A brief history of the Middle Temple

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A BEIEF HISTORY OF THE
MIDDLE TEMPLE

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A BEIEF HISTOEY

OF THE

MIDDLE TEMPLE

BY

C. E. A. BEDWELL

LIBRARIAN TO THE HON. SOCIETY OF THE
MIDDLE TEMPLE

LONDON :

BUTTBEWORTH & CO., 11 & 12, Bell Yard, Temple Bar.
ILaw ipublisbers.

1909.

PRtNTKD BY

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,

LONDON AND BECCLES.

PREFACE

This little book is published in response
to a suggestion to reprint an article from
the Quarterly Review of October, 1908.
To it has been added matter which has
already appeared in the columns of the
Law Magazine and Review and the Green
Bag, with some additional notes. The
result does not pretend to be a syste-
matic history of the Inn. Even if the
writer were able to undertake a work of
that scope, the time is not opportune for
its publication, since Mr. A. R. Ingpen,
K.C., is engaged upon the preparation of a
new edition of the MS. known as '^ Master
Worsley's Book," giving an account of
the Constitution, Customs and Usage

vi PREFACE

of the Honourable Society. But it is
thought that some of the more important
facts concerning the Inn and its mem-
bers may be acceptable to those who are
about to become members, or who have
recently done so, and visitors who are
charmed by the historical associations
and beauty of the venerable foundation.

An attempt has been made to secure
accuracy by reference to original autho-
rities, but the writer will be grateful to
any one who directs his attention to
mistakes or doubtful points, in case it
should become desirable to reprint the
whole or some portion at any time.

It is with much pleasure that I express
my thanks to my late chief, Mr. John
Hutchinson, for having kindly read and
approved the proofs of these pages.

C. E. A. B.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. The Origin of the Inns of Court . 1

II. The Two Temples . . . .12
III. America and the Middle Temple . 33

IV. The Restoration and after . . 51
V. The Middle Temple in the

Eighteenth Century ... 67

VI. The Middle Temple Library . . 79
VII. Some Distinguished Members of the

Middle Temple . . . .100

Index 126

THE

MIDDLE TEMPLE

THE ORIGIN OF THE INNS
OF COURT.*

The essential functions of a true univer-
sity, as defined by Dr. Kashdall, " are to
make possible the life of study, whether
for a few years or during a whole career,
and to bring together during that period,
face to face in living intercourse, teacher
and teacher, teacher and student, student
and student." f In their origin the
universities were scholastic guilds either
of masters or students. The masters
formed a voluntary association, enacting

* In connection with the subject of this chapter reference
may be made to Mr. Hutchinson's " Inquiry into the Origin
and Early History of the Inn," in the first volume of the
Middle Temple Records.

t " Universities in the Middle Ages," vol. ii. p. 714.

M.T. B

2 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

rules for admission to membership, which
was accompanied by feasting and the
giving of presents. The social side of
their organisation was as prominent
among the masters and scholars as in
the guilds of tradesmen and apprentices.
The new doctor was required to give a
feast upon the attainment of his degree,
while even more magnificent entertain-
ments were provided sometimes, such as
tilts and tournaments.

From the beginning the Inns of Court
possessed, and they still retain, the main
features of the life of the university,
based upon the procedure of the medieval
guild. As they were guilds of masters,
the natural inference is that the Serjeants,
the doctors of the law, were the founders ;
but the available evidence is to the con-
trary. The earliest records of the rela-
tions between the two bodies show that
the Serjeant, upon attaining his degree,
entirely severed his connexion with the
Inn. If the Serjeant were afterwards

GUILDS OF MASTERS 3

chosen to be a judge, he might then have
the opportunity, with his brethren, to
exercise the domestic jurisdiction which
they possessed as visitors, and which
survives in the appeal to the judges
from a refusal of the benchers to call a
student to the Bar. No affinity can be
traced between the masters (who formed
the governing body of the Inns) and the
Serjeants. The masters possessed the
monopoly of granting the degree — the call
to the Bar; but there is no evidence to
show when and from whom they derived
it, though it may be assumed that the
judges were the original source of the
authority. "It is probable, if reliance
may be placed on the analogous practice
at the Bar at Paris, the Master testified
to the attainments of his pupils being
such as to entitle them to be admitted
to audience at the Bar of the Court." *

* Introduction to " Black Books of Lincoln's Inn," vol. i.
p. xxxix. In some of the forms of procedure in Lincoln's Inn
Mr. Douglas Walker traces indebtedness to the University
of Paris.

4 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

It was to the justices that Edward I.*
committed the duty of maintaining
the supply of professional advocates,
which was required upon the final dis-
appearance of cleri causidici from West-
minster Hall, ahout the middle of the
thirteenth century. So soon as the
students came together in any number
to learn from the masters, the necessity
would be felt for an inn or hostel of
residence.

The earliest mention of a hostel con-
taining apprentices of the law — the term
does not mean students f — occurs in the
Year Books in 1348. From about the
same period may be dated the beginning
of the four Inns of Court, which are
almost coincident in antiquity, similar

* "Rolls of Parliament," vol. i. p. 84; and see Holds-
worth's "History of English Law," vol. ii. p. 265.

t It has been suggested that the word denotes a rank in
the profession above even that of Reader. Plowden, who
was Double Reader at the Middle Temple, is described on
the title-page of his Reports as an apprentice of the common
law. See article by Mr. J. R. V. Marchant in Law Quarterly
Review, vol. xxi. p. 353.

LAWYERS' HOSPITIA 5

in constitution, and identical in purpose.
The number four suggests a grouping
such as that found in the early histories
of Paris, Oxford, and other universities
known as the four nations. The migra-
tory habits of the medieval scholar are
frequently apparent in the early history
of academic institutions, so that there
is no need to endeavour to trace the
steps by which the apprentices of the
law first reached their present abiding
places, which were in use previously as
hospitia. The earliest direct piece of
evidence of apprentices of the law dwell-
ing in the Temple occurs in Walsing-
ham's account of Wat Tyler's rebellion
in 1381. The Knights Hospitallers, or
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, let
the property to the lawyers, merely re-
serving the church, with its two chapels
of St. Nicholas and St. John, the adjoin-
ing chapel of St. Ann, and such tene-
ments as they required for their own use.
From the end of the fourteenth century

6 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

may be dated Chaucer's description, in the
Prologue to the *' Canterbury Tales," of

" A gentle maunciple was ther of a temple . . .
Of maistres hadde he mo than thryes ten,
That were of lawe expert and curious ;
Of which ther were a doseyn in that hous,
Worthy to ben stiwardes of rente and lond
Of any lord that is in Engelond."

Commentators upon this passage have
laid stress upon the mention of the
Temple — though Professor Skeat regards
it merely as an allusion to an inn of court
— and have made no note of the thirty
governing masters suggesting an organi-
sation in the nature of a guild.

Dugdale, in his " Origines Juridiciales,"
tells us that, notwithstanding the spoil
by the rebels under Wat Tyler, the
number of students so increased ''that
at length they divided themselves in two
bodies, the one commonly known by the
Society of the Inner Temple and the
other of the Middle Temple.'' Thus
the university in the Temple took part

THE TWO TEMPLES 7

in the general movement which led Dr.
Eashdall to describe the fifteenth century
as '* the era of ' University Buildings. ' "
"About the year 1440," he writes,
"the universities all over Europe were
endeavouring to provide themselves with
buildings of their own.''* The earliest
reference which has been found to one
Inn apart from the others is in a will in
Somerset House dated 1404, in which a
bequest is made to " Koberto mancipio
medii Templi,"f and in the year 1440
the Inner Temple is mentioned for the
first time.t In 1442 the "Black Books
of Lincoln's Inn" record a "drinking"
with the members of the Middle Temple,
and in 1451 the " Mydill Inne " and the
" Inner Inne " are both mentioned in the
" Paston Letters." We are thus enabled
to see the corporate forms of the two

* " Universities in the Middle Ages," vol. ii. p. 463.

t The credit for this discovery is due to Mr. W. L.
Bolland, who published it in the Law Quarterly Beview,
vol. xxiv. p. 402.

X " Paston Letters " (1895), vol. i. p. 41.

8 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

societies slowly emerging from the mists
of the past. Neither can claim seniority
to the other. The one body underwent
the normal development and grew into
two, possessing absolutely equal rights
in the church and contiguous property,
which have been maintained down to the
present time. The process of gestation
is described in a MS. among the Inner
Temple Kecords, which states that during
the reign of Henry VI. the lawyers

"were multiplied and grown into soe great a
bulke as could not conveniently be regulated
into one Society, nor, indeed, was the old hall
capable of containing so great a number, where-
upon they were forced to divide themselves. A
new hall was then erected, which is now the
Junior Temple Hall, whereunto divers of those
who before took their repast and diet in the old
hall resorted, and in process of time became a
distinct and divided Society." *

One of the most conclusive pieces of
evidence of the complete equality of the
two houses is afforded by the dispute

* " Inner Temple Records," vol. i. p. xviii.

EQUALITY OF THE INNS 9

which arose in 1620 as to the administra-
tion of the Holy Commnnion by the
Master of the Temple to the Benchers.
It was contended that he showed a pre-
ference to the Inner Temple. After
some discussion the matter was referred
to a committee representative of Benchers
of both Inns. They came to the con-
clusion, unanimously supported by the
members of the two societies, that there
was no difference in the matter of anti-
quity— **both the Temples being one
congregation of gentlemen, between
whom there never was any precedence in
anything." * A method of alternative
administration was adopted to show an
equal consideration to both Houses.

Sir John Fortescue, whose treatise
"De Laudibus Legum Anglias " was
written about the year 1470, makes no
allusion to the origin of the Inns, but
gives an interesting account of their

♦ "Middle Temple Records — Minutes of Parliament,"
vol. ii. p. 648.

lo THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

condition in his day. There were ten
lesser Inns, called Inns of Chancery,

" in each of which there are a hundred students
at the least ; and, in some of them, a far greater
number, though not constantly residing. The
students are, for the most part, young men.
. . . After they have made some progress here,
and are more advanced in years, they are
admitted into the Inns of Court, properly so-
called. Of these there are four in number. In
that which is the least frequented, there are
about two hundred students.* . . . The students
are sons to persons of quality; those of an
inferior rank not being able to bear the expenses
of maintaining and educating their children in
this way."

The curriculum contained various sub-
jects of general education, so that the
Inn of Court did not differ much from
the medieval continental university, in
which law was the leading faculty. There
was the same system of discipline, of
celibate life, of a common hall, of resi-

* It has been suggested that this number is much ex-
aggerated. Compare the statistics of more than a century
later on p. 15, and see Herbert's " Inns of Court," p. 171.

INNS OF CHANCERY ii

denoe in community, and of compulsory
attendance at the services of the Church.
The educational requirements were
steadily raised during the sixteenth cen-
tury. It is difficult to define the status
of the Inns of Chancery in their earliest
days, but by the time of Fortesoue the
relationship of each one to the Inn of
Court to which it was attached ap-
proached to that of a college to its
university. The Inn of Court appointed
Eeaders for its Inns of Chancery, settled
the precedence of the principals, admitted
their members at a reduced fee, and
entertained their ancients at grand feasts
and festivals. Each Inn of Chancery had
its own hall for meetings, moots, readings,
and festivity. The Inns of Chancery
seem to have fallen into decadence dur-
ing the reign of James I., and gradually
diminished in importance, until the pro-
ceedings in 1900, before the Court of
Chancery, in regard to the sale of Clifford's
Inn, marked their final disappearance.

II

ORGANISATION AND GROWTH
OF THE TWO TEMPLES

The records of Lincoln's Inn are in
existence for nearly one hundred years
before the volumes remaining in the
custody of either the Middle Temple or
the Inner Temple. The former date
from 1501 and the latter from 1505. It
has been supposed that the earlier records
were kept in some common repository,
where they suffered destruction ; but an
entry on the first page of the " Middle
Temple Eecords " suggests that the books
of the society were in the care of the
Treasurer. The more probable assump-
tion would seem to be that at this period
the organisation of the two Societies was
so far solidified as to afford material for

BARRISTERS' ROLL 13

a ** Liber Constitutionis " for the infor-
mation of the chief governor, but that
the proceedings of the administrative
assembly, known as the Parliament, had
not yet attained sufficient importance to
necessitate the preservation of a con-
tinuous record in the custody of the Inn.
A description of the Inns, written for
the information of Henry VIII. by Sir
Nicholas Bacon and his two friends,
Thomas Denton and Eobert Gary, states
that a Parliament was summoned " every
quarter, one or more if need shall require,
... for the good ordering of the house
and the reformation of such things as
seeme meet to be reformed.'^ *

To the year 1563 has been traced the
origin of the Barristers' Eoll,t which is
an authoritative record of the members
of the Inns of Court who are entitled to
practise in the Courts. By a statute of
that year " all manner of person or

* Waterhous, " Fortescutus Illustratus, p. 646.
t Mr. W. C. Bolland, Law Quarterly Review, vol. xxiii.
p. 439.

