes of Justi- 
 nian, with the Notes contained in SANDARS'S Edi- 
 tion. 
 
 " 2. The Seventh and Eighth Lectures of KENT on 
 International Law. 
 
 " The READER on COMMON LAW proposes to exa- 
 mine in the following Books and Subjects : 
 
 " Candidates for a Certificate will be examined in 
 
 " 1. The Ordinary Steps and Proceedings in an Action 
 at Law as regulated by the Statutes 1 5 & 16 Viet, 
 c. 76, and 17 & 18 Viet. c. 125. (This subject may 
 be read from Smith's Elementary View of an Action 
 at Law, 5th edition.) 
 
 " 2. The Nature and Classification of Contracts. 
 (Smith's Lectures on the Law of Contracts, Lec- 
 ture I.) 
 
 " 3. The Elements of our Criminal Law in relation to 
 the following offences : Burglary, Simple Larceny
 
 PUBLIC EXAMINATION. 397 
 
 at Common Law, and Embezzlement. (Archbold's 
 Criminal PL, 12th Edition, Book II., Part I., un- 
 der the above Titles.) 
 
 " Candidates for honours will be examined in the First 
 and Third of the foregoing Subjects, and also in 
 
 " 4. The Law of Principal and Agent, and of Partners. 
 (Smith Merc. L., 5th Edition, Book I., Chapters 
 2 and 5.) In connection with the Law of Partners 
 should also be read Waugh v. Carver, 1 Smith L. 
 Cas., p. 491, and Buckley v. Barber, 6 Exch. R., 
 164. 
 
 " 5. The Rights and Obligations of Carriers of Goods 
 and Passengers. (Storey on Bailments, 5th Edition, 
 Chapter 6, Articles 8 and 9.) 
 
 By Order of the Council, 
 
 RICHARD BETHELL, 
 
 Chairman. 
 
 COUNCIL CHAMBER, LINCOLN'S INN, 
 Sth March, 1855. 
 
 CALL TO THE BAR. 
 
 The ancient regulations respecting utter-barristers 
 are stated in Orders of 36 Eliz. " None shall be 
 called to the Barr but such as be of convenient con- 
 tinuance, and have performed exercises three years 
 before they be called, that is to say, have gone abroad 
 to grand moots six times, have mooted at the utter 
 barr in the library six times, and have put cases at 
 bolts in term six times, and thereof bring due certi- 
 ficate ; of the first, from the reader, the ancient that 
 goeth with him, and the principal in the Innes of 
 Chancery; of the second, from those two that sit at 
 the bench ; and of the third, from those three that 
 sit at the bolt." 
 
 The manner of calling a gentleman to the Bar in
 
 398 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 the Middle Temple is as follows: "Two official 
 meetings of the Benchers of this Society, called Par- 
 liaments, are held in each term (the first and last 
 Fridays in the term), at one of which a Student, who 
 is a candidate for the Bar, must be proposed by a 
 Bencher, who, from his own personal knowledge, or 
 from information on which he can rely, must give a 
 satisfactory account of the gentleman he proposes. 
 His name and description is suspended in the hall 
 for a fortnight for the inspection of the members, and 
 he is required to call on the treasurer to state his 
 qualifications for the Bar. If no objection is made, 
 he is called to the Bar at the ensuing Parliament; 
 and on the next day he is required to take the oaths 
 of allegiance and supremacy, in the Hall of the 
 Society, before at least two Benchers, which is the 
 completion of the call." 
 
 In Gray's Inn, after the student is of sufficient 
 standing, and has kept the terms, and has otherwise 
 conformed to the Regulations, the student intimates 
 to the steward of the Society his intention to be called 
 to the Bar, and his name and description are then 
 screened in the dining-hall of the Society for at least 
 a fortnight during term time, and his name and 
 description are also sent to the other three Inns of 
 Court ; a certificate of his qualifications is then 
 drawn up and examined by two Benchers, who sign 
 the same, if found correct. These qualifications are, 
 that the student is of full age and standing in the 
 Society, and has kept a sufficient number of terms, 
 and performed his exercises, and that he is possessed
 
 CALL TO THE BAR. 399 
 
 of a chamber in the Inn, in his own right, or has 
 paid a fine of 20/. in lieu thereof. The student then 
 presents his petition to the benchers to be called, 
 and produces the certificate of his qualifications, 
 which are read at a pension of at least five benchers ; 
 and if proposed by a bencher, and no objection ap- 
 pears, he is at the next or some succeeding pension 
 called before the benchers, who cause the oaths of 
 allegiance and supremacy, or (if he is a Roman 
 Catholic) the oath provided for that purpose, to be 
 administered to him ; he is thereupon called to the 
 bar and becomes a barrister, and his name, as such, 
 is published in the hall of the society. If any ob- 
 jection appears, the call to the bar is postponed, 
 and the objection is carefully investigated by the 
 benchers. 
 
 The names of gentlemen proposed for the bar in 
 one inn are sent to all the other inns, and are laid 
 on the benchers' tables. 
 
 On the 5th of July, 1794, the subjoined resolution 
 was adopted by the benchers of the Inner Temple, 
 and a similar rule was established in Lincoln's Inn, 
 the Middle Temple, and Gray's Inn: Mr. Treasurer 
 Bower and Mr. Reade having this day reported to 
 the bench table, that they have met and conferred 
 with the following benchers of the other Inns of Court, 
 namely, Peter Holford and John Soley, of Lincoln's 
 Inn, Esqs., and Master Wynne and Master White- 
 church, of the Middle Temple, and Alan Chambre, 
 Esq., and Dr. Fisher, of Gray's Inn, on the question,
 
 400 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 " Whether a person in deacon's orders, being admitted 
 and having kept his terms, may be called to the 
 bar ; " and that, in the said conference, it was the 
 opinion of all the said deputies of the Four Inns 
 of Court, that a person in deacon's orders ought 
 not to be called to the bar; it is therefore resolved, 
 by the masters of the bench now present, that a 
 person in deacon's orders ought not to be called to 
 the bar. 
 
 BAR BOND. 
 
 A bond, to the following effect, is signed by every 
 member of the four societies, with surety on being 
 called to the bar : 
 
 " Know all men by these presents, That we A. B. 
 of Lincoln's Inn, in the county of Middlesex, Esq., and 
 C. D. of the same place, (Esq, or &c.), are held firmly 
 bound to E. F., G. H., and I. K., three of the Masters of 
 the Bench of this Society, in the penal sum of two hundred 
 pounds of good and lawful money of Great Britain, to be 
 paid to the said E. F., G. H., and I. K., or any of them 
 or their certain attorney, executors, administrators, or 
 assigns ; for which said payment, well and faithfully to be 
 made, we bind ourselves, and each of us by himself for 
 the whole, our and each of our heirs, executors, and ad- 
 ministrators, firmly by these presents, sealed with our 
 seals, dated the day of in the year of 
 
 the reign of our Sovereign Lady, Victoria, by the Grace 
 of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, and in the year 
 of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. 
 
 " Whereas the said A. B. being a member of the 
 Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, is now, by order 
 of the said society, called to the degree of an utter
 
 BAR BOND. 401 
 
 barrister, whereby divers duties and charges may here- 
 after, from time to time, grow due and payable to the 
 society by the said A. B., the condition, therefore, of this 
 obligation is such, that if the said A. B. do and shall, 
 from time to time, and at all times hereafter during his 
 life, or as long as he shall continue a member of the said 
 society, duly and orderly perform, pay, and discharge all 
 such debts, duties, and charges, sum and sums of money, 
 as shall grow due and chargeable upon him for pensions, 
 preacher, duties, commons, taxes, fines, penalties, amercia- 
 ments, and all other duties whatsoever, hereafter to be 
 due or imposed by order of, according to the custom of 
 the said society ; then this obligation to be void, or else to 
 remain in full force and virtue. 
 
 " A. B. (L. S.) 
 " C. D. (L. S.)" 
 
 By 55 Geo. III., c. 184, sched. 1, the stamp upon 
 the admission to the degree of barrister is 50/. The 
 fees, payable on being called to the bar, vary from 
 40/. to 50/. 
 
 There are no religious tests in the Inns of Court, 
 either on admission or call to the bar. 
 
 By an order of pension in Gray's Inn, dated No- 
 vember 16th, 1825, it was ordered that, receiving 
 the Sacrament,* by students, as a qualification for 
 the English bar, should in future be dispensed 
 with. 
 