14 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

persons that have taken or hereafter shall
take any degree of learning in or at the
common lawes of this realm, as well
utter Barristers as Benchers, Headers,
ancientes of any house or houses of
Court," were required to take the Oath
of Supremacy. Various modifications
were made in this rule, both by statute
and the orders of the Benchers, until, by
another Act in 1688, the oath itself was
changed, and all oaths were required to
be taken in open court either of the
King's Bench or quarter sessions. At
the same time the names were enrolled,
and the lists are preserved in the Public
Eecord Office. By the Promissory Oaths
Act, 1868, barristers were no longer re-
quired to take the oath; but Cockburn,
C.J., considered it to be highly desirable
that a roll of barristers should still be
preserved in the Crown Office. The
signing of the roll is one of the incidents
after call to the Bar.
In 1574, according to a return preserved

SIZE OF THE INNS 15

in the Public Eecord Office,* Gray's Inn
had the largest number of members, and
perhaps on that account took a lead
among the Inns.f There were in the
Inner Temple 15 benchers, 23 utter
barristers, and 151 other gentlemen.
The total number of Middle Templars
was one more, comprising 11 benchers,
40 utter barristers, and 139 other gentle-
men. The Inner Temple had 100, and
the Middle Temple 92 chambers. To
the latter may be added the chambers,
not exceeding ten in number, into which
the old hall was converted by a special
exception in the orders of the Privy
Council against the erection of new
buildings. Eeference may here be made
to the building in front of the Middle
Temple Hall, which was pulled down
during the spring of 1908. The claim
has been put forward that it was the
oldest building in the Temple, and was

* Printed in the " Inner Temple Records," vol. i. p. 468.
t See " Black Books of Lincoln's Inn," vol. i. pp. 222, 251.

i6 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
To it Spenser is supposed to have alluded
in the lines —

" those bricky towres
The which on Themmes brode aged backe doe

ryde,
Where now the studious lawyers have their

bowers
Where whylome wont the Templer Knights to

byde."

There is nothing in the passage to suggest
Brick Court in preference to any other
brick building in the Temple; and the
structure removed was certainly not the
oldest portion of the Court, as there were
earlier chambers on the west side, facing
Middle Temple Lane, the chief dividing
line between the properties of the two
Inns. The lane is not now of the same
importance as when a right of way for
the citizens of London lay through the
Temple, in order that they might take
boat to Westminster from the Temple
Stairs.

MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL 17

During the last quarter of the sixteenth
century the Middle Temple Hall was
erected and still remains one of the finest
specimens of Elizabethan architecture.
By day the light is diffused through the
stained-glass windows containing the
coats-of-arms of distinguished members,
and at night the electric lamps illumine
the hammer-beam roof and the fine oak
screen, which is a magnificent piece of
Eenaissance work. Upon the panelling
around the walls are the arms of the
Headers, and above the Benchers' Table
hang full-length portraits of the first
two Georges, of Elizabeth, of Anne, of
William III., of Charles I., of Charles IL,
and of his brother, James, Duke of York.
The extension of the buildings necessi-
tated by the growth of the two societies
naturally suggested to the Benchers that
they should be sure of their title to the
property, upon which had been spent
large sums of money. Accordingly,
application was made to King James,
M.T. 0

i8 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

whose grant confirmed it to them in per-
petuity for an annual payment by each
society of £10 per annum.

The patent, dated August 13, 1608,
is the only formal document concerning
the relation between the Crown and the
Inns, wherein they are stated to have
been — according to the translation made
for the use of the Eoyal Commission of
the Inns of Court and Chancery in
1854—

" For a long time dedicated to the use of the
students and professors of the law, to which, as
to the best seminaries of learning and education,
very many young men, eminent for rank of
family and their endowments of mind and body,
have daily resorted from all parts of this realm,
and from which many men in our own times, as
well as in the times of our progenitors, have by
reason of their very great merits been advanced
to discharge the public and arduous functions
as well of the State as of justice, in which they
have exhibited great examples of prudence and
integrity, to the no small honour of the said
Profession and adornment of this realm and
good of the whole commonwealth."

PATENT OF JAMES I 19

The payment by the Inns was commuted
in 1676 for the sum of JCSO and a life
interest to Charles II. 's queen. As an
acknowledgment of the King's goodwill,
the two Inns presented to him a gold
cup of the present value of about £3500.
It was pawned by Charles I. among other
plate and jewels to an Amsterdam mer-
chant, and does not appear to have been
redeemed, nor is it known to exist in any
collection in Holland. The patent is
preserved in the church in a chest under
the Communion table.

Of the condition of the Inns of Court
at this period there remains a contem-
porary record of the highest authority.
Sir Edward Coke* describes the course
for the young student coming from a
university to one of the eight Inns of
Chancery and thence to an Inn of Court.

"Each of the Houses of Court consists of
Readers above twenty ; of Utter Barristers
above thrice so many; of young gentlemen

* Proeme to Third Report, pp. xxxv., xxxviL

20 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

about the number of eight or nine score, who
there spend their time in study of law, and in
commendable exercises fit for gentlemen." The
Utter Barristers were chosen from the moot-
men after eight years' study or thereabouts.
" Of Utter Barristers, after they have been of
that degree twelve years at least, are chosen
Benchers, or Ancients ; of which one, that is
of the puisne sort, reads yearly in summer
vacation and is called a single Keader ; and
one of the Ancients that had formerly read,
reads in Lent vacation, and is called a double
Reader; and commonly it is between his first
and second reading, about nine or ten years. . . .
Of these Readers are Serjeants elected by the
King. ... Of Serjeants are by the King also
constituted the honourable and reverend
judges."

The Benchers made orders for the good
government of the Inn and punished
offenders either by fine, by forfeiture of
their chambers, by putting out of com-
mons, or, in extreme cases, by expulsion
from the House. The Eeader was the
representative of the Inn for educational
purposes. In him formerly was vested

READING 21

the right to call to the bar. Students
were obliged to attend his readings upon
a particular branch of law, which occasion-
ally furnished the material for published
treatises. But the extent of his learning
occupies an insignificant place by the
side of the magnificence of the feast
which he was expected to give during
the period of his reading.

Sir James Whitelocke, in his '* Liber
Pamelicus/* gives a full and interesting
account of his Beading in the year 1619.
After detailing the gifts received and
bestowed upon the occasion, he pro-
ceeds—

** Upon Sunday the 1 of Aug. I promised the
dean of Westminster* to preache with us. I
wente to churche everye morning and evening
the whole reading, accompanyed with sutche
benchers, cubberdmen and senior barristers as
wolde goe withe me. I red everye Munday,
Wednesday and Fryday, the two first weekes in
August. Upon those dayes on whiche I red

* Kobert Townson, D.D., afterwards Bishop of Salisbury.

22 , THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

thear was a breakfast in the parliament cham-
ber, not on the other.

"Upon Monday the first day, after breakfast,
I went to the cubberd, and thear, before all the
house, toke the othe of supreamacy, then wente
to my place, the northe end of the long table,
whear mr. Palmer, a Londoner born, my sub-
lector, red my statute, 21 Henry viii. ca.
13 . . .

" My statute was published at the benche table
upon Sunday after supper, the night e before my
reading began. The first Fryday after the
reading began I and sum of the ancients went to
Tuttle [? Tothill fields] and played at bowles,
according to the ancient custom, and ther the
dean of Westminster met us, and played withe
us.

" I ended the Fryday senighte after I began.

"I sat bare when I red, but double readers
sit covered ; yet toke place at all other times,
and at the table, of all that came to me . . .

'* I had geste in my reading the master of
wardes,* the master of the rolles, t the
sollicitor,t sergeant Davis, the king's sergeant

* Sir Lionel Cranfield. f Sir Julius Csesar.

X Sir Thomas Coventry.

READER'S FEAST 23

heer and in Ireland, the king's attorney,* the
dean of Westminster, and divers knightes and
men of good qualitye. At the feast I had the
embassadour of the Low Countryes,t the arch-
bishop of Canterbury e, J the privie seal,§ the
archbishop of SpalataJI the bishops of Lon-
don,! Rochester,** and Llandaff,tt nominated
to Chichester, the lord Norris,tt the master of
the wardes, the dean of Westminster, and divers
knightes and gentlemen, and at the feast I
admitted the archbishop of Spalata, the dean
of Windsor and master of the Savoy,§§ and Sir
Henrye Foliot, a great soldiour of Ireland. The
feast was on Tuesday the 10 of August.

" This reading I admitted into the house my
only sun Bulstrode Whitelocke, being 14 yeares
of age 3 dayes before."

From the Eeaders was chosen the
Treasurer, who was the "principall and
supreme oflficer " in the Inn. The con-

* Sir Henry Yelverton t Sir Albertus Joachimi.

t Archbishop Abbot. § Edward, Earl of Worcester.

II Marc Antonio de Dominis. ^ Bishop King.

** Bishop Buckeridge. ft Bishop Carleton.

XX Francis, Lord Norris, afterwards Earl of Berkshire.
§§ The Archbishop of Spalata was both Dean of Windsor
and Master of the Savoy.

24 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

trol of affairs was at first exercised by
Governors, but the increase in the
financial business necessitated the ap-
pointment of a separate officer; and
naturally, in process of time, a large
amount of power passed into his hands.
The post was created at Lincoln's Inn in
1455, but more than a century afterwards
Governors were still appointed at the
Inner Temple. Gray's Inn appears at
one time to have had two Treasurers ;
and at the Middle Temple there was an
Under- Treasurer who was a member but
not a Bencher of the Inn. Mr. Inder-
wick defines the duties of the Treasurer
as follows : —

"(1) To admit to the Society such as he
thought fit ; (2) to assign chambers to members
of the Inn ; (3) to collect the pensions or dues
and to receive the fines on admissions to cham-
bers ; (4) to pay the rent to the Lord of St.
John's and the cost of all repairs done to the
chambers, and generally to maintain the Inn ;
(5) to pay all wages and to appoint subordinate

THE TREASURER 25

officials ; (6) to render yearly an account of his
office, to be audited by members [? Benchers] of
the Inn."

These duties were performed subject, in
a greater or less degree at the different
Inns, to the approval of the Benchers.
Some Treasurers had more authority than
others, especially when they were con-
tinued in oflSce for a period of years
instead of retiring at the end of one;
but a new Treasurer has been chosen
each year since the seventeenth century.
At the present time the office rests rather
upon customary right than specific enact-
ment. As ex'officio chairman of all com-
mittees, the Treasurer may take an
important part in the deliberations and
work of the society.

To trace the numerous changes which
have taken place in the system of legal
education since Fortescue's days is beyond
the present purpose ; but the orders made
by the Privy Council and adopted by the
Benchers in 1614 may be epitomised, as

26 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

they consolidate the rules existing at the
time of the patent and form the founda-
tion of subsequent regulations. On
account of '^the great abuse in the
lodging and harbouring of ill subjects
or dangerous persons,'* the Inns were
to be searched for strangers at regular
intervals. " For that the societies ought
to give a principal example of good
government in matters of religion, and
to be free not only from the crime but
from the suspicion of ill-affection in that
kind,'* every gentleman was required to
receive Communion annually under
penalty of expulsion. As these insti-
tutions were ordained chiefly for the
profession of the law, and secondarily
for the purposes of general education,
**no knight or gentleman, foreigner or
discontinuer,'* was to be admitted to
lodge there, so that they might not be
turned from Hospitia (inns) to Diversoria
(taverns). In order to preserve the
difference between a councillor at law.

CALL TO THE BAR 27

"which is the principal person next
unto Serjeants and judges, . . . and
attorneys and solicitors, which are but
ministerial persons, and of an inferior
nature," no attorney or solicitor was
henceforth to be admitted of any of the
four Houses of Court. Owing to the
excessive number of lawyers, no Inn
was to call to the bar in one year more
than eight ; and, in order that they might
be sufficiently grounded, none was to
practise until he had been three years at
the bar, "except such utter barristers
that have been readers in some Houses
of Chancery/' The requests from dis-
tinguished personages to the Benchers
that their proteges might be called to the
bar had helped to increase the numbers
to an undesirable extent. In order that
due attention might be given to learning,
a minimum duration was enforced for
the reading, while playing and other dis-
orders were to be put down. Finally,
decency in apparel and due regard for the

28 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

governing authorities were required from
the members.

The first regulation as to the search
for strangers was especially necessary, as
the Temple was a place of sanctuary.
Dissolute and evil-disposed persons ob-
tained entrance by surreptitious means,
to the annoyance of law-abiding and
decent people. Their presence was
harmful to the young students, who,
without the assistance of these rough
characters, were too frequently disposed
to riot and debauchery. The right of
sanctuary was abolished in 1624; but
the Temple and some other ancient
places were still used as refuges by
malefactors and debtors. At last, as
Lord Macaulay records, the nuisance
became so great that another Act was
passed in 1697 to effect its complete
suppression.

Besides granting to the two Inns the
property of which they were tenants, the
patent also assigned to them ** all that

TEMPLE CHURCH 29

Church, edifices and buildings of the
Church used for or dedicated to Divine
Worship, Prayers and celebrating the
Sacraments and Sacramentals, commonly
called the Temple Church," with the
condition that they should be well and
sufficiently maintained by the two Inns.
The appointment of the Master of the
Temple was reserved to the Crown ; but
the two Inns alternately choose his
assistant, the Reader. It would be be-
yond the present purpose to give a
history of the church and to describe
in detail the building,* but something
must be said of its condition at the time
when it came into the possession of the
Inns. It was fallen into an almost
ruinous condition.

'*The roof was dilapidated; the glass in the
windows was broken ; the venerable monuments
of antiquity, and the more modern but not less

* Both have been admirably accomplished in "The
Temple Church," by T. Henry Baylis, K.C., and "The
Temple Church," by George Worley.

30 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

costly and elegant structures of the Elizabethan
era, unprotected from injury by accident or
design, had fallen into decay; the pews were
rotten, and even the iron bars that should have
held the windows were themselves consumed by
rust." *

The surroundings were entirely out of
harmony with the precincts of a sacred
edifice. The Benchers at once issued
orders for the remedy of this state of
affairs. The improvement in its con-
dition was to their own advantage, as
Dugdale tells us that the church ''all
the terme time hath in it no more quiet-
nesse than the Pervyse of Pawles, by
occasion of the confluence and concourse
of such as are suters in the law."

The increased security of tenure
assured by the grant of James I. was
followed by further building. The Inner
Temple gateway was erected in 1610.
The room above it is decorated with the
arms of Prince Henry, who died in 1612,

* " Inner Temple Kecords/' n. xxvii.