 In the year 1833, a gentleman, who was by re- 
 ligion a Jew, having kept all his terms, and per- 
 formed all acts which were requisite, prior to being 
 called to the bar in the society of Lincoln's Inn, 
 
 * The Test and Corporation Acts were repealed by Parliament, 
 26th Feb., 1828. 
 
 D D
 
 402 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 applied to be called. A special council was sum- 
 moned to take his case into consideration, on the 
 22nd day of January, 1833; at that council were 
 present, the Vice-Chancellor of England, the Right 
 Honourable Thomas Erskine, the Attorney-General, 
 the Solicitor-General, and ten King's Counsel. No 
 instance was known of a Jew being called to the 
 bar. The council was adjourned to Wednesday, the 
 23rd of January, 1833, to see if any precedent could 
 be found of a Jew being called, and to look into 
 the law upon the subject. At the adjourned council, 
 the Vice-Chancellor of England, the Right Honour- 
 able Thomas Erskine, the Attorney- General, the 
 Solicitor-General, and sixteen King's Counsel were 
 present; and, after much consideration, the council 
 was further adjourned, to look further into the law 
 relative to the subject. At the second adjourned 
 council, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the 
 Vice-Chancellor of England, the Right Honourable 
 Thomas Erskine, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor- 
 General, and fourteen King's Counsel were present, 
 and, although no instance could be found of a Jew 
 being called, they were unanimously of opinion that 
 he ought to be called to the bar, and he was called 
 to the bar on the following day. 
 
 OF DUES PAYABLE BY MEMBERS. 
 
 In each of the Four Inns there are certain dues 
 and duties payable by members. The following are 
 those at present payable in Lincoln's Inn :
 
 DUES PAYABLE BY MEMBERS. 403 
 
 Absent Commons. 
 
 This is a charge made for the terms not kept in the 
 hall, from the first admission of members. But if the 
 terms be regularly kept, this charge is not made ; or if 
 kept in part, such part only as has been neglected to 
 be kept is charged as absent commons. 
 
 Eating Commons. 
 See page 392. 
 
 Vacation Commons 
 
 Is a charge of six pounds, payable by every member, 
 either on his admission to chambers, taking certificate, 
 being called to the bar, or leaving the society ; and the 
 further sum of four pounds per annum, for three years 
 after call to the bar. 
 
 Preacher. 
 
 Every proprietor of chambers is charged six shil- 
 lings per term to the preacher, and twelve shillings 
 per term if he have a double set ; and every member, 
 who is not a proprietor of chambers, two shillings and 
 sixpence per term. This constitutes the only differ- 
 ence between personal and chamber dues. 
 
 Pensions. 
 
 These are small annual charges, amounting in the 
 whole to five shillings and four pence, paid by every 
 member of the society. 
 
 Library. 
 
 Each student, on his call to the bar, is charged five 
 pounds for the use of the library ; and each barrister 
 eleven guineas, for the same purpose, on his becoming 
 a bencher. 
 
 D D2
 
 404 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Ground Rent. 
 
 Each set of chambers in the Stone Buildings is 
 charged with a ground rent of about fourpence in the 
 pound on the original cost of the shell of the building. 
 
 Insurance. 
 
 The shells or walls of the Stone Buildings are in- 
 sured from fire. The Society pays one-third of this 
 expense, and the remaining two-thirds are paid by the 
 
 proprietors. 
 
 Taxes. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn, excepting a part of Serle Street, is 
 extra-parochial. The Temples and Gray's Inn are 
 wholly extra-parochial. Lincoln's Inn is assessed for 
 land tax in a certain sum, which is subdivided, and 
 paid by the respective occupiers or proprietors of 
 chambers. 
 
 Chamber dues are made up to the end of Hilary 
 term, and personal dues to the end of Trinity term. 
 
 The dues payable to the society continue to accrue 
 so long as a member's name is on the books ; that is, 
 until he has taken the proper steps to withdraw it. 
 When a member is desirous of quitting the society, 
 he signs a petition prepared by the steward, which 
 is presented at the ensuing council: or, by letter 
 under his own hand, he may authorise the steward to 
 execute such petition, and present it as before men- 
 tioned. 
 
 REFUSAL TO CALL TO THE BAR. 
 
 If any objection appears against the call of any
 
 REFUSAL TO CALL TO THE BAR. 405 
 
 person to the bar, the benchers will hear him per- 
 sonally, or by counsel, and will allow him to adduce 
 evidence to rebut the charges against him. 
 
 No mandamus will lie to compel admission to the 
 degree of barrister. The proper course is to appeal 
 to the judges. The application of William Hart, to 
 the Court of King's Bench, Easter Term, 1780, to 
 compel the benchers of Gray's Inn to call him to 
 the bar, was refused on this ground. 
 
 From the answers returned by the authorities of 
 the four societies to the Commissioners on the Courts 
 of Common Law, in 1833, it appears that, in the 
 course of the previous twenty years, three students 
 only had been refused admission to the bar in the 
 Four Inns of Court. 
 
 Harvey's case, which occurred in the year 1821, 
 acquired very considerable notoriety about twelve 
 years afterwards, when the whole case was considered 
 afresh. Mr. Daniel Whittle Harvey had practised 
 as an attorney from the year 1807 to the year 1819, 
 when his name was struck off the rolls at his own 
 request, in the usual way, and he entered as a student 
 in the Inner Temple, with a view to be called to 
 the bar. 
 
 Mr. Harvey having kept eleven terms, and signi- 
 fied to the sub-treasurer his desire to be called to 
 the bar, in Trinity Term, 1821, his name was put 
 up in the hall of this society on the 22nd day of 
 June in that year, as a candidate, and it was after- 
 wards (in consequence of intimation being given to
 
 406 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 him, that some objections had occurred to the masters 
 of the bench, which required explanation) withdrawn 
 at his own request. 
 
 On the 6th of November, in the same year, Mr. 
 Harvey having, in the course of the long vacation, 
 received from the treasurer further information as 
 to the nature of the objections that had occurred 
 to the masters of the bench, and which, unexplained, 
 might operate as an obstacle to his being called to 
 the bar, and having desired an opportunity of answer- 
 ing the same, attended the masters of the bench 
 in the Parliament Chamber, and was in part heard 
 in answer to those objections. 
 
 On the 9th day of November, Mr. Harvey again 
 attended the masters of the bench, and was further 
 heard in answer to the said objections. 
 
 The masters of the bench took the same into their 
 consideration, and, on the 13th day of November, the 
 treasurer, by the desire of the masters, wrote to Mr. 
 Harvey the following letter : 
 
 " Sir, " Temple, 13th Nov. 1821. 
 
 " Having collected the opinion of the Masters of the 
 Bench at a full meeting, I have to inform you that their 
 opinion is adverse to your application to be called to 
 the bar. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your obedient servent, 
 " To D. W. Harvey, Esq." " BARNE BARNE. ' 
 
 In the vacation following, Mr. Harvey appealed 
 to the twelve judges, as the visitors of Inns of Court, 
 and, on the 24th of January, 1822, the masters of
 
 REFUSAL TO CALL TO THE BAR. 407 
 
 the bench of the Inner Temple were served with the 
 following notice : 
 
 " Gentlemen, Serjeant's Inn, January 24, 1822. 
 " I am directed to acquaint you, that a Petition of 
 Appeal to the Twelve Judges having been presented by 
 Mr. Daniel Whittle Harvey against the refusal of your 
 Society to call him to the bar, the Judges have appointed 
 to take the same into their consideration, and to hear 
 all parties thereupon at Serjeants' Inn Hall, on Friday, 
 the 1 st day of February next, at the hour of six o'clock in 
 the evening precisely ; and I am further directed to leave 
 with you a copy of the Petition, to enable you to certify 
 your objections, pursuant to the prayer of the said Peti- 
 tion, if you shall think fit so to do. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, gentlemen, 
 
 " Your very obedient servant, 
 
 " JOHN WATERS." 
 " To the Masters of the Bench of the 
 Honourable Society of the Inner Temple." 
 
 On the 30th day of January following, the masters 
 of the bench transmitted to each of the judges a 
 copy of a certificate, stating the reasons* of their 
 refusal to call Mr. Harvey to the bar. 
 
 On the 1st day of February the judges, namely, 
 Lord Chief Justice Abbott, Lord Chief Justice Dallas, 
 Lord Chief Baron Richards, Mr. Baron Graham, 
 Mr. Justice Bayley, Mr. Justice Park, Mr. Justice 
 Holroyd, Mr. Justice Burrough, Mr. Baron Garrow, 
 Mr. Justice Best, and Mr. Justice Richardson were 
 
 * These documents are printed in the Appendix to the Sixth 
 Report of the Commissioners on Courts of Common Law. The 
 objections arose out of Harvey v. Andrew ; Frost v. Harvey ; and 
 May v. Harvey, the latter of which is reported in 13 East, 197.
 
 408 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 attended at Serjeants' Inn Hall by the treasurer, 
 and William Harrison and Gibbes Walker Jordan, 
 Esqs., two of the masters of the bench of the Inner 
 Temple, and by the petitioner, and by Messieurs 
 Brougham and Denman, his counsel, and his solicitor ; 
 and the judges, having heard the explanations and 
 arguments of the counsel for the petitioner, dismissed 
 the petition. 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice of England communicated 
 to the treasurer of the Inner Temple the opinion of 
 the judges in the following letter : 
 
 " Sir, Russell-square, Feb. 1822. 
 
 t( I send you herewith a copy of the opinion of the 
 judges on the petition of D. W. Harvey, Esq., as verbally 
 announced to Mr. Harvey at Serjeants' Inn Hall this 
 evening. I remain, Sir, 
 
 " Your most sincere and faithful Servant, 
 
 " C. ABBOTT." 
 "H. C. Litchfield, Esq., 
 Treasurer of the Inner Temple, 
 &c., &c., &c. 
 
 [Inclosure.] 
 
 "Upon the matters laid before the Judges by the 
 Masters of the Bench of the Inner Temple, and the expla- 
 nations and arguments of the learned counsel for the 
 Petitioner, the Judges are of opinion that the Masters 
 of the Bench have acted with due regard to the honour 
 of the Bar and the interests of the Society, in refusing 
 to call the Petitioner to the Bar, and they therefore 
 dismiss the petition. 
 
 On the 5th day of February, the masters of the 
 bench of the Inner Temple made the following order: 
 " That on Friday next the masters of the bench do
 
 REFUSAL TO CALL TO THE BAR. 409 
 
 consider whether Mr. Daniel Whittle Harvey's name 
 should not be struck off from the books of this society ; 
 his bond delivered up, and deposit returned, for the 
 causes certified by the masters of the bench to the 
 twelve judges on Mr. Harvey's petition and appeal, 
 that petition having been dismissed by the judges; and 
 that Mr. Harvey may, if he thinks proper, attend 
 at the Inner Temple Hall, at seven o'clock on that 
 evening, and shew cause against the same; and that 
 notice be given to all the masters in town, and to 
 Mr. Harvey." 
 
 On Friday, the 7th of February, the sub-treasurer 
 received the following letter from Mr. Harvey : 
 
 " Sir, 32, Essex Street, 7th Feb., 1822. 
 
 " I have to request you will communicate to the 
 Treasurer that it is my wish to quit the Honourable 
 Society of the Inner Temple, and that he will be pleased 
 to direct you to deliver up my Bond and return the 
 Deposit, after deducting any fees or dues in arrear. 
 " I am, Sir, your most obedient, 
 " R. Norris, Esq. " DAN. W. HARVEY." 
 
 Sub-Treasurer, &c." 
 
 On the same day the said letter from Mr. Harvey 
 was laid before the treasurer and masters of the 
 bench, and it was ordered that the bond of the said 
 Daniel Whittle Harvey be delivered up, and his de- 
 posit returned to him, upon paying his dues to the 
 house ; which order was carried into effect on the 
 following day. 
 
 Mr. Harvey having been elected a member of the 
 House of Commons, on the 19th of April, 1832,
 
 410 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 moved an address to the Crown that the commis- 
 sioners on courts of common law should examine into 
 the rules and practices observed by the benchers of the 
 several Inns of Court, also asking leave to bring in a 
 bill to empower the judges of the King's Bench to issue 
 a mandamus to the treasurers of the several Inns of 
 Court, and to frame ordinances to regulate the admis- 
 sion of persons claiming to become members of such 
 inns, or to be called to the bar. The motion was lost ; 
 but the whole matter was referred to the commis- 
 sioners on courts of common law, whose report on the 
 subject occupies their sixth report. 
 
 Mr. Harvey, in Trinity Term, 1833, renewed his 
 application to the benchers of the Inner Temple to call 
 him to the bar ; and after some preliminary objections 
 the benchers consented to re-hear the case. An inves- 
 tigation took place accordingly in the hall of the Inner 
 Temple, commencing 19th of November, and termi- 
 nating 13th of December, 1833, when the objections 
 to Mr. Harvey, arising out of the transactions already 
 referred to, were fully discussed. Afterwards, at a 
 special meeting of the masters of the bench of that 
 society, held 23rd of January following, it was unani- 
 mously resolved, that upon taking into consideration 
 the renewed application of Mr. D. W. Harvey to be 
 called to the bar, and the evidence adduced in support 
 of the same, and the arguments of the learned counsel 
 therein, " the bench did not see any sufficient reason 
 to alter the resolution of the bench communicated to 
 Mr. Harvey by the treasurer of the society on the
 
 REFUSAL TO CALL TO THE BAR. 411 
 
 13th of November, 1821, against his application to 
 be called to the bar." * 
 
 The steward of Gray's Tnn, in his examination be- 
 fore the commissioners, stated the following circum- 
 stances connected with the case of the student refused 
 admission to the bar in that inn : " What was the 
 ground of the refusal? " " That he was an uncerti- 
 ficated bankrupt; he appealed to the Judges, and I 
 attended before Lord Tenterden (then Chief Justice 
 Abbott) and the other judges, and on the judges ask- 
 ing him what he had to say, he acknowledged the 
 fact, but stated that he was taken by surprise, and 
 that he wished to be heard by counsel; the judges ac- 
 cordingly adjourned it to be heard at Serjeant's-inn 
 Hall on Holy Thursday ; Mr. Denman attended as his 
 counsel and was heard, and after asking several ques- 
 tions, the judges sanctioned the refusal by the 
 benchers." 
 
 SCREENING. 
 
 The following is an example of this mode of punish- 
 ment : 
 
 Middle ) 
 Temple. J 
 
 The Masters of the Bench having fully investigated the 
 
 * Mr. Harvey's petitions and statement rebutting the objec- 
 tions against him are printed at length in the Appendix to the 
 Sixth Report of the Commissioners on Courts of Common Law. 
 On the motion of Mr. D. O'Connell, all the circumstances attend- 
 ing the rejection of the application of Mr. Harvey to be called to 
 the bar, were referred to a Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons, in May 1834, who reported in his favour.
 
 412 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 charge preferred against A. B., Esq., Barrister of this 
 Society, and having heard him in his defence are unani- 
 mously of opinion that his conduct at the bar, as proved 
 before them, has been in several instances highly un- 
 professional and deserving of severe censure. And they 
 do order that he be excluded from the Hall for the period 
 of two years from this date ; and that this order be affixed 
 to the screen of the Hall. Dated this day, &c., &c. 
 
 EXPULSION AND DISBARRING. 
 
 Expulsion of a student and disbarring of a barris- 
 ter are the extreme penalties inflicted in the Inns of 
 Court for gross misconduct, or mal-practices at the 
 bar. "I must say," said Lord Chief Justice Den- 
 man, in a case before the Court of Queen's Bench, 
 in Michaelmas Term, 1845, " that I never heard of 
 a disbarring without some grave and serious cause of 
 complaint." 
 
 Boorman's case, in the reign of Charles I., and Sa- 
 vage's case, in the reign of George III., will be re- 
 ferred to in the next section. 
 