CHAMBERS 31

and, having escaped the Fire of London,
is now preserved to the public use in
perpetuity under the care of the London
County Council. The procedure in the
erection of new buildings was for a
member to obtain permission from the
Benchers to provide himself with a set
of chambers at his own cost, as the Inn
had no capital fund for the purpose. In
return, the undertaker was allowed to
call the building by his own name, and
to have a personal right of occupation
for Hfe, and a further right to nominate a
certain number of successors from among
members of the Society who might be-
come tenants, without any payment to
the Inn. Naturally it was often Benchers
who were able to carry out these under-
takings ; but, if they had not their own
buildings, it was customary for them to
be admitted into a set of chambers
reserved as Benchers' Chambers, with
special rights as to exclusive occupation
or terms upon which members were

32 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

entitled to joint tenancy. Some of the
officers of the courts, such as the Clerk
of the Crown Office and the Protho-
notary of the Common Pleas, had offices
in the Temple. In addition to the build-
ings for the members there were various
stalls and shops, which were allowed by
the Benchers, but regulated from time to
time.

Ill

AMERICA AND THE MIDDLE
TEMPLE

In 1555 Richard Hakluyt, cousin of the
Geographer, was admitted to membership
of the Middle Temple and Chambers.
Among his contemporaries was Miles
Sandys, brother of Edwin Sandys, after-
wards Archbishop of York. Some time
before 1570 young Eichard Hakluyt, then
studying at Westminster School, came
to visit his cousin at his chambers in the
Temple, and *' found lying upon his boord
certeine bookes of Cosmographie with an
universall Mappe'' which aroused his
curiosity. The elder Richard, no doubt
glad to have a ready listener, gave him
a long '* discourse'* which so impressed

M.T. D

34 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

the young man as to induce him to form
a resolution that he ** would by God's
assistance prosecute that knowledge and
kinde of literature the doores whereof
(after a sort) were so happily opened
before me." * Thus in the Middle Temple
was begun the record of the geographical
inquiry which has transfigured the map
and revolutionised the history of the
world.

On January 27, 1574-5, was admitted
Anthony Ashley, son and heir of Anthony
Ashley, of Dome, Wilts, who may be
identified with the clerk of the Privy
Council of that name, and therefore with
the translator of Waghenaer's important
naval work.f In the following month
Walter Raleigh became a member, and
seems to have lived in the Temple for
at least two years, though at his trial he
declared, " if I ever read a word of the

* " The Epistle Dedicatorie to the Prmcipal Navigations,"
1589.
t See " Dictionary of National Biography," and infray p. 80.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH 35

law and statutes before I was a prisoner
in the Tower, God confound me.'' * He
became a friend of Hakluyt the elder,
who resided continuously in the Temple
until his death in 1591.

On April 27, 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh
sent forth the first expedition to colonise
Virginia in " two barkes under the com-
mando of Master Philip Amadas, and
Master Arthur Barlow." f One Philip
Amadas, son and heir of John Amadas
of Plymouth, was fined by the Benchers
of the Middle Temple on May 28 of that
year for being absent from his studies in
Lent Term, and his name does not appear
again in the records. If the " Dictionary
of National Biography'' is right in iden-
tifying Ealph Lane, who followed soon
after Amadas and, in due course, became
the first Governor of Virginia, with the
second son of Sir Ealph Lane of Horton,
Northamptonshire, then he too was a

* " state Trials," vol. ii. col. 16.

t " Purchas's Pilgrimages," xviii. (Hakluyt Society) 298.

36 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Middle Templar. In the same year as
Sir Walter Ealeigh sent forth his expedi-
tion, his step-brother Adrian Gilbert, also
a Middle Templar, and younger brother
of the more famous Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
obtained a patent incorporating him with
certain associates under the name of the
Colleagues of the Fellowship for the
discovery of the North-West Passage.

Hakluyt does not appear to have
practised the law by which course he
would have attained to the office of
Keader and probably Treasurer, but in
1585, on account of his standing and long
association with the Inn, he was invited
to become an associate with the Bench.
In the same year he published his treatise
containing "inducements to the liking
of the voyage intended towards Virginia
in 40° and 42° of latitude.'^ His first
reason was " the glory of God by planting
religion among these infidels," and there
is no doubt that a strong rehgious spirit
prevailed amongst the earlier adventurers.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 37

Prom 1580 to 1588 Sir John Popham,
who took a prominent part in the colonis-
ing projects of the period, held the highest
office, the Treasurership in the Inn. He
does not appear to have been present,
however, when Sir Prancis Drake was
received in the Middle Temple Hall on
August 4, 1586, upon his victorious return
from the West Indies. The occasion is
recorded in the minutes of Parliament of
the Inn as follows : —

"Die lovis quarto die August! Anno D*ni
1586 annoq, Regni D'ne Elizabethe Eegine 28'o
Franciscus Drake Miles unus de consortio Medii
Templi post navigatione anno preterito sus-
ceptam et Omnipotentis Dei beneficio prospere
peractam, accessit tempore Prandii in Aulam
Medii Templi ac recognovit, loanne Savile
Armigero tunc lectori, Matheo Dale, Thome
Bowyer, Henrico Agmondesham et Thome
Hanham Magistris de Banco et aliis il'm pre-
sentibus, antiquam familiaritatem et amicitiam
cum consortiis generosorum Medii Temple pra3
diet., omnibus de Consortiis in Aula presentibus,
cum magno gaudio, et unanimiter, gratulantibus
reditum suum fcelicem."

38 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

From the wording of the entry it would
appear that Drake's visit to the Hall was
not by special invitation, and the presump-
tion is supported by the absence of the
Treasurer. He seems to have called casu-
ally and to have received the congratu-
lations of the Benchers who were present
upon his safe return from his expedition.

The wording of the entry also sup-
ports the tradition that Drake had been
admitted a member in earlier years, though
it is not possible to trace the exact date.
Perhaps the admission was entered in
the volume of the records which is
missing for the years from 1524 to 1551.

Attention may be drawn to the name
of Thomas Hanham among the signa-
tories. For some years he occupied a
chamber with Popham. In 1582 he had
been Eeader of the Inn, and in 1589 was
createu serjeant-at-law. Hanham's second
son, Thomas, also a member of the Inn,
was one of the grantees of the Virginia
patent of 1606.

FAMOUS SEAMEN 39

Drake was also received at the Inner
Temple, but there is no mention of any
occasion similar to the admission together,
on February 2, 1593, of Sir Martin Fro-
bisher, Admiral Norris, and Sir Francis
Vere, or of Sir John Hawkins in the
following year. Hawkins, we know, was
a friend of the Hakluyts, and the others
were not likely to have been strangers
to them. None of the other Inns received
these celebrated Elizabethan seamen;
and it is diflScult to believe that it was
a mere accident which led to their
welcome by the Benchers of the Middle
Temple. Taken in conjunction with
other facts in the history of the Inn at
this period, their reception supports the
suggestion that the colonising enter-
prises of the closing years of the sixteenth
century were closely associated with the
Middle Temple.

Sir John Popham was succeeded as
Treasurer of the Inn by Miles Sandys,
and Robert, younger brother of Anthony

40 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Ashley, and founder of the Library,
became a member almost at the same
time. He was keenly interested in travel
and geographical study.

In 1590 an expedition consisting of
three ships was sent to Virginia " at the
special charges of Mr. John Wattes of
London, merchant."* On two or three
occasions about that date the Benchers
of the Middle Temple admitted, honoris
causa, distinguished members of the Cor-
poration. Mr. Wattes, an active member
of the Virginia Company, afterwards
knighted and Lord Mayor, became a
member of the Inn by that means in
1596. Another expedition, fitted out at
the expense of Sir Walter Raleigh, sailed
from Plymouth on March 25, 1602, for
Virginia, under the command of Bar-
tholomew Gosnold, a member of the
Middle Temple. He died in Virginia on
August 22, 1607. A contemporary record
tells us that *'he was honourably buried,

* " Hakluyt's Voyages," vol. iii. p. 288.

VIRGINIA COMPANY 41

having all the Ordnance in the Fort shot
off with many voUies of small shot.''
Anthony Gosnold, a relative of his, went
to Virginia in 1605. Among others
admitted to membership at this period,
honoris causa, were Sir Thomas Lowe, first
Governor of the Levant Company, besides
Sir Kobert Lee and Sir John JoUes, who
were associated with him in the patent
granted to the Company,

Sir John Popham, afterwards Chief
Justice of the King's Bench, is supposed
to have prepared the first draft of the
Charter of the Company in 1606, and
undoubtedly took an important part in
its affairs. One of the chief members of
the company which sailed from England
at the end of 1606 and established the
settlement of Jamestown was George
Percy, a younger brother of the Earl of
Northumberland. He had been admitted
a member of the Inn on May 12, 1597, at
the age of seventeen. His published ac-
counts contain a good deal of information

42 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

about the colony of which he more than
once acted as Governor. I

In the second party of settlers was a
certain Gabriel Beadall, who with John
Eussell was set

"to learn to make clapbord, cut downe trees,
and ly in woods . . . making it theire delight to
bear the trees thunder as they fell, but the axes
so oft blistered their tender fingers that com-
monly every third blow had a lowd oath to
drowne the echo ; for remedy of which sin the
President devised howe to have everie mans
oathes numbered, and at night, for every oath
to have a can of water poured downe his sleeve,
with which every offender was so washed (him-
self and all) that a man should scarse heare an
oathe in a weeke." *

It may be only a coincidence that about
thirty years later there was a Gabriel
Beadall keeping a stationer's shop at the
Middle Temple as a tenant of the Inn.
On the other hand, it is quite possible
that, having gained a little money, Beadall

* " Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia," by
W.S., 1612, p. 48.

CRASHAW AND SYMONDS 43

returned to his native land and set up in
business under the auspices of those who
had been instrumental in sending him to
Virginia.

Shortly after the formation of the new
colony we find a connection between the
Temple and the Virginia Settlement
through quite a different channel. The
Eev. William Crashaw — father of the
poet — who preached the sermon in con-
nection with the departure to Virginia of
Lord Delaware on February 21, 1609-10,
was Eeader of the Temple Church from
1605 to 1613, and is known to have been
deeply interested in the infant English
commonwealth. Unlike his friend, the
Eev. William Symonds, who had preached
the first sermon before the Virginia
Company in Whitechapel Parish Church
in the previous year, he had never been
a resident in Virginia, though a Mr.
" Eawley Croshaw *' was in the second
party of settlers, and is mentioned
several times in Mr. Symonds's narrative.

44 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Another friend of the Eeader of the
Temple Church was the Eev. Alexander
Whitaker, son of the Master of St. John's
College, Cambridge, who ministered in
the colony and was drowned there.

Eiohard Martin, whose erratic tem-
perament has gained for him prominence
in the records of the Inn, was also
connected with the Virginia Company.
In 1591 he was expelled for an assault
in the Hall upon another member, but
some years later was allowed to return,
was called to the Bar, and finally became
a Eeader of the Inn in 1615. Martin
was an advocate of considerable force,
but spoilt his eloquence by indulgence in
raillery and invective. In 1614 he acted
as counsel for the Company in some
proceedings before the House of Com-
mons, who passed a resolution of censure
upon his speech, which was described "as
the most unfitting that was ever spoken
in this house."*

* " Commons Journals," vol. i. p. 488.

THE FERRARS 45

Among the contemporaries of Eobert
Ashley were Sir Edwin Sandys, Treasurer
of the Virginia Company, and George
Sandys, who for a time acted as Governor
of the infant colony, nephews of Miles
Sandys, Treasurer of the Inn.* In the
first party of settlers who sailed in 1606
there was a Thomas Sandys, who may
be identified with the fourth son of the
Archbishop, born in 1568, and admitted
to the Inn in 1588.

To the evidence of the intimate asso-
ciation between the Middle Temple and
two of the most prominent men in the
government of the colony may be added
the fact that the Ferrars, who were
equally well known in the administration
of the Company, had some connection
with the Inn. Erasmus and WilUam

* The identification of the "Dictionary of National
Biography " is accepted above, though no reference appears
to have been made to the records of the Middle Temple,
which show that both the Treasurer and the Archbishop
had sons named George. There would seem to have been
five Middle Templars in each family.

46 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

were both members, and the latter was
called to the bar. They are believed to
have died before the date of the available
records of the Company. But Thomas
CoUett, who was nephew of Nicholas
Ferrar and is generally understood to
have been assistant secretary, lived to
be one of the ** ancient '' members of the
Inn. He was admitted in 1619, called
to the bar November 24, 1626, was made
a bencher November 5, 1652, and an
entry shows that he was still there in
1663. Sir Humphry May, a Middle
Templar, was chosen to be one of the
Council at the meeting on May 14, 1623.
Eichard Tomlyns, George Thorpe, and
William Tracy, are names familiar in the
administration of the Company, and may
probably be identified with contemporary
Middle Templars.

Unfortunately, the early records of the
Company cannot be traced, but from
1619 to 1624 they are available, and
have been admirably edited by Miss

THE VIRGINIA COMPANY 47

Kingsbury under the direction of the
Librarian of Congress. They furnish
further evidence of the connection be-
tween the Middle Temple and the Com-
pany. With the exception of a passing
reference to Lincoln's Inn, no other
Inn of Court receives mention in the
minutes.

On November 3, 1619, the Court of
the Virginia Company chose for their
counsel Sir Laurence Hyde and Mr.
Christopher Brooke. The latter was a
member of Lincoln's Inn, but the former
belonged to the Middle Temple, having
been Treasurer in 1616. He was ad-
mitted to the Council of the Company in
1623. Among the members of the Com-
mittee appointed in 1620 to protect the
rights of the Company was Nicholas
Hyde, no doubt Sir Laurence's nephew,
afterwards Judge and Treasurer of the
Inn. Lord Paget was an active member
of the Company, and also a Middle
Templar. Successive members of the

48 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

family occupied a chamber over the
Middle Temple Gate.