 The following is an order of the benchers of Lin- 
 coln's Inn in the year 1809, for disbarring a barrister 
 of that Society : 
 
 At a Council held the 19th day of April, 1809. It 
 having been certified to the Masters of the Bench by 
 Henry Dealtry, Esq., one of the clerks of the Crown 
 
 in the Court of King's Bench, that E W R , 
 
 Esq., Barrister of this Society, at the sitting of Nisi 
 Prius holden after Trinity Term last, in and for the 
 county of Middlesex, in His Majesty's Court of King's 
 Bench, had been convicted of obtaining, by false, artful, 
 and subtle means, contrivances, pretences, and represen-
 
 EXPULSION AND DISBARRING. 413 
 
 tations, from W H and others, divers goods and 
 
 chattels belonging to them, on which conviction judg- 
 ment had not yet been pronounced ; and it having also 
 been certified to the Masters of the Bench, by Jerome 
 William Knapp, Esq., Deputy Clerk of Assize of the 
 Home Circuit, that at the general session of our Lord the 
 King of Oyer and Terminer, holden for our said Lord the 
 King in and for the county of Hertford, at the town 
 of Hertford, in the said county, on Thursday, the 9th 
 day of March, in the forty-ninth year of the reign of 
 
 his present Majesty, the said E W R was 
 
 tried and convicted upon an indictment for maliciously, 
 wickedly, fraudulently, and deceitfully contriving, devising, 
 and intending to injure, aggrieve, oppress, and impoverish 
 
 F A N , upholsterer, and by divers means and 
 
 pretences, cheating and defrauding the said F A 
 
 N of his goods and chattels of the value of 100/. and 
 
 upwards, upon which conviction judgment was pronounced 
 
 upon the said E W R , that he should remain 
 
 in gaol for twelve calendar months, and should during that 
 time be placed in and upon the pillory at Hertford, for the 
 space of one hour ; and it now appearing to the Masters of 
 the Bench, by an affidavit of Robert Gudgeon, of 
 Hertford, gentleman, that a notice signed by Mr. Lane, 
 the Steward of this Society, bearing date the 16th day 
 of March last, had been duly served on the 22nd day of the 
 
 said month of March on the said E W R , 
 
 reciting as is above recited, and requiring him to take 
 notice that, at a Council to be holden at Lincoln's Inn, 
 on Wednesday, the 19th day of April then next, at five 
 o'clock in the afternoon, it would be proposed to disbar him, 
 unless he should shew some sufficient cause to the contrary, 
 and that the Masters of the Bench would, at the time and 
 place aforementioned, peremptorily proceed to consider 
 the said proposition, and would then and there be ready to 
 hear and consider what might be offered on his behalf, and
 
 414 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 finally to determine the same ; and a letter being now read 
 
 from the said E W R , dated the 31st March, 
 
 and addressed to the honourable the Benchers of Lincoln's 
 Inn, but not shewing any sufficient cause to the contrary : 
 
 it is ordered, that the call to the Bar of the said E 
 
 W R , in this house be forthwith vacated, and that 
 
 he be disbarred. It is also ordered, that a copy of the 
 above order be transmitted by the Treasurer to the Lord 
 Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 the Master of the Rolls, the Lord Chief Justice of the 
 Common Pleas, the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of 
 Exchequer, the judges of the several Courts of West- 
 minster Hall, and to the treasurers of the respective Inns of 
 Court. Ordered also, that the sum of 42/. 5s. 4cd. now in 
 
 arrear to the Society from the said E W R , 
 
 in consideration of his representation of his present cir- 
 cumstances, be remitted, and the bond of him and his 
 surety to be cancelled. 
 
 Fortescue, in his work De Laudibus, &c.* gives the 
 following description of this mode of punishment in 
 the Inns of Court in the reign of Henry VI. : 
 " Scant at any time is there heard among them any 
 sedition, chiding, or grudging, and yet the offenders 
 are punished with none other pain but only to be 
 amoved from the company of their fellowship ; which 
 punishment they do more fear than other criminal 
 offenders do fear imprisonment and irons. For he 
 that is once expelled from any of these fellowships 
 is never received to be a fellow in any of the other 
 fellowships; and so by this means there is continual 
 peace, and their demeanour is like the behaviour of 
 such as are coupled together in perfect amity." 
 
 * Chap. xlix.
 
 APPEAL. 415 
 
 When a barrister enters into holy orders ipso facto 
 he resigns his degree of barrister. 
 
 A barrister who has been originally an attorney, 
 and is desirous of returning to his practice as an 
 attorney might, it seems, be disbarred at his own 
 request.* 
 
 In ex parte Cole, K.B., 1779,f Cowper moved, on 
 the part of Cole, who had formerly been an attorney 
 of the King's Bench, and had at his own desire been 
 struck off the roll, and was then called to the bar, that 
 he might be again put on the roll of attorneys. The 
 court refused to comply with the application, there 
 being no instance of a barrister being admitted an at- 
 torney,: they said he ought first to have applied to the 
 society to be disbarred. 
 
 But a barrister disbarred for misconduct, will not 
 be allowed after .his expulsion to practise as an attor- 
 ney, even though he had previously to his call to the 
 bar been admitted as an attorney. 
 
 APPEAL. 
 
 Where any of the Inns of Court refuses to call a 
 member to the bar, expels him from the society, or 
 deprives him of his gown by disbarring, an appeal lies 
 to the judges as visitors. 
 
 In the year, 1781, William Hart, whom the benchers 
 of Gray's Inn had refused to call to the degree of bar- 
 rister, appealed to the twelve judges,^ and on the 
 
 * Ex parte Warner, 6 Jur. 1016. t 1 Doug. 113. 
 t 1 Doug. 356.
 
 416 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 15th of November in that year, was heard by his 
 counsel, Morgan and Lind. His petition was accom- 
 panied by an affidavit. At the same time a certificate 
 was laid before the judges from the treasurer and 
 benchers of Gray's Inn, in which they set forth that 
 they had not refused to call him to the bar merely 
 because he had been discharged by an insolvent act 
 (although they stated that the Society of Lincoln's 
 Inn had been of opinion that that was a sufficient 
 cause) but because it appeared to them from a memo- 
 rial of his own (which he had also laid before the 
 judges) that he had knowingly become security for 
 money borrowed by others to a much greater amount 
 than he was able to answer, and for other circum- 
 stances of his life mentioned or alluded to in the cer- 
 tificate. The judges were unanimous in dismissing 
 the petition. 
 
 The facts of Harvey's case, in which there was an 
 appeal to the judges on the refusal of the benchers of 
 the Inner Temple to call him to the bar, have been 
 already fully stated. 
 
 In Boorman's case in Hilary Term, 17 Charles L, it 
 was decided by the King's Bench that the ancient and 
 usual course of redress for any grievance in the Inns of 
 Court was by appeal to the judges : " Boorman was 
 a barrister of one of the Temples, and was expelled 
 the house, and his chamber seized for non-payment of 
 his commons, whereupon he by Newdigate prayed his 
 writ of restitution, and brought the writ, in court 
 ready framed, which was directed to the benchers of the
 
 APPEAL. 417 
 
 said society ; but it was denied by the Court, because 
 there is none in the Inns of Court to whom the writ 
 can be directed; because it is no body corporate, 
 but only a voluntary society, submitting to govern- 
 ment, and they were angry with him for it that he 
 had waived the ancient and usual course of redress 
 for any grievance in the Inns of Court which was 
 by appealing to the judges, and would have him do so 
 now." 
 
 The following are the facts of Savage's case,* 
 brought before the judges, on appeal in the year 
 1780: 
 
 " The first day of Hilary Term an appeal of one, 
 Maurice Savage, against an order of the benchers of 
 Lincoln's Inn, which rescinded an order for his call to 
 the bar, made about four or five days before, on 
 the ground of misrepresentation or surprise, was 
 heard by all the judges, except Chief Justice De 
 Grey, in Serjeants' Inn Hall. He had been a mem- 
 ber of the Middle Temple nine or ten years, had 
 kept and paid for his commons, and performed all 
 his exercises there; and, in 1772, was proposed by 
 a master of the bench, the first Parliament in the 
 term, to be called to the bar; (the course in that 
 house being to hold a parliament on the first and 
 last Friday in every term, the person to be proposed 
 at the first, and called to the bar at the last par- 
 liament;) but he waived that proposal, and, in 
 Trinity Term last, petitioned to have the proposal 
 
 * 1 Doug. 355, from Mr. Justice Gould's MS. note. 
 
 E
 
 418 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 revived, but the bench refused it, and no master of 
 the bench would propose him again. On Saturday 
 (as the term ended on Wednesday) he had a cer- 
 tificate, from the under-treasurer of the Middle 
 Temple, of his keeping and paying for commons, 
 and performing his exercises, which he carried to 
 the under-treasurer of Lincoln's Inn that Saturday, 
 paid his fees of admission in that society, and the 
 Tuesday following was called to the bar there, and 
 next day took the oaths to government in West- 
 minster Hall. But he did not disclose to the under- 
 treasurer of Lincoln's Inn what had passed in the 
 Temple. The society of Lincoln's Inn hearing of 
 this matter, issued a summons to him to appear, 
 three days after, to shew cause why his call to the 
 bar should not be vacated, and, after hearing him 
 four days afterwards, annulled the call to the bar 
 as irregular, and obtained by surprise. The judges 
 being attended by the treasurers of the two societies, 
 and examining the under-treasurers of each, (not 
 upon oath, for they proceeded as visitors,) and the 
 above circumstance fully appearing, and after hearing 
 Savage in support of his appeal, who did not exa- 
 mine any one to vary the facts, declared their 
 opinion, that the call to the bar, appearing to have 
 been obtained by surprise, and the bench of Lin- 
 coln's Inn having proceeded immediately to annul 
 it, the appeal should be dismissed." 
 
 The proceedings in a case which was heard on
 
 APPEAL. 419 
 
 appeal in Serjeants' Inn Hall, June, 1845, were 
 conducted in a similar manner. 
 
 A. Hay ward, Esq., a barrister of the Inner Temple, 
 having been created one of her Majesty's Counsel, 
 and feeling aggrieved at not being called to the bench 
 of this house, where Queen's Counsel have usually 
 been raised to the dignity of bencher, appealed to the 
 judges as visitors of the Inns of Court in support 
 of his claim to be called to the bench; who, after 
 elaborate arguments in Serjeants' Inn conducted for 
 the appellant by Sir Thomas Wilde, and Mr. Meri- 
 vale, and afterwards by Mr. Serjeant Talfourd and 
 Mr. Merivale, and for the respondent, first by Sir 
 Charles Wetherell, and then by Sir Frederick Thesiger, 
 delivered the following judgment : 
 
 " The judges who heard this petition argued, in the 
 exercise of their general visitorial power, think it right 
 to declare their unanimous opinion that the Benchers of 
 the Inner Temple have the right to determine, first, 
 whether they will add to their number by any new 
 election ; and, secondly, which of the Members of the 
 Bar belonging to their Society they will elect to call to 
 the Bench. 
 
 The judges, therefore, are all of opinion that the peti- 
 tioner had no inchoate right to be called to the Bench ; 
 but they all think that the mode of election, by which 
 a single black ball* will exclude, is unreasonable ; and 
 
 * At a very full assemblage of the benchers held in Hilary 
 Term, 1847, it was unanimously resolved that henceforth no one 
 shall be elected to the bench of the Inner Temple, unless he ob- 
 tain the votes of a majority of the existing benchers, and that 
 four black balls shall be sufficient to exclude. 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 they strongly recommend the Benchers of the Inner 
 Temple, in future, to conduct their elections to the Bench 
 on some more satisfactory principle. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 DENMAN. R. M. ROLFE. 
 
 F. POLLOCK. W. WIGHTMAN. 
 
 J. PARKE. C. CRESWELL. 
 
 E. H. ALDERSON. W. ERLE. 
 
 J. PATTESON. T. W. PLATT. 
 
 T. COLTMAN.
 
 DEGREES. 421 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DEGREES IN THE INNS OF COURT. 
 STUDENTS. 
 
 GENTLEMEN preparing for the Bar from this class, 
 while keeping their terms, usually enter the cham- 
 bers of special pleaders, equity draughtsmen, or 
 conveyancers, where they acquire experience in the 
 actual practice of the law. They have access to 
 the libraries of their several Inns, and are now 
 required to attend courses of lectures in the halls 
 of the societies, on various parts of law. In the 
 Middle Temple lectures are delivered on Juris- 
 prudence and the Civil Law; in Gray's Inn on 
 the law of Real Property ; in the Inner Temple 
 on the Common Law ; in Lincoln's Inn on Equity. 
 There are also lectures delivered on Constitutional 
 and Legal History, by a reader appointed by the 
 four societies jointly. The students may also culti- 
 vate their rhetorical powers and practise legal argu- 
 ment at the various forensic societies. In the halls 
 of the Inns of Court they wear a black gown, without
 
 422 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 hood or sleeves, and dine below the Bar table. Any 
 student, on application to the steward or under- 
 treasurer of the society to which he belongs, can 
 have a certificate of his being a member of an Inn 
 of Court, which will entitle him to a seat in the 
 students' box at Westminster Hall, the Central 
 Criminal Court, and the Courts at the Guildhall. 
 
 SPECIAL PLEADERS, ETC. 
 
 Permission to take out a certificate* as a special 
 pleader, conveyancer, or draughtsman in equity, is 
 given at the discretion of the bench to members who 
 have kept such commons as are required to be kept 
 to qualify them to be called to the Bar. Large num- 
 bers thus practise under the Bar in their chambers 
 before their call ; and many continue in these de- 
 partments of the profession five, ten or twenty years. 
 The commissioners on courts of common law describe 
 special pleaders as a _body of persons whose pros- 
 perity is of great importance to the general interests 
 of the profession, and the science of the law itself. 
 In the halls they wear the same dress as students, 
 and dine below the Bar table. 
 
 * By the 55 Geo. III. c. 184, the certificate of a special 
 pleader, draughtsman in equity, conveyancer, or any person 
 who, for fee or reward, shall draw or prepare any conveyance 
 or deed, or any proceeding in law or equity, residing in London, 
 or within the limits of the two-penny post, or in the city of 
 Edinburgh, is charged with the yearly duty of 12/. ; in any 
 other part of Great Britain, SI. ; and by doing any such act 
 without a certificate, a pcrialty of 50/. is incurred.
 
 INNS OF COURT. 423 
 
 BARRISTERS. 
 
 The degree of Barrister-at-law or Counsellor, is 
 conferred on students of sufficient standing who have 
 complied with the rules and regulations of the Inn, 
 whose call has been proposed and seconded by two 
 masters of the bench and whose qualifications are 
 approved of by the benchers. The meeting of the 
 bench, at which such call takes place, is termed, in 
 the Temples a Parliament, in Lincoln's Inn a Council, 
 and in Gray's Inn a Pension. Utter-barristers and 
 Readers in Court are described in the orders of Lord 
 Chancellor Clarendon, and the Judges in the reign of 
 Charles II., as * the principal persons next to Ser- 
 jeants and Judges in the administration of justice :' 
 they have officium ingenii* and rank as esquires, f 
 
 One of the most important privileges of a barris- 
 ter, and one essential to the due administration of 
 justice, is unfettered freedom of speech. No action J 
 for defamation will lie against a barrister for words, 
 spoken by him as counsel in a cause, pertinent to the 
 matter in issue. But he is not privileged to travel 
 out of the case, and gratuitously utter slander. 
 
 A barrister is, also, it seems, privileged from arrest 
 whilst in attendance on the superior courts, and on 
 circuit. 
 
 * 2 Inst. 564. t 1 Wils. 244. 
 
 J Wood v. Grimstone Styles, 462; Foote v. Hayne; 4 Barm, 
 and Ores. 478 ; Needham v. Bowling; Nisiprius C. P. June, 1845. 
 
 Brook v. Montague, Cro. Jac. 90 ; Hodgson v. Scarlett, 1 
 Barn, and Aid. 232.
 
 424 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 By the 6 Geo. IV., c. 50, 12, practising barristers 
 are exempted from serving on juries; and by the 
 5 and 6 Viet, c. 109, s. 6, they are exempted from 
 serving as parish constables. 
 
 The barristers sit according to seniority at the bar 
 table in the halls of the Inns of Court; and wear 
 gowns* similar to those in which they appear in open 
 court. 
 
 In Bateman's casef it was decided by the full court 
 that a barrister cannot serve as an articled clerk for 
 the purpose of being admitted an attorney, without 
 first being disbarred. Lord Denman, in delivering 
 the judgment of the court made the following re- 
 marks : " It appears to me that the danger of sanc- 
 tioning such a combination of offices is great and 
 manifest, and however much we may regret the loss 
 and inconvenience to which our determination may 
 subject this gentleman, it is our duty to see that no 
 connection should exist between the two branches of 
 
 * October, 1602. Mr. Kempe, in the King's Bench, reported 
 that in "tymes past the Counsellors wore gownes faced with 
 satten, and some with yellowe cotton, and the Benchers with 
 jennett furre nowe they are come to that pride and fantastick- 
 ness that every one must have a velvet face and some fur, tricked 
 with lace ; that Justice Wray, in his tyme, spoke to such an odd 
 Counsellor, in this manner Quomodo inlrasti, domine, non Jidbens 
 vestem nupcialem,^. get you from the barr, or I will put you from 
 the barr, for your foolish pride." Templar's Diary. 
 
 t 2 Dowl. and L. 725. 
 