On July 7, 1620, the Council, upon the
suggestion of Sir Edwin Sandys, ap-
pointed committees to deal with the
various matters requiring attention in
the government of the colony. The first
committee was " for the compylinge into
a bodie the politique laws and magistracie
of England necessarie or fitt for that
Plantation." It consisted of Sir Thomas
Koe, Mr. . Christopher Brooke, Mr.
Selden, Mr. Edw. Herbert, and Mr.
Philip Jermyn. Sir Thomas Eoe was a
member of the Middle Temple, and had
been recommended by the King for the
oflBce of Treasurer of the Company. Mr.
Philip Jermyn, who became a member of
the Council in 1622, was a barrister of
the Inn and held the office of Eeader
in 1629. Two Committees of the com-
pany of which he was a member were
instructed to meet at his chambers in
the Temple.

I

LAND IN VIRGINIA 49

Under date November 14, 1621, is an
entry in the records which may be tran-
scribed : —

" Mr. Churchill Moone of the Middle Temple
in London, gentleman, having eighte shares of
land in Virginia allowed by the auditors, did
upon request passe them over with approbacion
of this Court in manner following, viz. he
assigned 4 of them unto Mr. Charles Cratford
of the Middle Temple in London, Esquire. Also
he assigned two to Mr. Eichard Chettle. And
two unto Mr. William Wheat of the Middle
Temple, Esquire."

Mr. Eichard Chettle appears from the
records of the Inn to have resided in the
Middle Temple, but not to have been a
member. On April 30, 1623, another
member of the Inn, Mr. Thomas Cul-
pepper, became the owner of three shares
of land.

The Virginia Company was dissolved
in 1624, so that throughout the whole of
its history there can be traced links
between the Inn and the Company, and

M.T. E

50 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

the evidence may be thought sufficient
to justify the suggestion that the Society
of the Middle Temple took a leading
part in the birth of the American
nation.

IV

THE EESTOEATION AND AFTER

The increase in the membership of the
Inns during the early part of the seven-
teenth century, combined with the pros-
perity of the period and the general
tendency to indulge in luxury, led to
extravagant entertainments, of which the
elaborate masques before the Court were
perhaps the chief. The proceedings of
the Inns do not contain any particulars,
except as regard the expense, which was
raised by a levy upon the members. In
response to a request of Charles I., a
masque was presented before him by the
four Inns, organised by Masters of the
Bench, which is estimated to have cost
more than £21,000. Early in the reign of
James I. the revels within the Inns gave

52 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

place to plays performed by the members
or professional players. The performance
of '' Twelfth Night'^ in the Middle Temple
Hall in 1601 is a memorable example.

The reign of Charles I. was not marked
by any important changes in the consti-
tutions of the Inns or the life of their
members. The plague frequently inter-
fered with their course of study, and
sometimes necessitated what was prac-
tically the removal of the Inn out of
town to Hertford or St. Albans. But
the outbreak of civil war disorganised the
routine. As corporate communities, the
Inns took no part, except on one notable
occasion. On January 4, 1641, five
hundred gentlemen from the Inns of
Court armed themselves and marched to
Whitehall to offer their services to the
King. On the same day the House of
Commons appointed commissioners to
acquaint the Societies

** That this House hath taken notice of the
practice of some gentlemen, that have en-

THE COMMONWEALTH 53

deavoured to engage the gentlemen of the Inns
of Court ... to come down to the Court if they
should be required : that this House has sent
for the gentlemen that were with them, as
Delinquents; and do believe that their crime
will prove to be of a high nature."

Individual members took part in the con-
tests in conspicuous positions on both
sides. For several years no rent was
paid to the Exchequer, no salary to any
Master of the Temple, and there were
no commons in the House. No treasurer
was elected, and no accounts were
audited. The Inns, left to the care of
the few who remained with the servants,
were invaded by strangers. The property
suffered ; and it was not until some time
after the country was sufiSciently quiet
for the Benchers to resume their ordinary
procedure that the Inns regained their
full vitality. In 1653 an attempt was
made to impose the assessment for the
army upon the two Temples. The com-
mittee found that there was no precedent.

54 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

as the Societies were only supported by
contributions from the members, and so
had no capital or income upon which to
base an annual payment. They therefore
decided that the Inns of Court should be
treated as other seminaries of learning ;
and Parliament confirmed their decision.
The proposal in 1657 for a parliamentary
inquiry into the constitution of the Inns
came to nothing.

The Eestoration was even more wel-
come in the Inns of Court than it was
generally throughout the country. The
suppression by the Puritans of the festivi-
ties which, so to speak, were the elixir of
life to the Inns, was resented ; and it is
doubtful whether the Parliamentarian
orders received loyal compliance. In a
news-sheet, entitled ** Perfect Passages of
Every Daies Intelligence from the Parlia-
ment Army under the Command of His
Excellency the Lord General Cromwell,"
under date Thursday, December 4, 1651,
is the following item ; —

THE RESTORATION 55

" On Saturday night last there was a masque
at the Middle Temple, London, before it began
the Benchers, or ancients of the House were in
the Hall and singing the hundred Psalm, which
being ended, every man drank a cup of Hipocris,
and so departed to their chambers, then the
young gentlemen of that society began to
recreate themselves with civil dancings and
had melodious musick, many ladyes and persons
of quality were present."

With the return of the King the Inns
resumed their former customs, with an
evident intention to make up for lost
time. On February 21, 1665, George
Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham,
whose father had been admitted in the
same way, accompanied Charles the
Second's natural son, the Duke of Mon-
mouth, then only a boy of fourteen, on
his admission to the Middle Temple.
John Evelyn, himself a member, was
invited to Mr. Bramston's Readers' Feast
in 1668, " which was so very extravagant
and greate as the like had not been scene
at any time. There were the Duke of

56 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Ormond, Privy Seal, Bedford, Belasys,
Halifax, and a world more of Earles and
Lords." In the following year (August 4)
a distinguished company were admitted
to membership, including Lord Berkeley,
Lord Clifford, Heneage Finch, Earl of
Winchilsea, Pietro Mocenigo, the Vene-
tian Ambassador, and Jacques du Moulin,
one of a distinguished family of French
doctors. The occasion was Sir Henry
Peckham's Beading Feast, ** A pompous
entertainment," says Evelyn, *' where
were the Archbishop of Canterbury, all
the greate Earles and Lordes, &c. I
had much discourse with my Lord Win-
chelsea, a prodigious talker; and the
Venetian Ambassador." Charles II. was
frequently present at the feasts and revels
of the different Inns, sometimes as a guest
of the Eeader, and sometimes, it would
seem, incognito, Dugdale gives an account
of one such visit, when the King, accom-
panied by the Duke of York, came to the
Inner Temple at the invitation of the

LINCOLN'S INN 57

SoKoitor- General, Sir Heneage Finch.
*' Fifty select gentlemen of the Society
in their gowns'' waited upon them at
dinner, accompanied by the music of
'*xxv violins, which continued as long
as his Majesty stayed." At the next
Parliament the Duke was called to the
bar and bench. Even more sumptuous
was the entertainment given at Lincoln's
Inn by the Duke of York's Solicitor-
General, Sir Francis Goodericke ; on this
occasion the King was again accompanied
by the Duke of York, together with
Prince Eupert, the Dukes of Monmouth
and Eichmond, the Earls of Manchester,
Bath, and Anglesey, Viscount Halifax,
the Bishop of Ely, Lord Newport, Lord
Henry Howard, and ** diverse others of
great qualitie."

"Towards the end of dinnar, his Majestie, to
doe a transcendant Honor and grace to the
Society, and to expresse his most gratious
acceptance of theire humble duty and aifeccion
towards him, was pleased to comaund the Book

58 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

of Admittances to be brought to him, and with
his owne hand entred his Koyall Name therein,
most gratiously condiscending to make himselfe
a Member thereof, which high and extraordinary
favour was instantly acknowledged by all the
members of this Society then attending on his
Majestie with all possible joy, and received with
the greatest and most humble expressions of
gratitude, it being an example not presidented
by any former King of this Realme."

It is worthy of note that in several
instances the royal visits pass without
mention in the Eecords of the Inns, so
that the absence of any entry in the
Middle Temple or Gray's Inn Eecords
is not conclusive evidence that Charles
II. did not also pay visits to those Inns.
For example, in the Le Fleming MSS.,
published by the Historical MSS. Com-
missioners, it is recorded, under date
December 6, 1670—

"On Saturday last their Majesties, with the
Prince of Orange, were present incognito at
the merriments usual at this season at the
Temple, where they were entertained with

ROYAL VISITS 59

dances of all kinds to their very great satis-
faction."

Again on the 31st of the next month the
writer adds —

" Their Majesties and the Prince of Orange
were present at the revels at the Temple on
the 27th, and at Lincoln's Inn on the 28th."

There is no mention of these visits in the
Eecords either of the Inner or Middle
Temple. John Evelyn, who was a mem-
ber of the latter, records several sump-
tuous entertainments ; and Eoger North,
writing of Francis North's Beading feast
at that Inn in 1671, says —

*' I cannot much commend the extravagance
of the feasting used at these readings ; and
that of his lordship's was so terrible an
example, that I think none hath ventured since
to read publicly." *

He presents the other side of the picture,
showing a scene of debauchery, tumult,
and waste. The prodigality of the period

* " Lives of the Norths " (Bohn's Libraries), vol. i, p. 97.

6o THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

may be held accountable for this indul-
gence ; but the Inns of Court may have
been led thereby to anticipate rather
than follow the change in the manners
of the Court and its entourage, as the cost
of the feasts was a serious obstacle in the
way of the acceptance of the office of
Eeader. These extravagances received
the attention of the four Inns, who drew
up a series of regulations to carry out the
wish of the King, having *' signified his
pleasure by the Lord Chancellor and
Judges, that no Eeader, not of his
Majesty's Council or Eecorder of Lon-
don, should spend more than £300."*
No doubt it was in accordance with the
modified scale of entertainment that the
Duke of Ormond and his grandson,
the Dukes of Hamilton and Somerset,
the Earls of CarUngford and Eadnor, and
the Marquess of Halifax were received
and admitted members of the Middle
Temple in 1683. The revels, in which

♦ " Middle Temple Records," vol. iii. p. 1313.

REVELS 6i

a mock prince held his court, were con
tinned for more than half a century.
Mr. Inderwick states that they *' ceased,
so far as there is any record of them in
our Inn, before the Commonwealth";
and he quotes Evelyn's Diary to show
that they were continued in the Middle
Temple. An entry, however, in 1697
refers to '* a riotous and revelling Christ-
mas, according to custom," * in the Inner
Temple ; and the last revels in any Inn
of Court are stated to have been held
in the Inner Temple Hall at Candlemas,
1733. They were conducted with the
ancient ceremonies ; and among the
company was the Prince of Wales
incognito,^

In the years following the Eestoration,
plague frequently made its appearance
in the Temple. The members found
safety in flight, with a consequent
interruption to study and the business of

* Diary (Dobson's ed.), vol. iii. p. 333.'
t Wynne's " Eunomus," p. 292.

62 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

the Societies. The Great Fire wrought
serious havoc in the Inner Temple,
but barely touched the buildings of
the Middle Temple. A committee of
Benchers was appointed promptly "to
settle all matters in reference to the
rebuilding of the Society," which was
undertaken upon the method previously
in vogue by individual members bearing
the cost of erection, and in return re-
ceiving certain rights from the Benchers.
They were to pay no fine on admission
to the chambers, but to have a grant
for three consecutive lives, with power
during that period to admit thereto, and
to receive payment of fines for admission
from any persons who were members of
the Inn, with a preferential right to
former occupants. The Inn itself under-
took the rebuilding of the library and
the moot-chamber beneath. The work
was carried out so expeditiously that
within four or five years the whole Inn
was rebuilt and the members furnished

FIRE IN THE INN 63

with more substantial and healthier resi-
dences. Several minor conflagrations
occurred within the Temple, but one in
1679 did almost as much damage in the
Middle Temple as the Great Fire in
the Inner Temple. It lasted from eleven
o'clock on Sunday night, January 26,
1678-9, to noon on Monday, and laid
bare a large part of the Inn. One of
the sufferers was Elias Ashmole, the
antiquary, who lost a portion of the
Tradescant collection. The work of re-
building, so Eoger North relates, was
the cause of considerable friction between
the members and the Benchers. The
undertaking was so great that the
Society dispensed with Eeadings in order
to divert the usual expenditure to that
purpose. After lengthy negotiations, the
Society placed themselves in the hands
of Dr. Nicholas Barbon (son of Praise-
God Barbon), who had been employed
in rebuilding the City. The troubles of
the Benchers were not at an end, for

64 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

after many vicissitudes *' there was at
length a fail (as always in Barbon's
affairs), so the House was fain to take
upon them the winding-up of the
matter/*^ During the Middle Temple
fire the Lord Mayor and the sheriffs
came down with a view to rendering
assistance, but his sword was borne erect,
as if he exercised authority in the Temple.
The assertion of that claim was always
a source of conflict, especially on the part
of the members of the Inner Temple.
The "leading case," so far as it received
judicial cognisance, occurred in 1669, and
is fully recorded by Pepys.t It had no
definite result. A more friendly feeling
existed between the Corporation and
the Middle Temple ; and on several occa-
sions, at the beginning of the seventeenth
century, aldermen and sheriffs were ad-
mitted, honoris causa, to membership of
that Society.

* "The Lives of the Norths," vol. iii. p. 60.
t Diary (1828), vol. iv. pp. 256, 294.