 $ Why hast thou entered in, not having on a wedding gar- 
 ment? Luke.
 
 BENCHERS. 425 
 
 the profession, which would be likely to lead to any 
 malversation in either. I think that the observations 
 which have been made by the Solicitor- General,* re- 
 garding the abuse which might arise from a person 
 being a barrister, at the same time he was serving 
 under articles of clerkships to an attorney, are en- 
 titled to the greatest weight ; such abuses are obvious 
 and considerable. And further, it is clear, that a 
 person who has been placed in such a position as the 
 applicant, and who, at the end of the service, may 
 wish to continue at the bar, would acquire by his 
 preceding position the most unfair and improper 
 advantages. The case which approaches the nearest 
 to the present, is that of Eat parte Cole, and that 
 case seems to afford a strong argument d fortiori 
 against the present application; for if a barrister 
 ought not to become an attorney whilst he continues 
 a barrister, with much less propriety can he become 
 an attorney's clerk." 
 
 BENCHERS. 
 
 The Benchers, or Masters of the Bench, are the 
 seniors of the four houses entrusted with their govern- 
 ment and direction, and from among their number 
 in each Inn is a treasurer f yearly chosen. In the 
 
 * Sir Frederick Thesiger. 
 
 t "As the office of treasurer is an efficient and important one, 
 and such as requires the regular attendance of the treasurer for 
 the time being, that with a view to secure such attendance in 
 future, no person shall be eligible for that office who has not kept 
 two of the four terms next preceding the day of election." Black 
 Book Lincoln's Inn.
 
 426 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 orders of the Lord Chancellor and all Judges, in the 
 16 Car. II., repeating the orders of the 12 Jac., and 
 6 Car. L, it is ordained " For that all government is 
 strengthened or slackened by the observing or neg- 
 lecting of the reverence and respect which is to be used 
 towards the governors of the same, therefore it is 
 required that due reverence and respect be had by 
 the utter-barristers and younger sort of gentlemen, 
 to the Readers, Benchers, and Ancients of either 
 house." They also direct, " That the Innes of Chan- 
 cery shall hold their government subordinate to the 
 Benchers of every of the Innes of Court to which 
 they belong, and that the Benchers of every Innes of 
 Court make laws for governing them, as to keeping 
 commons, and attending and performing exercises 
 according to former usage. And in case any at- 
 torney, clerk, or officer, of any court of justice, being 
 of any of the Innes of Chancery, shall withstand the 
 directions given by the Benchers of the court, upon 
 complaint thereof to the Judges of the court in which 
 he shall serve, he shall be severely punished, either 
 by forejudging from the court, or otherwise, as the 
 case shall deserve." Benchers were to be chosen for 
 their "learning, honest behaviour, and good dis- 
 position," and were to be "such as for their ex- 
 perience be of the best note and ability to serve the 
 kingdom." 
 
 No member of the bar acquires by seniority a right 
 to be elected a Bencher. The following is a decision 
 on this point.
 
 BENCHERS. 427 
 
 Memorandum, Gray's Inn, 25th January, 1689.* 
 Upon an appeal brought by John Try, Esq., an an- 
 cient of this society, before the judges that had been 
 members thereof, suggesting that he had been preter- 
 mitted in two several calls to the bench, wherein seve- 
 ral of his puisnes had been called, and that he had 
 thereupon petitioned in pension for his call thereto, 
 and his petition was rejected, so that he was only 
 relievable before their lordships the Lord Chief Justice 
 Holt, Mr. Baron Neville, Mr. Justice Gregory, and 
 Mr. Baron Turton, assembled at his lordship's cham- 
 ber in Serjeants'-inn, in Chancery Lane, and Sir Wil- 
 liam Williams, and most of the bench attending upon 
 notice to justify what they had done, and insisting 
 upon it that it was an inherent right in the bench to 
 judge who was fitting to be called to the bench, and 
 who not, the appellant read the said orders of pension 
 and petition and appeal; and after both sides were 
 fully heard, and after long debate of the matter, and 
 that the appellant had insisted that cause might be 
 assigned against his call, and the said benchers then 
 present had refused to assign any cause, in regard 
 they did allege they were themselves judges who were 
 fitting to be called to the bench, his lordship was 
 pleased to declare that the call to the bench was not 
 matter of right in any person, but was in point of 
 government only, and that it was discretionary; and 
 both persons and time ought to be left to the judg- 
 ment of the bench in whom the government of the 
 * Book of Orders, Gray's Inn, 1666 to 1730, fol. 305.
 
 428 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 said society resided, and that unless the appellant had 
 been called and then disbenched, no cause need to be 
 assigned why the bench refused the appellant. And 
 then the rest of the judges seriatim delivered their 
 opinions to the like effect; and thereupon the said 
 appeal was dismissed, and the benchers did absolutely 
 refuse to call him the said appellant to the bench." 
 
 In the case of Mr. Hayward, of the Inner Temple, 
 the judges decided on appeal, January, 1847, that a 
 member of the bar acquires no legal right by being 
 made a queen's counsel to be elected a bencher. 
 
 SERJEANTS. 
 
 Of the great antiquity of the degree of Serjeant-at- 
 law we have already spoken. It is the highest de- 
 gree attainable in the faculty of law j and it forms an 
 indispensable qualification for a seat on the judicial 
 bench.* 
 
 Of the estate and degree of a Serjeant-at-law, and 
 how he is created, Fortescuef gives the following ac- 
 count : " But for so much as you desire to know, 
 most gracious prince, for what cause the degrees of 
 bachelors and doctors are riot given in the laws of 
 England, as they are accustomably given in both 
 laws within universities, your majesty shall under- 
 stand, that though these degrees are not given in 
 the laws of England, yet there is given in them, 
 not a degree only, but also a state, no less worship- 
 
 * ' Mirroir.' 1 Rep. Com. L. Com. f De Laudibus, &c., chap. 1.
 
 SERJEANTS. 429 
 
 ful and solemn than the degree of doctor, which is 
 called the degree of a Serjeant-at-law ; and it is given 
 under the manner and form following: The Lord 
 Chief Justice of the Common Bench, by the common 
 counsel and assent of all the justices, useth, as oft 
 as he thinketh good, to choose seven or eight of the 
 discreetest persons that, in the foresaid general study, 
 have most profited in the laws, and which, to the 
 same justices, are thought to be of best disposition, 
 and their names he presenteth to the Lord Chan- 
 cellor of England, in writing, who, incontinent, by 
 virtue of the king's writ, shall charge every of the 
 persons elect to be before the king at a day by 
 him assigned, to take upon him the state and de- 
 gree of a Serjeant-at-law, under a great penalty 
 in every of the said writs limited ; on the which day, 
 every one of them appearing shall be sworn, upon 
 the holy Gospel of God, to be ready at the day and 
 place then appointed, to receive the state and degree 
 aforesaid, and that he, the same day, shall give gold, 
 according to the custom in that behalf used. When 
 the day appointed is come, those elect persons, among 
 other solemnities, must keep a great dinner, like to 
 the feast of a King's Coronation, which shall continue 
 and last by the space of seven days; and none of 
 those elect persons shall defray the charges growing 
 to him, about the costs of this solemnity, with less 
 expenses than the sum of four hundred marks, 
 so that the expenses which eight men, so elect, shall 
 then bestow, will surmount to the sum of three
 
 430 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 thousand marks. Of the which expenses, one parcel 
 shall be this. Every of them shall give rings of gold, 
 to the value of forty pounds sterling at the least: 
 and your chancellor well remembereth that, at what 
 time he received this state and degree, the rings 
 which he then gave stood him in fifty pounds. They 
 give also liveries of cloth, of one suite or colour, in 
 great abundance, not only to their household many, 
 but also to their other friends and acquaintance, 
 which, during the time of the foresaid solemnity, 
 shall attend and waite upon them. Wherefore, 
 though in the universities, they that are promoted 
 to the degree of doctors, do sustain no small charges 
 at the time of their commencement, as in giving of 
 bonnets and other rich gifts, yet they give no gold, 
 nor do bestow any other gifts or costs like unto these 
 expenses. Neither in any country of the world is 
 there any speciall degree given in the laws of the 
 same land, but only in the realm of England. 
 Neither is there any man of law throughout the 
 universal world which, by reason of his office or 
 profession, gaineth so much as one of these Ser- 
 jeants. No man also, be never so cunning and skil- 
 full in the laws of the realm, shall be exalted to 
 the office and dignity of a Justice in the Court of 
 Pleas, before the king, or in the Court of the Com- 
 mon Bench, which are the chief ordinary courts of 
 the same realm, unless he be first promoted to the 
 state and degree of a Serjeant-at-law. Neither shall 
 any then, but only such a Serjeant, plead in the
 
 SERJEANTS. 431 
 
 Court o the Common Bench,* where all real actions 
 are pleaded. Wherefore, to this state and degree 
 hath no man been hitherto admitted, except he hath 
 first continued, by the space of sixteen years, in the 
 said general study of the law, and in token or sign, 
 that all justices are thus graduate, every of them 
 always, while he sitteth in the king's court, weareth 
 a white coif of silk, which is the principal and chief 
 insignement of habit, wherewith Serjeants-at-law in 
 their creation are decked: and neither the justice, 
 nor yet the Serjeant, shall ever put off the coif; 
 no, not in the king's presence, though he be in 
 talk with his majesties highness." 
 
 In the chapters devoted to the Inner and Middle 
 Temples, examples have been given of the formalities 
 oberved in those Inns in ancient times on the call 
 of any gentlemen to the degree of serjeant. In 
 Lincoln's Inn, on the day appointed for taking the 
 degree, the treasurer and masters of the bench meet 
 the serjeant-elect at a breakfast in the council 
 chamber ; from whence he is conducted by the chief 
 porter to the lower end of the hall, where he waits 
 till the treasurer and benchers arrive at the upper 
 end; he then approaches and acquaints them that 
 by writ which he holds in his hand, he is commanded 
 by her majesty to take upon him the degree of 
 
 * By the 9 and 10 Victoria, c. 54, the Court of Common 
 Pleas was opened to all Barristers, and the exclusive audience of 
 Serjeants in that court, which had prevailed for upwards of six 
 hundred years, was abolished.
 
 432 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 Serjeant-at-law, and in an appropriate speech he 
 expresses his regret on quitting the Society. The 
 treasurer or (in his absence) the senior bencher replies 
 to him ; and on taking leave presents him with a gold 
 or silver net-purse containing ten guineas. He is 
 then, as it is termed, rung out of the society by 
 the toll of the chapel bell ; and it is customary 
 for some of the benchers to attend him to West- 
 minster Hall, where he goes through the ceremony 
 of taking the coif. In Gray's Inn the ancient customs 
 are observed with more strictness : 
 
 Michaelmas Term, 1700,* there was a call of ser- 
 jeants, and the four gentlemen undermentioned went 
 from Gray's Inn, viz. : 
 
 BURY, THOS. AGAR, LAURANCE. 
 
 HOOKE, JOHN. SMITH, JOHN. 
 
 The four new Serjeants who were to go from this 
 house, sent to the bench to desire eight of them to be 
 at the Treasury chamber in the Exchequer on the 
 30th of October in the morning, to present the new 
 Serjeants to the Lord Keeper, and they went accord- 
 ingly. On the 5th of November the bench sent to 
 know what time the Serjeants would be pleased to come 
 into the hall, and at the same time invited them to 
 supper after they had taken their leaves of the house. 
 The Serjeants came into the library where the bench 
 were met, who accompanying the Serjeants down into 
 the hall, where Mr. Bury, the eldest in the behalf of 
 
 * Ex Regist. Gray's Inn.
 
 SERJEANTS. 433 
 
 the rest, took his leave of the house, and was answered 
 by Mr. Warner Soutli ; when done they were invited 
 by the bench into the library to the collation. The 
 next day, being the 6th of November, the cavalcade 
 from the rest of the Inns of Court in their formalities 
 with their new Serjeants, and the gentlemen of all the 
 Inns of Chancery came into the hall. The two Chief 
 Justices, and the rest of the judges, were in the 
 library, the old and new Serjeants in Mr. Peere Wil- 
 liams's chamber, and the benchers of the other Inns 
 of Court were in Mr. Ling's chamber; there were 
 four bottles of sack, and a dish of biscuits in each 
 room ; there were sent in by the new Serjeants two 
 runlets of brewed wine, and three boxes of sweet- 
 meats ; about ten o'clock they all came down from the 
 library into the hall, where the Lord Chief Justice 
 Holt performed the ceremony of coifing the Serjeants. 
 About twelve o'clock they set out from the hall to 
 Westminster. The warden of the Fleet's men went 
 first, then the other officers of the Inns of Chancery 
 according to their seniority, then the officers of the 
 Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn, then the officers of 
 the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn." 
 
 In Michaelmas Term, 1772, great formalities were 
 observed in Gray's Inn Hall, on Sir James Eyre's 
 taking the coif on his appointment as one of the 
 puisne Barons of the Exchequer. Sir James, ac- 
 cording to the ancient custom of this house, was 
 presented with a purse of ten guineas. 
 
 The new Serjeant having taken leave of the Society 
 
 F F
 
 434 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 takes up his residence in Serjeants' Inn, where the 
 judges and Serjeants form one community.* 
 
 The oath taken by a serjeant-at-law is given by 
 Coke in the following words: 
 
 1. That he shall well and truly serve the king's people 
 as one of the Serjeants-at-law. 
 
 * The following is a memorandum of the last Serjeants' feast 
 in Gray's Inn. November llth, 1845. This day Robert Allen, 
 Esq. took leave of the society on his being called to the degree 
 of Serjeant-at-law. Pursuant to notice posted in the hall, the 
 learned Serjeant entertained the Benchers, Barristers, and stu- 
 dents, with a sumptuous breakfast. At nine o'clock, the chapel 
 bell was tolled ; and shortly afterwards the members took their 
 seats. The breakfast consisted of various kinds of game and 
 meats, tea, coffee, &c.; fruit, followed by spiced wine, served up 
 in large bowls. Two tables were laid for the Ancients of 
 Barnard's Inn and Staple Inn. The learned Serjeant breakfasted 
 in the Benchers' Room, with the Benchers. As soon as break- 
 fast was concluded, Mr. Serjeant Allen entered the hall, preceded 
 by the mace-bearers, and followed by the Benchers, and all the 
 officers of the society. The Barristers and Students immediately 
 rose and received the Serjeant with loud clapping of hands. 
 Mr. Serjeant Allen, accompanied by the Treasurer and Benchers, 
 walked round the hall, bowing to the members. He wore a full- 
 bottomed wig ; and the state dress of a serjeant, a purple cloth 
 gown, a hood of crimson cloth, and white kid gloves. Having 
 taken his stand at the head of the bar table, and the Trea- 
 surer and Benchers having taken up their position, on the dais, 
 Mr. Serjeant Allen addressed the society in a short speech. He 
 expressed his feeling of deep and lasting gratitude to the society ; 
 they had called him to the bar, and to their favour he owed his 
 advancement in his profession. To Gray's Inn his alma mater 
 he owed everything ; and he should continue to watch over its 
 interests and fame to the latest moments of his life. He alluded
 
 SERJEANTS. 435 
 
 2. That he shall well and truly counsel them that he 
 shall be retained with after his cunning. 
 
 3. That he shall not defer, tract, or delay their causes 
 willingly for covetousness of money, or other thing that 
 may tend to his profit. 
 
 4. That he shall give due attendance accordingly. 
 
 The following anecdote from Mod. Rep. 9, relative 
 to the rings given by Serjeants on their call shews the 
 
 to the escutcheons and memorials of illustrious men, which 
 adorned the walls of their venerable hall, and trusted that the 
 Honourable Society of Gray's Inn would long continue to be a 
 nursery of eminent men. He passed a warm eulogium on the 
 Benchers : they had hitherto been his fathers ; henceforth he 
 hoped to account them his friends. With feelings of deep regret 
 he took leave of the society, and expressed his gratitude for the ex- 
 pression of kind feeling with which he had been honoured by the 
 members. The Treasurer, (Thomas Greene, Esq., of Whittington 
 Hall, Westmoreland, M. P. for Lancaster, and Chairman of Com- 
 mittees to the House of Commons,) then addressed Mr. Serjeant 
 Allen, in the name of the society ; he congratulated him on his 
 attaining the degree of Serjeant-at-law, alluded to the happiness of 
 their meeting on that occasion, and exhorted all the members to 
 endeavour to imitate the actions of the illustrious characters who 
 had been members of this house. He addressed the Barristers and 
 Students with much cordiality, and expressed a hope that every 
 member would feel a laudable zeal for the welfare of their Inn. 
 The Treasurer was loudly applauded. The Treasurer then in 
 the name of the society, presented to Mr. Serjeant Allen, a purse 
 containing 1(V., in sovereigns, as a retaining fee, according to the 
 ancient custom of the Inn. Mr. Serjeant Allen, then, accom- 
 panied by the Benchers, proceeded down the hall, and arriving 
 at the door, bowed, and took his leave. He was loudly cheered 
 on his departure. The Benchers, on their return through the 
 hall, were warmly applauded by the Barristers and Students. 
 The company then left the hall.
 