RETROSPECT 6$

Between the years 1600 and 1700,
practically the whole of the Temple, with
the exception of the church, was re-
placed by new buildings. More air and
a fresh supply of water were the surest
safeguards against the ravages of the
plague, which disappeared at the close
of the seventeenth century. The sta-
bility of the administration and ancient
procedure of the Inns remained un-
affected by the external changes. They
maintained their ancient privileges un-
disturbed by any additional requirements
on the part of the Crown or Privy
Council, and so obtained an increased
feeling of independence. One thing
was being abandoned; the costly enter-
tainments, which had been carried
to extravagant dimensions during the
century, were recognised to be undesir-
able. Thus the student coming from
the university to the Temple in 1700
would find himself called upon to pursue
much the same kind of life as his

M.T. F

(i^ THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

predecessor in 1600, though his intention,
in a greater number of instances, would
be to continue the study of the law, in-
stead of departing into some other walk
ofHfe.

THE MIDDLE TEMPLE IN THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The materials for a complete record of
the eighteenth century are not yet avail-
able. The published records of the Middle
Temple stop at 1703, and those of the Inner
Temple at 1714. There is a singular lack
of information from external sources. The
impression is that the eighteenth century
within the Temple was a period of torpor
or, it may be, of rest, after the gaiety
of the seventeenth, in preparation for
the developments of the nineteenth in
increased attention to the preKminary
study for the practice of the law. The
deed of partition between the two Inns
in 1732 suggests that at that period they

6S THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

were engaged in imparting methodical
arrangement to their affairs. In some of
the buildings the residents on the ground
floor were tenants of one Society, while
the occupants of the first floor were tenants
of the other ; and the absence of any clear
division between the two entirely accords
with what has been suggested above as
to the process by which they grew from
one body to existence in separation.

To the period of the partition deed
belongs ^'Master Worsley's Book/' as it
is called, though the authorship is doubt-
ful, containing " Observations on the
Constitution, Customs, and Usuage of
the Honourable Society of the Middle
Temple." * The writer deals fully with
a matter which was a constant cause of
disturbance in the Inn — the right of the
governing body to regulate its affairs
without consultation with the members.

* This volume, edited by Mr. C. H. Hopwood, K.C., was
published in 1896, and a new edition is now (1909) being
prepared by Mr. A. R. Ingpen, K.C., a Master of the Bench.

MEMBERS' REVOLT 69

The ancient custom was that the Benchers
made orders for the government of the
Inn; hut during the vacations they
effected a kind of abdication, when the
members within certain prescribed limits
were allowed to rule themselves. The
result was a period of license, when the
Lord of Misrule held sway. In later days
this custom was taken more seriously,
and constant endeavours were made to
enforce some order in abrogation of the
Masters' rights, to take effect when they
had resumed control. Much of the
trouble which arose in the course of
these proceedings may be attributed to
a lack of restraint on the part of a
number of high-spirited young men ; but
in the Middle Temple the controversy
seems to have been a more serious
matter. In 1730 the barristers and
students in "Vacation Parliament
assembled'' drew up a long declaration,
in which they asserted that, although the
order and government of the Society

70 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

were lodged in the Masters, **yet a
liberty of proposing such occasionall
alterations and amendments as the cir-
cumstances of times and things might
render necessary, is and must be re-
served to the other part of the Society
in Parliament assembled. ' ' They claimed
the right to hold their Parliament at any
time, as there were always matters call-
ing for attention; while the Masters
said that the junior members were not
entitled to confer together or make re-
presentations to them except in regard
to matters arising during vacation. The
ofiScial who compiled the book supplies
a long answer to the petition which the
Masters of the Bench had already pro-
vided in reply to a similar agitation in
1630.* The book also gives an account
of the call of the Serjeants in Easter
term, 1736, showing that the ancient

* There were also serious differences between the Masters
of the Bench and some members of the Inn in 1695. See
" Minutes of Parliament," pp. 1431 et seq.

AMERICAN MEMBERS 71

ceremonies were still in force. The visit
of the King Christian VII. of Denmark to
the Temple on September 23, 1768, is
an example of the continuance of the
traditional hospitality of the Inns. He
was welcomed by the Benchers of both
Societies on his arrival by water to lunch
in the Middle Temple Hall, en route to
a reception at the Mansion House.

During the closing years of the
eighteenth century the names of young
students coming from the possessions
of Great Britain across the seas are
found upon the admission books of the
Inns of Court. In particular, the Middle
Temple included among its members
men destined to take a leading share in
the separation of the States of America
from the mother-country. The Middle
Temple is represented by five signatories
to the Declaration of Independence, in-
cluding the four representatives of South
Carolina. Edward Eutledge, afterwards
Governor of that State, and Thomas

72 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Lynch were admitted to the Inn in
1767. Thomas Heyward, who became
a judge, and Arthur Midleton were
entered ten years before. The fifth
Middle Templar, Thomas McKean,
signed the Declaration as one of the
Delaware representatives. He is said
to have written the Constitution of his
State in one night. Although President
of Delaware, McKean resided in Penn-
sylvania, and was appointed First Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court on July 28,
1777. He held the office until he was
elected Governor of the State in 1799.

Even more distinguished was the
career of John Kutledge, Edward's eldest
brother, who was admitted to member-
ship of the Middle Temple on October
11, 1754, and was called to the Bar
on February 8, 1760. In the following
year he returned to South Carolina. At
the age of twenty-two he began to
practise, and was soon successful.
Chosen at the age of twenty-six to

p

JOHN RUTLEDGE 73

represent his State, his forensic abilities
enabled him, although the youngest
member of Congress, to take the same
prominent position in the Senate House
as he had held in the courts. Kutledge
is believed to have drafted the greater
part of the Constitution of South Caro-
lina. Under it he became first Presi-
dent of the General Assembly and
Commander - in - Chief. In the latter
capacity he was required for a time to
set aside peaceful pursuits, and displayed
his versatility by his courage and activity
upon the field of battle. On the termi-
nation of his executive duties he was
again elected a Member of Congress in
1782. After two years' strenuous service
for his country, Eutledge became judge
of the South Carolina Court of Chancery.
Seven years later, upon the reorganisa-
tion of the courts of law, he was made
Chief Justice. Finally, Eutledge was
chosen to be chairman of the committee
of five who drafted the first Constitution

74 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

of the United States, and, upon the
resignation of John Jay, was nominated
by Washington to be the second Chief
Justice. Thus the legal knowledge
which he had acquired during five
years' study at the Middle Temple
was the basis of his remarkable con-
tribution to the advancement of his
country and the mainstay of his whole
career.

John Dickinson, the "Pennsylvania
Farmer," Arthur Lee of Virginia,
William Livingston, one of the framers
of the Constitution, and Peyton Ean-
dolph, President of the Continental Con-
gress at Philadelphia, were also members,
and the last named was called to the Bar
at the Middle Temple. Thus the legal
knowledge acquired in the Inn made a
considerable contribution to the establish-
ment of sound government, so that
besides assisting at the birth of the
nation the Society may lay claim to have
aided in equipping it for an independent

PHINEAS BOND 75

life upon its attainment of a separate
existence.

Mention may be made, finally, of an
American who maintained his attach-
ment to the British side. Phineas Bond
was born at Philadelphia in 1749, and
was admitted to the Middle Temple on
April 15, 1771. He returned to Phila-
delphia in 1877, and was suspected by
the Government of infidelity to the State.
Bond was attainted of high treason, his
estate was confiscated, and he went to
England, where he engaged in the
practice of the law after being called
to the Bar in June, 1779. For seven
years he stayed in England, while his
mother endeavoured to have his at-
tainder reversed. In 1786 Bond was
commissioned by the British Govern-
ment as its Consul for the States of New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela-
ware, and Maryland, and in 1793 he
became Consul-General for the Southern
and Middle States. He seems to have

je THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

remained in America until about the year
1812, when he returned to London and
died in 1815.*

The Middle Temple, therefore, has
had in a singular measure a quiet but
nevertheless distinct part in two of the
most important movements in the world's
history, for few events stand out more con-
spicuously within legal memory than the
colonisation of America and the severance
of the colonies, after nearly two centuries
of dependent existence, from the mother
country. It is generally recognised that
in the twentieth century the centre of
gravity of the world's politics has been
moved from the New World to the Far
East. The war between Eussia and
Japan, followed by the treaty between
the latter and Great Britain, marked
the beginning of a period of new develop-
ment, of which this generation cannot
expect to see the completion. But if
these events should prove to be of the

* See " Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission
of the American Historical Association," 1896, pp. 573-659.

JAPANESE MEMBERS 77

importance which many consider likely,
the historian of the future will be able
to trace that it was the Middle Temple
only among the four Inns of Court which
took any part in assisting the Japanese
nation to establish sound legal principles
of government and justice.

The Japanese statesmen engaged in
guiding the destinies of the nation have
received their education in the University
of Tokyo, where they pass through the
School of Law much in the same way as
it has been shown that those who desired
to take part in affairs of State in England
were trained at the Inns of Court. The
senior professor in the College of Law
for more than twenty years has been
Mr. Nobushige Hozumi, a member of the
Middle Temple, while among his col-
leagues are Professor Yasushi Hijikata,
whose subjects are the Civil Code and
English Law, and the Eoman Law Profes-
sor, Hiroto Tomizu, who are also members
of the Middle Temple. Dr. Eokuichiro

78 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Masujima and Mr. Teruhiko Okamura,
both barristers of the same Inn, were
formerly upon the staff of the college.
Dr. N. Matsunami made a contribution
towards the unification of the law re-
lating to ooUisions at sea and merchant
vessels among the maritime nations of
the world in a volume written in the
Middle Temple Library. Among the
professors at the Tokyo University are,
and have been, alumni of the American
colleges of law, but the Middle Temple
is the only Inn of Court represented on
the list. While Japan has been framing
her Constitution and modelling her laws,
the influence of English law has been
exercised through those who have re-
ceived their training at the Middle
Temple in the same way, though in a
lesser degree, as the Inn contributed to
the sound foundations upon which were
built up the Federal Constitution and
laws of the United States.

VI

THE MIDDLE TEMPLE
LIBEARY

It was formerly the custom for members
of one family to attach themselves to a
particular Imi of Court, much in the
same way as they do now to one of
the great public schools. At the end
of the sixteenth century the names of
Carew, Montagu, and Sandys, for ex-
ample, will be found to occur constantly
in the register of admissions to the
Middle Temple. Among others who
came to the Inn at that period were the
three brothers Ashley, who belonged to
a Wiltshire family. Anthony, the eldest,
went through the course of study at the
Middle Temple as part of a general

8o THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

education, supplemented by travel for
the acquisition of foreign languages, to
equip him for the service of the State.
Some time before 1588 he was appointed
Clerk to the Privy Council, and at their
request undertook the translation of an
important Dutch book on the art of navi-
gation, entitled "The Mariner's Mirrour."
He was knighted in 1596, and was made
a baronet in 1622. He succeeded to the
estates, at Wimborne St. Giles, of the
Dorsetshire Ashleys, and through his
only child, Anne, became an ancestor of
the Earls of Shaftesbury. Kobert, the
next brother, was fourteen years junior
to Anthony. He proceeded so far in the
study of the law as to be called to the
Bar, but

" finding the practice to have ebbes and tydes
(as have for the most part all other humane
employments)," so he wrote in the "Advertise-
ment to Almansor/' " I have stolne and
snatched at vacant times some opportunities;
what by Travaile, Bookes and Conference ; to get

FRANCIS ASHLEY 8i

some knowledge of forreigne countries, and
vulgar languages : especially those of our
neighbours (I meane the French and Dutch, the
Spanish and Italian), that by the perusing of
their Writings, I might also bee made partaker
of the Wisdome of those Nations ..."

It was left to Francis, the youngest of the
three brothers, to attain eminence in the
practice of the law. He was admitted
to the Inn in 1589, the year following
Eobert's admission, was called to the
Bar, and steadily rose in his profession.
For some time he undertook Parlia-
mentary duties as Member for the City
of Dorchester, of which he was also
Eecorder. Having served the office of
Header at the Middle Temple, Francis
Ashley was called to the degree of
Serjeant, and knighted in 1618. He died
in Serjeants' Inn in 1635.

It was not wholly the uncertainty of
success which led to Robert Ashley's
abandonment of the practice of the law,
for his writings sbow that the bent of

M.T. G

82 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

his mind was not in that direction.
Nevertheless, he resided in the Inn and
made it the headquarters from which
to set out upon his journeys. Thus
Ashley could watch the erection, under
the direction of Edmund Plowden the
Treasurer, of the fine new hall of the
Middle Temple, and learn with interest
of the confirmation in 1608, by James I.,
to the Inner Temple and Middle Temple
of their ancient rights and privileges.
Ashley outlived both his brothers and
died in 1641, at the age of 76. He was
buried in the Temple Church, and be-
queathed his library* as an acknow-
ledgment of the love '' he bore towards
the Society of which, at his death, he
was *' one of the most ancient Masters of
the Utter Bar." He thought that in the
keeping of the Society his books, of
which many were " not easily to be mett
withaU elsewhere," might ^'happily be

* Ashley's will is printed in the "Middle Temple
Records," vol. ii. p. 917.

MOLYNEUX GLOBES 83

usefull to some good spirittes" after him.
It was his particular desire that, although
for the especial use of members of the
Middle Temple, they might be accessible
to any *' student, whether of oure owne
or of any forraigne nation, that may be
curious to see somewhat which he can-
not so readily finde elsewhere/* For the
more effectual carrying out of his inten-
tion, Ashley bequeathed £300 to provide
a yearly revenue for ^* the governour or
library keeper," besides the furniture of
his chamber.

It has been generally assumed that the
Molyneux globes in the care of the
Keeper of the Library formed part of
Ashley's bequest, although there appears
to be no reference to them in the records
of the Inn before the year 1717. They
were published in 1592 at the expense
of Mr. William Sanderson, a munificent
City merchant interested in geographical
discovery. The globes were the work
of Emery Molyneux, a mathematician

84 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

resident in Lambeth, and were printed
by Hondius, the Dutch engraver. The
globes are 2 feet 2 inches in diameter,
and were the largest that had been made
up to the time of their publication. Upon
the celestial as well as the terrestrial globe
there is a dedication to Queen Elizabeth.
It is remarkable that this set should be
the only one in existence, though its
association with the Honourable Society
is not so curious as some have considered,
who were not aware that several mem-
bers were keenly interested in the
colonising and exploring enterprises of
the opening years of the seventeenth
century.

The Masters of the Bench lost no time
in carrying out Mr. Ashley's wishes. Sir
Peter Ball, the Queen's Attorney, and
Dr. Littleton,* were requested to survey
the books which were then catalogued,
and have presses made for them in the

* The reference appears to be to the Master of the
Temple.

LIBRARY KEEPER 85

''lower Parliament chamber/' The £300
was paid into the Treasury of the Inn,
and the Bench agreed to allow eight per
cent, interest per annum. Mr. William
Cox, who was an ancient member of the
Inn and an executor of the will, was
called to the Bar without the usual
formalities, "in consideration of this care
and fidelity touching these legacies to
the House." * In 1642 he was definitely
appointed to the office of Keeper of the
Library, and in 1646 his salary was fixed
at JC20 per annum. Cox continued to
carry out his duties for eleven years, and
then was obliged to petition the Benchers
" that in regard of his age and weakness
of body he might have a fire in the
Library and someone to look to sweep-
ing and cleansing thereof." f Death
seems to have relieved him before the
Benchers made any response to his
request, but his successors benefited

* " Middle Temple Kecords," vol. ii. p. 919.
t Ibid,, vol. iii. p. 1054.

S6 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

from his petition by receiving an allow-
ance of coal and the assistance of an
official to perform the menial duties.
Some of the library keepers, however,
did not show the same fidelity to their
trust as Cox. During the seventeenth
century three of them had to be dis-
missed for neglect of duty, after repeated
attempts by the Benchers to induce them
to amend their ways.

Unhappily, there is no complete list of
the books bequeathed to the Society by
Ashley, but about sixty volumes can be
identified as his property by the signature
on the title-page. With one exception,
they are all in Latin or some other foreign
language, and give some idea of the varied
nature of his collection. Among them
are works on history and geography,
theology and philosophy, chemistry and
astrology, demonology and witchcraft,
thus showing clearly that Ashley's tastes
were for the curious and quaint in other
tongues rather than the masterpieces in

I

COCKS'S REFEREES ^';

his own language. So far as can be
traced, there was no edition of Shake-
speare in the Library until the nineteenth
century. The one book in English with
Ashley's signature is Bishop Bilson's
"True difference between Christian
subjection and Unchristian rebellion,"
written at the desire of Queen EKzabeth
against the King of Spain, and used with
disastrous effect in later years by the
enemies of Charles I.

Around this nucleus has been gathered,
by gift and purchase, a fine collection of
books. In 1652, Mr. Charles Cocks, a
Master of the Bench, gave ^100 for the
purchase of books. He had previously
conveyed to the Benchers certain pro-
perty in the City of London, called
Scales' Inn, from which to pay an
annual fee of £20 to two Keferees. The
Treasurer was to appoint two barristers
of the Inn

" to be Keferees, free Mediators and Composers
of such differences, suits and demands as shall

SS THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

be voluntarily submitted, and refer'd by any
person whatsoever, to their hearing and deter-
mination, who are to give attendance in the
Common Dining Hall of the Middle Temple, two
days in every week in Term, viz. every Wednes-
day and Friday from two till five o'clock in the
afternoon, freely without fee received on either
side, to hear and do their best endeavour to
determine all such controversies, suits and
demands, as shall be submitted unto them." *

They were to be in attendance in the
Hall for three hours in the afternoon on
two days of the week. In the arrange-
ment may be seen a seventeenth-century
prototype of the poor man's lawyer. For
many years in the last century the
Keferees gave their fees for the purchase
of books for the Library.

The Benchers were obliged to decline
one handsome offer of eight thousand
volumes. John Selden died in 1654, and
left his library to be divided among his

* " Observations on the Constitution, Customs, and Usage
of the Society of the Middle Temple," by Wm. Downing,
p. 184.

SELDEN'S LIBRARY 89

executors *' or otherwise dispose of them
or the choicest of them for some public
use than put them to any common sale :
it may do well in some convenient library
public or of some college in one of the
universities." * The books were offered
first to the Inner Temple, whose finances
did not permit the Benchers to provide
suitable accommodation, and probably
the same reason led to the decision of
the Benchers of the Middle Temple.
Finally, they were accepted by Oxford
University, of which Selden was the
representative during the whole of the
long Parliament.

In 1657 the Benchers directed that
'* a book of parchment leaves shall be
provided handsomely bound to register
the names and gifts of benefactors." At
the same time they ordered that '^ all
law books which are or shaU come forth,
shall be bought and placed " f in the

* " Calendar of Inner Temple Records," vol. ii. p. cxix.
t " Middle Temple Records," vol. iii. p. 1110.

90 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Library. The accounts show that the
Benchers purchased not only law books,
but also works of general literature, and
as patrons of learning were ready to
support the labours of scholars. '^ Chains
for the books in the Library'* is a con-
stantly recurring item, and the purchase
of a foxtail demonstrates that attention
was paid to the cleanliness as well as the
security of the books. Among the bene-
factions entered in the book of presenta-
tions is £50 from Sir William Petyt for
the purchase of books. He entered at
the Middle Temple, but ** migrated"
to the Inner Temple, and bequeathed to
that Society his collection of MSS. and
books acquired as Keeper of the Eecords
in the Tower of London. The addition
of this extensive collection to the posses-
sions of that Honourable Society necessi-
tated the appointment of a librarian in
1708.

The Benchers of the Middle Temple
have always taken care to possess proper

I

CATALOGUES 91

lists of the books. Upon the appoint-
ment of a new librarian, the Library was
surveyed by the Treasurer or a committee
appointed for the purpose. Booksellers
were commissioned to make a list of the
books, which was attached to the bond
given as security by the Library keeper.
In 1655, £25 was paid to Mr. Moodyman
for sorting and cataloguing the books,
but no catalogue of that date is now in
existence. The first printed catalogue
was published in the year 1700, in the
treasurership of Sir Bartholomew Shower,
who also had the book for presentations
rebound, with entries as to the hours of
opening. Although for nearly half a
century the Benchers had been adding
all the law books published, the propor-
tion to other classes of literature was not
altered perceptibly. Mathematics, geo-
graphy, history, and biography remain
as the principal divisions in the catalogue
of 1700, which is arranged according to
subjects. The next catalogue was pub-

92 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

lished during the treasurership of Master
Worsley in 1734, but had its origin some
years before in the work of one Henry
Carey, who was clerk in the chapel at
Lincoln's Inn. Making an appeal for
employment to the Earl of Oxford, he
wrote in 1717, in a letter preserved
among the MSS. of the Duke of Portland,
that he was —

** Keeper of the Library in the Middle Temple,
under John Troughton, Esq., where I employed
myself in regulating and reducing to decency
and order a place which through long neglect
was become a perfect chaos of paper, and a
wilderness of books, which were mixed and
misplaced to such a degree that it was next to
an impossibility to find out any particular book
without tumbling over the whole. This under-
taking cost me above twelve months' hard
labour and pains, besides money out of my
own pocket to transcribers. However, I went
forward with the greatest alacrity because Mr.
Ludlow, then Treasurer, encouraged me by
repeated promises (which now I may call
specious and empty) of reward when completed,
as now it is, I having made a new catalogue in

TRACTS 93

five alphabets with columns (all of my own
invention) of all the tracts contained in the
library, which catalogue is one hundred sheets
in folio, and the books are now so regularly
ranged and the catalogue so plain, easy and
exact, that anybody may go directly from it to
any required book or pamphlet without any
difficulty or hesitation; so that not only the
catalogue but even the library itself are evident
demonstrations of my labour, and instances of
their ingratitude to me who egged me on to this
work without rewarding me for it." *

In cataloguing the tracts, Carey did a
useful piece of work. They constitute
an interesting collection, now bound in
more than one hundred and sixty vol-
umes. Sermons, political pamphlets,
especially in relation to the conflict
between the King and Parliament, and
controversial letters form the greater
part of a collection, in which there are
valuable items, such as the description
of Virginia, written by William Bullock,
in his chamber in the Middle Temple, in

* " MSS. of the Duke of Portland," vol. v. p. 553.

94 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

1649. He admitted that he had never
been inside the country, but obtained his
information from books in six days, which
was all the time allowed him by his
patrons to write the compilation.

It is difficult to trace the changes in
the habitation of the books. At first
they were under the Parliament Chamber,
then a set of chambers was given up to
them, but they were moved on more than
one occasion. When Master Worsley
wrote his account of the Inn, in 1734,
the Library was described as No. 2,
Garden Court. The lower part of the
building was occupied by the kitchen of
the Society. Maitland, in his chapter " of
the Publick Libraries," in his '* History
of London," published in 1739, wrote —

" Tho' this Library be none of the largest,
yet I am perswaded that it is of more use to the
Inhabitants of this great City and Suburbs, than
all the other publick Libraries put together.
Therefore none has so good a claim to the Bene-
factions of the Incouragers of Learning as this."

NEW BUILDING 95

Ireland, in his ^* History of the Inns of
Court," published in 1800, judged from
the " extreme dirtiness " of the books
**that they have been little perused in
the present era." The impression is
confirmed by a note in the Times (June
23), concerning the removal of the books
in 1824 from the " miserable dirty hole
in which they have long been concealed,"
to a new building forming an extension
of the Hall. The blank in the book of
presentations for nearly a century before
the year 1826 would thus seem to have
been typical of the condition of the
Library. A bequest by Lord Stowell
enabled the Society to add a collection
of works on civil, canon, and ecclesiastical
law. Their stay in that portion of the
Society's buildings was brief, for on
August 6, 1858, the foundation of a new
library was laid by the Treasurer, Sir
Fortunatus Dwarris. In an address he
set forth an ideal for the composition of
a law library —

96 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

"First, it ought to contain the laws of all
ages, and of all countries and the laws which
governed them; the legum leges. Next, the
most important, it should show the application
of those laws in the thousands and tens of thou-
sands of adjudged cases, reported from all the
courts and accumulated and recorded in a law
library." *

He desired, further, that the Library-
should be "not only a record of legal
movement, but of all intellectual, moral,
and social progress.'* The Library was
opened by the Prince of Wales, now his
Majesty the King, on October 31, 1861,
when he was called to the Bar and Bench
of the Inn. His arms emblazon the oriel
window at the south end of the Library,
while those of the Benchers at the time
of its erection fill the north window. On
the wall hangs a portrait of the founder
by Thomas Leigh, painted by order of
the Benchers. At the opposite end is a
picture of Lord Brougham and M. Berryer,
commemorative of the dinner given by

* 31 Law Times, 257.

ADVOCATE'S DUTY 97

the Bar of England to the distinguished
French advocate in the Middle Temple
Hall on November 8, 1864. It was the
occasion when Lord Chief Justice Cock-
burn gave the definition of an advocate,
which has become a classic. '^ The arms
which he yields are to be the arms of the
warrior and not of the assassin," he said.
"It is his duty to strive to accomplish
the interests of his client per fas, but not
per nefas ; it is his duty, to the utmost
of his power, to seek to reconcile the
interests he is bound to maintain, and the
duty it is incumbent upon him to dis-
charge, with the eternal and immutable
interests of truth and justice."

A great improvement both to the
external appearance and internal con-
venience of the Library was effected by
an addition made in 1906.

The erection of a modern building has
been followed by the furnishing of the
shelves in accordance with the needs of
the time. The books upon English,

M.T. H

98 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Colonial, American, and foreign law,
required for frequent reference, have
thrust aside the older volumes of less
practical use. But they still remain as
part of the Library, so that it is possible
to indulge in a reverie such as Francis
Bacon penned, probably in the library
of his own Inn of Court, in which he
likened libraries to ^^the shrines where
all the relics of the ancient saints, full
of true virtue, and that without delusion
or imposture, are preserved and reposed." *
That exquisite charm which fascinates
the reader as he forgets himself, his times
and customs, by being brought into con-
tact with the minds of past ages, is one
which need not be obliterated by the
necessity to keep pace with the require-
ments of the twentieth century. Bacon
himself recognised in the same passage
the value of new editions, with ^'more
profitable glosses, more diligent annota-
tions and the like." With some con-

* " Of the Advancement of Learning." The second book.

FRANCIS BACON 99

fidenoe, therefore, it may be assumed
that the happy association of new and
old in the Middle Temple Library would
have received the approbation and admi-
ration of the great lawyer and philosopher.

VII

SOME DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS
OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

The nineteenth century was marked by
the resumption of royal visits to the
Inns of Court. The published records
of Lincoln's Inn close with the opening
of the new Hall and Library by Queen
Victoria on October 30, 1845. The
address presented to her Majesty on that
occasion referred to the fact that " nearly
two centuries have passed away since
the Inns of Court were so honoured by
the presence of the Keigning Prince " —
a reference to the visit paid by Charles II.
in 1672. On the occasion of Queen
Victoria's visit, the Prince Consort, who
had studied English law under the direc-

ROYAL BENCHERS loi

tion of Mr. William Selwyn, was admitted
and elected a Bencher of the Inn. Sixteen
years later, when the Prince of Wales
(now his Majesty the King) visited the
Middle Temple for a similar purpose, he
was admitted to membership, called to
the Bar, and elected a Bencher. Prince
Christian was made a Bencher of the
Inner Temple at the opening of the new
hall in 1870.