 436 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 importance which was formerly attached to every pro- 
 ceeding connected with the state and degree of Servians 
 ad legem: "Seventeen Serjeants* being made the 
 4th of November, 21 Car. II., Serjeant Powis, one of 
 the new made Serjeants, coming a day or two after to 
 the King's Bench bar, Chief Justice Keeling told him 
 he had somewhat to say to him, viz. that the rings 
 which he and the rest of his brethren had given weighed 
 but 18s. a piece, whereas Fortescue says, in his book 
 De Laudibus Legum Anglice, that the rings given to 
 the Chief Justices and Chief Baron ought to weigh 
 20*. a piece; and that he spake not this expecting a 
 recompense, but that it might not be drawn into a 
 precedent, and that the young gentlemen there might 
 take notice of it." 
 
 The bands which are worn by Serjeants and counsel 
 are of great antiquity. They were adopted from the 
 clerical costume by the early lawyers, and by the 
 clergy had been copied from the Jewish priests, who 
 wore them as representations of the two tables of the 
 law. Burn f expresses an opinion that bands were 
 adopted by the English clergy in imitation of the 
 Nonconformist divines; but this would scarcely ac- 
 count for their being worn by the Roman Catholic 
 clergy of this kingdom as well as continental countries. 
 Fortescue, describing the costume of a serjeant, says 
 he is " cloathed in a long robe, priest-like, with a 
 furred cape about his shoulders, and thereon a hood 
 
 * The celebrated Scroggs was one of the number, 
 t Ecclesiastical Law.
 
 SERJEANTS' INN. 437 
 
 with two labels, such as Doctors of Laws wear 
 in certain universities with the above described 
 coife."* 
 
 The proper dress of a Serjeant is a violet coloured 
 robe, with a scarlet hood, such as the judges wear 
 when they sit at the Central Criminal Court, but 
 without the black scarf. When the Serjeants go to 
 St. Paul's Cathedral on the first Sunday in Easter 
 Term according to the ancient custom, they wear 
 scarlet robes, and on circuit they wear black silk 
 gowns. In the orders of 1635 relative to the cos- 
 tume of the judges it is said: "When the judges 
 go to any reader's feast they go upon the Sunday or 
 holiday in scarlet, upon other days in violet with 
 scarlet casting hoods, and the Serjeants go in vio- 
 let with scarlet hoods." 
 
 SERJEANTS' INN. 
 
 It was noted in former times, as an example of the 
 high estimation in which the state and degree of 
 Serjeant was held, that the judges of this country 
 never assumed a higher title for the Inn in which 
 they lived in fellowship, after taking leave of their 
 
 * Le inception del wearing del coifes p le seruients al ley fuifc 
 quia in initio fueront fryers et p ceo fuit a couer lour bald pates 
 vid Sir Henry Spillman. The coyf is in similitud of a salet 
 or headpeic, signifies that a saluted soldier ought to be bold 
 in warr So ought they in ther clients causes. It signifies 
 allso an honour. The uncovering of the head being a badge of 
 servise. Spell. Gloss, voce coifa vid. Wakes musa) regnantes. 
 Harl. MSB. 980 p. i.
 
 438 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 respective Inns of Court, than that of ' Serjeants' 
 Inn.'* There were formerly three Inns for the re- 
 ception of judges, and such as had attained the 
 dignity of the coif, Scroop's Inn, or Serjeants' Place, 
 opposite St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, Serjeants' 
 Inn, Fleet Street, which was held by lease under 
 the Dean and Chapter of York, now disused as an 
 Inn for Serjeants, and Serjeants' Inn, Chancery Lane, 
 formerly called ' Faryndon Inn,'f the only place that 
 can now, with propriety, be termed Serjeants 1 Inn. 
 
 This Inn is situated in Chancery Lane, out of 
 which there is an entrance into Clifford's Inn. The 
 old fapade of Serjeants' Inn Hall was much admired. 
 
 In 17 Richard II., we find mention is made of 
 this house, the inheritance whereof belonged to the 
 Bishop of Ely ; at which time it was called Tenemen- 
 tum Domini John Skarle, and was let, by the bishop's 
 appointment, to one of the six clerks of the Chan- 
 cery as appears by the bailiff's account to the then 
 bishop. In 1411, 12 Henry IV., it was called 
 Faryndon Inne, and it appears that the serjeants- 
 at-law had lodgings here at that time. 
 
 In 1417, 7 Henry V., the whole house was demised 
 to the judges and others learned in the law; and 
 
 * Case of the Serjeants, 8 Scott, 430. See 1 Lord Raymond, 
 604. ' Manning's Serviens ad Legem ;' Dug. ' Chronica Series.' 
 See 9 and 10 Viet. c. 54. 
 
 t So called after Robert Faryndon, ' Glericus doin. regis.' 5 
 Hen. IV., anno 1404; whose name is perpetuated in the modern 
 Farringdon Street and Market.
 
 SERJEANTS' INN. 439 
 
 there is accounted to the bishop 61. 13s. 4d. " Pro 
 Faryndon's Inne in Chancery Lane, dimisso Rogero 
 Horton et Willielme Cheney, justiciariis, et Wal- 
 tero Askhara, apprentisio legis." 
 
 Dugdale was of opinion that the judges and ser- 
 jeants were not constant tenants to the bishops in 
 those days for this house, for in the year 1425, 
 3 Henry VI., these are the words of the bailiff's 
 account, " Hospicium in Chancellor's Lane stetit 
 inoccupatum per totum annum circa reparationem 
 ejusdem, et contra annum sequentem dimittitur F. 
 Martyn and Jacobo Strangwiz, et T. Rolfe, justiciariis 
 ad 5/." In the year 1430, 9 Hen. VI., we find it 
 described as Hospicium Justiciariorum. Ten years 
 afterwards the inn was demised to John Hody 
 " et aliis servientibus legis," for the rent of 5/. per 
 a" 1 .* In the year 1474, 14 Edw. IV., it was let to 
 Sir Kobert Danby, then Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas and others at 4/. per a m . In 1470, Sir 
 Thomas Grey occupied it, and in 2 Rich. III., the 
 same Sir R. Grey had a new lease of the premises, by 
 the name of " Hospicium vocatum Serjeants' Inne, 
 Chancellor's Lane," at 4:1. per a m . In the last year 
 Hen. VII., it was demised by indenture under the 
 same name to John Mordaunt and Humphrey Conings- 
 by king's Serjeants-at-law, for 4 per a m . 
 
 * This may be a convenient place to remind the reader that 
 40s. in the reign of Hen. VI., has been computed to be equal to 
 122. in the reign of Queen Anne.
 
 440 INNS OF COURT. 
 
 In 2 Edw. VI., T. Goodrick, then Bishop of Ely, 
 "by a lease, bearing date the 17th of December, 
 demised the Inn to Christopher Fulnetby, his brother- 
 in-law, for eighty-one years; which lease coming, 
 by mean assignment, to Sir Anthony Ashley, knight, 
 and then, by surrender, to Bishop Felton, that bishop 
 granted it to the said Sir Anthony, for three lives, 
 (viz. of Phil., then his wife, since married to Carey 
 Rawley, Esq., and two of his servants,) under whom 
 the judges and Serjeants do now hold it."* 
 
 The hall, to which the ascent was formerly by a 
 handsome flight of steps, is about sixteen yards long, 
 by nine broad. In the great window, over the prin- 
 cipal entrance, are several coats of arms, in stained 
 glass, of gentlemen who have belonged to the Inn. 
 The opposite window, at the further end of the 
 hall, is likewise decorated with coats of arms. 
 
 During term time, the judges and Serjeants, as 
 members of the society of Serjeants' Inn, dine to- 
 gether. Out of term, the hall is frequently used 
 as a place for holding the revenue sittings of the 
 Court of Exchequer, and in this hall the judges 
 sit as visitors of the Inns of Court, when any ques- 
 tion is brought before them on appeal. 
 * Dugdale. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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