Although reference has been made in
the preceding pages to some distinguished
members of the Inn, of which the King
is the head, it may not be inappropriate
to glance back through the four hundred
years covered by the Eegisters and note
the wonderful range of occupations and
positions in which members of the Middle
Temple have distinguished themselves
and advanced the commonweal.

The Treasurer in 1520 was Sir Amyas
Paulet, of whom it is recorded that he
had ordered Wolsey, when a young man,
to be put into the stocks.

I02 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

*' which affront," narrates Sir William Caven-
dish, *'was afterwards neither forgotten nor
forgiven; for, when the schoolmaster mounted
so high as to be Lord Chancellor of England,
he was not forgetful of his old displeasure most
cruelly ministered unto him by Sir Amyas ; but
sent for him, and after a very sharp reproof,
enjoined him not to depart out of London,
without licence first obtained; so that he con-
tinued in the Middle Temple the space of five
or six years, and afterwards lay in the Gate-
house next the stairs, which he re-edified, and
sumptuously beautified the same all over on
the outside, with the Cardinal's arms, his hat,
his cognisance and badges, with other devices,
in so glorious a manner as he thought thereby
to have appeased his old displeasure." *

Whether the present gate stands upon the
site of the old one is a matter of some
doubt. In the Treasurership of Sir Amyas
occurs an entry relating to the admission
of Eichard Bere, the last but one of the
mitred Abbots of Glastonbury, who was
*^ pardoned exercising all vacations and
oflBces," and permitted to be ^*in commons

* " Harleian Miscellany," vol. v. p. 126.

SERJEANTS' FEAST 103

cand out of commons at his liking." It
is added that '*for having the foresaid
admission he gave to the Fellowship
5 marks." Another distinguished eccle-
siastic is referred to in an entry on May
26, 1552, stating : '* Mr. Frankleyn, Dean
of Windsor, is released from the Fellow-
ship for a price of £S, on account of his
old age."

During the period of the missing
volume of the Eegisters (1524 to 1551)
were, no doubt, admitted, among others,
three distinguished judges. Sir Anthony
Browne, Sir Eobert Catlin, and Francis
Morgan, whose feast, upon their being
made Serjeants in 1555, is recorded with
much detail by Dugdale in his ** Origines
Juridiciales." The total cost was six
hundred and sixty-seven pounds seven
shillings and sevenpence, so that, taking
into account the relative value of money
in those days, the Serjeants must have
found promotion to be a costly business.
Included with these must be Sir Eobert

I04 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Bell, Speaker of the House of Commons,
Sir James Dyer, a learned Chief Justice,
William Fleetwood, Kecorder of London,
and Eichard Eich, Lord Chancellor,
though the last was hardly a credit to
any society. Owing to this blank in
the Eegisters, the admission of Edmund
Plowden, who was held in high honour
among his confreres, and is still remem-
bered with respect, is not recorded, but
we know that he was Treasurer from
1561 to 1567. During that period the
fine Hall was commenced, and when he
retired from that office the management
of the business connected with the build-
ing was still confided to his care until
its completion in 1570. His name is
kept fresh in the memory by the build-
ings in one of which is the office of the
Treasury of the Society.

Among the ancient families who have
shown a loyal attachment to the Inn
are many members who have had dis-
tinguished careers. The Cornish family

CAREW FAMILY 105

of Carew had six representatives among
the distinguished members * alone. Sir
Matthew Carew, who was probably ad-
mitted in the period for which the book
is missing, was a Master in Chancery,
and was followed, in 1612, by his son
Thomas, the poet. Another branch of
the same family was represented by Sir
George Carew, who, after a diplomatic
career, settled down as a Master in
Chancery; his elder brother, Eichard
Carew, remembered for his " Survey of
Cornwall " ; and the eldest son of the
latter, who followed his father as an
author, and was made a baronet not long
before his death in 1643.

The family of Montagu of Northamp-
tonshire occupies a notable position in
the annals of the Inn throughout the
sixteenth and into the seventeenth

* For a catalogue with biographical notices of nearly
one thousand, reference may be made to "Notable Middle
Templars " (1902), by John Hutchinson, Librarian to the
Hon. Society.

io6 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

centuries. The line begins with Sir
Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the
King's Bench, who is succeeded by his
grandsons, Edward Montagu, first Baron
of Boughton, and Henry, first Earl of
Manchester. They were admitted in
the usual course, but their younger
brother James did not become a member
until 1608, when he was Bishop of Bath
and Wells, and associated with him on
the occasion was Dr. Buckeridge, Bishop
of Eochester. Edward's son William
rose to eminence in the law, became
Treasurer of the Inn in 1663, and received
the honour of knighthood. The Earl of
Manchester entered his sons' names as
members, for one can hardly imagine
that little fellows of five and four years
old were brought to go through the
customary formalities. The elder, Henry,
became second Earl of Manchester, and
occupied prominent positions in the State ;
while his younger brother, Walter, having
got into trouble in this country, adopted

HYDE FAMILY 107

the monastic life, and became Abbot of
St. Martin, near Pontoise. A still younger
brother, George, was also a member, and
likewise his son James, who pursued a
legal career with success, but transferred
his allegiance to Lincoln's Inn. To
another branch of the family belonged
the famous Admiral, the first Earl of
Sandwich, who, as a boy of ten, was
admitted a member. A similar record
is presented by the Hydes of Wiltshire.
There were more than thirty members
belonging to different branches of the
family. The grandfather of Lord Chan-
cellor Clarendon was Laurence Hyde, of
Westhatch, Wiltshire. Three of his sons
became members of the Inn. Laurence,
the second, was admitted on November
19, 1580. He was admitted to a chamber,
and in due course was called to the Bar
on February 7, 1588-9. From that time
he advanced steadily in the Inn and in
the practice of his profession. He be-
came Bencher, Reader, and, in 1616,

io8 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Treasurer of the Inn, where he was
frequently occupied in its affairs. His
proficiency in the law obtained for him
the post of Queen's Attorney and the
honour of knighthood. Gradually, with
advancing years, he relinquished his
active interest in the concerns of the
Inn, and transferred his Bench chamber
in Brick Court to his son Eobert upon
his becoming Lent Eeader. The Bench
thereupon record in the minutes of Par-
liament, under date June 21, 1639 —

"Mr. Robert Hyde, a Master of the Bench,
shall be admitted absolutely into the chamber
of Sir Laurence Hyde, his father, a Master of
the Bench, a Bencher's chamber which he in-
tends to relinquish on account of his great age.
He has presented to the Masters a very fair
gilt bowl and cover in token of his love and
thankfulness to the Society.'*

Sir Laurence's younger brother, Ni-
cholas, was admitted on July 14, 1590,
called on November 24, 1598, and in 1601

LORD CLARENDON 109

went into a chamber called ** Le Cock-
lofte." Sir James Murray defines the
word as being applicable to a small
apartment under the very ridge of the
roof, to which the access is usually by a
ladder. In due course he was called to
the Bench of the Inn, and naturally felt
that such a place '^was not fit for a
Bencher,'^ so relinquished it in 1619 for
another. He filled the offices of Eeader
and of Treasurer during 1626, when new
buildings were erected near the Hall and
in the garden. Shortly after he had to
take leave of the Inn upon becoming
Serjeant.

Henry Hyde, the father of the great
Chancellor, came midway in the family,
between Laurence and Nicholas. He
entered at the Middle Temple in 1585,
and from time to time occupied a
chamber, but does not appear to have
pursued the study of the law with any
degree of earnestness. It would seem
that he did not either intend his son to

no THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

follow the practice of the law. He
entered Edward at Magdalen Hall,
Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree
in 1626. " But his elder brother dyinge,
and his father dead also," Sir John
Bramston tells us, "he removed to the
Middle Temple, where his two uncles
were at that tyme Benchers, and in good
esteeme. There he continued, and was
called to the Barr ; and, beinge a scholar,
and of good parts, grew into acquaintance
with the best accomplished gentlemen of
his tyme." The writer was his chamber
fellow, and " continued a strict friendship
ever after " with him.

Edward Hyde was called to the Bar
on November 22, 1633, but appears to
have been somewhat inattentive to his
duties, as he was fined on more than one
occasion. In 1636 he moved to a " whole
chamber on the second floor in the new
buildings in Pumpe-court on the west
side thereof," but the Commonwealth
Parliament compelled the Benchers to

THE CHARTER OF 1608 iii

admit Eobert Eeynolds to the chamber
in 1644. It would seem, however, that
his son regained possession, as an entry
in 1665 directs that ''the Treasurer shall
attend the Lord Chancellor to know whom
he will nominate to be admitted into the
chamber in Pumpe-court, late his son's."
As Chancellor, the Benchers asked for
his assistance on several occasions re-
specting matters of the domestic govern-
ment of the Inn.

Eeverting to the year 1608 as being
the date at which James I. granted a
charter to the two Temples, some further
additions may be made to the list of
distinguished members, who had either
been admitted when young and then
gained high positions, or had been
received into the fellowship honoris causa.
There were Henry Percy, Earl of North-
umberland; Kichard Weston, first Earl
of Portland; Sir Henry Wotton, Sir
Thomas Edmondes, and Sir Isaac Wake,
skilful diplomatists ; George Sandys, son

112 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

of the Archbishop, and a poet of some
merit; Henry Somerset, first Marquess
of Worcester ; John Ford, the dramatist ;
Henry Howard, Earl of Northumberland ;
and Sir Kichard Lane, who was then
studying for the Bar, to which he was
called in 1612. In that year there occurs
the entry of a distinguished name — Inigo
Jones, the architect — which at first sight
seems unusual, but it was the custom
for the Inn to admit as members without
fee those who had served them faithfully
in some capacity, whether it were upon
a special piece of work, as, no doubt, in
this instance, or in the ordinary routine
of an official of the Inn.

During the troubles which stirred the
nation and left people with little oppor-
tunity or desire for the quieter pursuits
of life, the Inn was well represented
among those who espoused the Eoyalist
cause. But even then its catholicity was
still noticeable, for among the leaders of
the Parliamentarians it was represented

IRISH MEMBERS 113

by John Pym, Sir John Maynard, Bul-
strode Whitelocke, and Henry Ireton,
besides the two historians of the period,
who favoured them — Sir Symonds D'Ewes
and Clement Walker.

In the closing years of the seventeenth
century the entries of admissions are
notable for the number of names of men
who are remembered as writers upon
different subjects, for example, John
Bridges (the topographer), John Asgill,
John Anstis, William Congreve and
Nicholas Kowe (dramatists), Charles
Hopkins and William Somerville (poets),
and Charles Viner (founder of the Vinerian
Professorship).

Eemembering the restrictions placed
in earlier years upon the admission of
Irishmen, it is interesting to note in the
eighteenth century the contribution of
the Sister Isle to the list of distinguished
men. Gathering them together in chrono-
logical order according to the date of
their admission, we have Charles Molloy

M.T. I

114 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

(dramatist), Edmund Burke, Arthur
Murphy (actor), Sir Richard Musgrave
(writer on politics), Henry Grattan, Hugh
Boyd (essayist), John Philpot Curran,
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Leonard Mac-
nally (playwright), Theobald Wolfe Tone,
Lord Cloncurry, and, almost at the end
of the century, Thomas Moore, the poet.
It is a list which will bear comparison
with that furnished by the remaining
members of the Inn, among whom we
find Arthur Onslow, the Speaker of the
Commons, and his eldest son George,
first Earl of Onslow, with Philip Yorke,
first Lord Hardwicke, and his two sons,
Philip and Charles, of whom the latter,
following his father's example, migrated
to Lincoln's Inn ; and Blackstone, Lords
Kenyon and Ashburton, Richard Pepper
Arden, and Lords Stowell, Eldon, and
Tenterden. In literature may be noted
the names of the poet Cowper, Richard
Lovell Edgeworth, Thomas Day, of
'^Sandford and Merton" fame, and

BISHOPS 115

Tickell, the dramatist ; and among states-
men, Lords Auckland and Colchester,
Su' Benjamin Hobhonse, and the second
Earl Grey. Admission to the Inn did not
determine the career of its members even
when their intention was to follow the
law. Many have forsaken it in order to
take Holy Orders, and among those who
rose to prominent positions in the Church
may be noted Bishops Horsley, Durnford,
and Lonsdale, and Thomas Sherlock
(afterwards Bishop of London), the only
Master of the Temple who was also a
member of the Inn.

Passing into the nineteenth century,
it becomes increasingly diflScult to make
a selection for mention, but still the
prevailing feature is the wonderful
variety of callings to which the members
have devoted their energies. Law and
literature, of course, predominate. With
Dickens, Thackeray, Henry Nelson Cole-
ridge, John Payne Collier, De Quin-
cey, Thomas Noon Talfourd, Winthrop

ii6 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Mackworth Praed, Abraham Hayward,
CapeU Lofft, Delane, "A.K.H.B./' and
Blackmore admitted to the Inn before the
completion of the first half of the century,
it may, perhaps, be thought that litera-
ture claims the first place. But who
can decide when among the lawyers are
found Sir Frederick PoUock, Sir J. T.
Coleridge, and his son Lord Coleridge,
Sir Maziere Brady, Lord Chancellor
Westbury, Sir John Jervis, Sir Alexander
Cockburn, Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, Sir
T. Erskine May, Sir George Bowyer, Sir
Eobert Phillimore, Sir J. E. Quain, and
Lord Hannen ?

It is too soon yet to estimate the
position of men whose work was done
during the closing years of the nineteenth
century, but it may be noted that of the
Benchers at the date of the opening of
the Library the King is the sole survivor.

Thirteen years after his call to the
Bench, the Prince of Wales again visited
the Inn, where he took his place in Hall

KING EDWARD VII 117

on the Grand Night of Trinity Term,
1874 (June 11). The next occasion of
his attendance was to be present on
June 10, 1885, upon the admission of his
eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, the late
Duke of Clarence, to the Bench table of
the Inn. Archbishop Benson recorded
in his Diary —

** Dined Middle Temple on their Great Grand
Day. Very striking, 430 in Hall. Prince
Edward made a Bencher. According to their
custom sat above Prince of Wales, whose guest
I was supposed to be, and next to the Treasurer,
the Master of the Temple being the chief guest
on the Treasurer's right."

In the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria,
the Prince consented to fill the office of
Treasurer, with Sir Peter Edhn as his
acting-deputy, and during the year 1887
dined in Hall on two occasions, viz.
June 15, for the Inn's commemoration
of the Jubilee, and November 25, at the
close of his term of office. As Prince of
Wales, the King also dined on April 9,

ii8 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

1891, and on May 5, 1893, shortly after
his son, then the Duke of York, had
become a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn.
Mr. Justice Wills, the Treasurer of the
year, proposed the health of the new
Bencher, and his father, in returning
thanks, performed an act of courtesy
which met with general appreciation, in
paying a similar compliment to Mr.
Justice Hawkins, afterwards Lord Bramp-
ton, upon celebrating the jubilee of his
call to the Bar. On November 2, 1903
the King of England, for the first time
in his right as a Bencher and not as an
invited guest, took his place at the Bench
table of an Inn of Court on Grand Night.
It was the first opportunity since his
Coronation, and to commemorate that
event an elaborate silver-gilt loving cup
with four massive salt-stands was designed
and made for the Society.

The rise and development of subsidiary
organisations during the last century have
overshadowed the position of the Inns of

LEGAL EDUCATION 119

Court, but the ultimate authority remains
with the Benchers. A board of examiners
tests the capacities of a candidate who
has not a university or similar qualifica-
tion ; but the Inn of Court requkes
satisfactory credentials before he can be
admitted as a member after passing the
test. No one can compel them to admit
a student, just as no one can question
the rejection of a student by the autho-
rities of a university. Although the
Benchers of the four Inns have dele-
gated the duty of examining the educa-
tional qualifications of the candidates
for admission to the Bar to the Council
of Legal Education, constituted in 1852,
they decide all other questions relating
to their fitness. The rules as to the
admission of students, the mode of keep-
ing terms, the education and examina-
tion, the calling of students to the Bar,
and taking out of certificates to practise
under the Bar, are contained in the con-
solidated regulations of the four Inns of

120 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

Court. The pursuit of certain occupa-
tions is regarded as incompatible with
the practice of the law.

In matters of professional conduct
minor jurisdiction is exercised by the
circuit-mess, which was originally formed
for the social purpose of dining by the
barristers practising on a circuit. Simi-
larly, there are organisations attached
to quarter sessions. The chief authority
in matters of legal etiquette and profes-
sional conduct is the General Council
of the Bar, which, in 1894, succeeded
the Bar Committee constituted in 1883.
It is supported by the four Inns of Court,
who are directly represented by sixteen
members. It possesses no direct disci-
plinary powers, and its rules are only
matters of etiquette and not of law. Its
rulings have the support of the profes-
sion, but are not binding outside it. The
Council is recognised as the representa-
tive of the Bar by the judges and Legis-
lature. It is always ready to afford

MR. CHOATE 121

guidance to barristers in their relations
with solicitors and clients or their status
in the courts ; but any incident requiring
disciplinary consideration, even if it
occurs in the courts, is referred to the
Benchers of the Inn by whom the offend-
ing barrister was called to the Bar.

Another event, unique in the annals
of the Inns of Court, occurred at the
Middle Temple during the present cen-
tury. On May 9, 1905, Mr. Joseph
Choate became an honorary Bencher
upon his resignation of the post of
American Ambassador at the Court of
St. James. British subjects had pre-
viously been admitted to that honour
in the persons of Lord Ashbourne and
Sir Edmund Barton at Gray's Inn, and
Lord Eobertson at the Middle Temple;
but no non-British subject had ever
before been received into the governing
body of an Inn of Court. The associa-
tion of the Middle Temple with the
establishment of sound government in

122 THE MIDDLE TEMPLE

the American Commonwealth, and the
admission to membership of the repre-
sentatives of another great Eepublic —
the Venetian Ambassadors, Antonio Fos-
carini and Pietro Mocenigo, became
members in 1614 and 1617 respectively —
afforded sound reason for this departure
from precedent. The action of the
Benchers was cordially appreciated on
the other side of the Atlantic, and has
been reciprocated by the admission of
Mr. Bryce to membership of the American
Bar Association. These incidents in the
recent history of the Inns show that the
words of King James' patent have re-
ceived an extended application in the
course of time. Whatever may be the
diJBferences in the practice of the courts
or the qualifications of members of the
Bars of the States of America and Aus-
tralia, the Dominions of Canada and
New Zealand, the Provinces of South
Africa and the West Indian Colonies,
they all recognise their common ancestry

IN ALL THE WORLD 123

in the four Inns of Court, and regard
the standard of sound justice and true
liberty upheld by their members as the
model for their own professional lives
and conduct.

INDEX

Advocate —

Cockburn's definition of, 97
Advocates —

supply of, 4, 27
Agmondesham, Henry, 37
"A.K.H.B.,"116
Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence,

Amadas, Philip, 35
America —
independence of, 71-70
settlement of, 40-50
Anstis, John, 113
Apprentices of the Law, 4
Arden, Richard Pepper, 114
Asgill, John, 113
Ashbourne, Lord, 121
Ashburton, Lord, 114
Ashley, Anthony, 34, 39, 79
Francis, 81
Robert, 39, 45, 80-83
bequest of, 83
books belonging to, 86, 87
founder of Middle Temple

Library, 40, 82, 83
portrait of, 96
Ashmole, Elias, 63
Attorney, exclusion of, 27
Auckland, Lord, 115

B

Bacon on Libraries, 98, 99
Ball, Sir Peter, 84

Bar Council, 120
Barbon, Dr. Nicholas, 63
Barlow, Arthur, 35
Barrister —

oath of, 14
Barristers' Roll, 13, 14
Barton, Sir Edmund, 121
Beadall. Gabriel, 42
Bell, Sir Robert, 104
Benchers —

authority of, 20

chambers of, 31

conflict in Middle Temple
with, 68-70 ^

Benson, Archbishop, 117
Bere, Richard, Abbot of Glas-
tonbury, 102
Berkeley, Lord, 56
Berryer, M., dinner to, 97

portrait of, 96
Bilston's "True difi-erence be-
tween Christian subjection
and Unchristian rebellion."
87
Blackmore, 116
Blackstone, 114
Bond, Phineas, 75
Bowyer, Sir George, 116
Bowyer, Thomas, 37
Boyd, Hugh, 114
Brady, Sir Maziere, 116
Brampton, Lord, 118
Bramston, John, 55

diary quoted, 110
Brick Court, 16

126

INDEX

Bridges, John, 113
Brooke, Christopher, 47, 48
Brougham, Lord, 9G
Browne, Sir Anthony, 103
Bryce, Mr., 122
Buckeridge, Dr., 23, lOG
Bullock's description of Vir-
ginia, 98, 94
Burke, Edmund, 114

C

Call to the Bar-
limitation of number, 27

origin of, 3
Carew, Sir George, 105

Sir Matthew, 105

Eichard, 105

Thomas, 105
Carey, Henry, Letter to Earl of

Oxford, 92,93
Carlingford, Earl of, CO
Catlin, Sir Robert, 103
Charles L, Inns of Court sup-
port, 52

masque before, 51

plate pawned by, 19
Charles II.'s visit to Inns, 56,

57, 100
Chaucer quoted, 6
Chettle, Richard, 49
Choate, Mr. Joseph. 121
Christian, Prince, 101
Christian VII., King, 71
Circuit-mess, 120
Clarence, Duke of, 117
Clarendon, Earl, 107, 110-111
Cliflford, Lord, 56
Clifford's Inn, 11
Cloncurry, Lord, 114
Cockburn, Sir Alexander. 14,

97, 116
Cocks, Charles, 87

Coke quoted; 19
Colchester, Lord, 115
Coleridge, H. N., 115

Sir J. T., 116

Lord, 116
Collett, Thomas, 46
Collier, John Payne, 115
Commonwealth, Inns of Court

during, 53-54
Congreve, William, 113
Cowper, poet, 114
Cox, William, 85
Crashaw, Rev. William, 43
Cratford, Charles, 49
Culpepper, Thomas, 49
Currau, John Philpot, 114

Dale, Matthew, 37

Day, Thomas, 114

Declaration of Independence,
signatories of, 71-72

Delane, 116

Delaware, Lord, 43

Denmark, King of, 71

De Quincey, 115

D'Ewes, Sir Symonds, 113

Dickens, Charles, 115

Dickinson, John, 74

Drake, Sir Francis, 39
reception of, 37

Dugdale, " Origines Juridici-
ales" quoted, 6, 56, 103

Dumford, Bishop, 115

Dwarris, Sir Fortunatus, Trea-
surer, 95

Dyer, Sir James, 104

E

Edgeworth, Richard Lovell, 114
Edlin, Sir Peter, 117

INDEX

127

Edmondes, Sir Thomas, 111

Edward VII., King-
coronation of, 118

• opens Library, 96, 101
Treasurer, 117
visits to IMiddle Temple, IIG-
118

Eldon, Lord, 114

Evelyn, John, 59
diary quoted, 55, 56, 61

F

Ferrar, Erasmus, 45
Nicholas, 46
William, 45
Finch, Heneage, Earl of Win-

chilsea, 56, 57
Fire of London, 62
Fleetwood, William, 104
Ford, John, 112
Fortescue, « De Laudibus

Legum AnglisB," quoted,

9,10
Foscarini, Antonio, 122
Frankleyn, Dean of Windsor,

103
Frobisher, Sir Martin, 39

G

Gilbert, Adrian, 36

Sir Humphrey, 36
Goodericke, Sir Francis, 57
Gosnold, Anthony, 40

Bartholomew, 40
Governors of the Inns, 24
Grattan, Henry, 114
Gray's Inn —

prominence of, 15

treasurers in, 24
Grey, Earl, 115
Guilds, constitution of, 1, 2, 6

Hakluyt, Richard, 33, 35

associate of the Bench, 36
Hakluyt, Richard, 33
Halifax, Marquess of, 60
Hamilton, Duke of, 60 •
Hanham, Thomas, Reader of

Middle Temple, 37, 38
Hanham, Thomas, 38
Hannen, Lord, 116
Hardwicke, Lord, 114
Hawkins, Sir John, 39

Mr. Justice, 118
Hay ward, Abraham, 1 16
Henry, Prince, 30
Herbert, Edward, 48
Heyward, Thomas, 72
Hijikata, Yasushi, 77
Hobhouse, Sir Benjamin, 115
Holy Communion —

administration of, 9, 26
Hondius, 84
Hopkins, Charles, 113
Horsley, Bishop, 115
Howard, Henry, Earl of North-
umberland, 112
Hozumi, Nobushige, 77
Hutchinson's " Notoble Middle

Templars," 105 n.
Hyde, Edward, 107, 110

Henry, 109

Laurence, 107

Sir Laurence, 47, 107, 108

Nicholas, 47, 108

Robert, 108

Inner Temple —
census of, 15
chambers in, 15
Charles H.'s visit to, 56,57

128

INDEX

Inner Temple — continued

earliest mention of, 7

equality with Middle Temple,
8,9

Great Fire in, 62

records of, 12, 67

revels in, 61
Inner Temple Gateway, 30
Inner Temple Hall, opening of,

101
Inner Temple Library, 62, 89,

90
Inns of Chancery —

dissolution of, 11

Fortescue's reference to, 10

Readers of, 11, 27

relationship to Inns of Court,
11
Inns of Court —

admission to, 119

attorneys not admitted, 27

Civil Wars' effect upon, 53

Coke's description of, 19, 20

curriculum of, 10, 26, 119

earliest mention of, 4, 5

entertainments given by, 51,
54, 56, 59, 60, 65

guilds of masters, 2

judges' authority in, 3

origin of, 2

plague in, 52

Privy Council regulations,
25-27

relationship to Inns of Chan-
cery, 11

removal of, 52

strangers expelled from, 26

world-wide influence, 122
Ireland's Inns of Court quoted,

95
Ireton, Henry, 113
Irishmen, 113, 114

James I. —

gold cup presented to, 19

patent granted by, 17, 18, 122
Japan —

Middle Templars in, 77,78
Jermyn, Philip, 48
Jervis, Sir John, 116
Jolles, Sir John, 41
Jones, Inigo, 112
Judges —

visitor ial jurisdiction of, 3

Kenyon, Lord, 114

King of England at Middle

Temple, 118
Kingsbury, Miss, 47
Knights Hospitallers, 5

Lane, Ralph, 35

Sir Richard, 112
Lee, Arthur, 74
Sir Robert, 41
Legal Education, Council of, 1 19
Leigh, Thomas, 96
Levant Company, 41
Lewis, Sir G. Cornewall, 116
Libraries, Bacon's description

of, 98
Lincoln's Inn, Charles II.'s ad-
mission to, 57
Governors of, 24
library of, 100, 101
Orange, Prince of, visit to,

59
Queen Victoria's visit to

100, 101
records of, 12, 100

INDEX

29

Littleton, Dr., 84
Livingston, William, 74
Lofft, Capell, 116
Lonsdale, Bishop, 115
Lowe, Sir Thos., 41
Lynch, Thomas, 72

M

McKean, Thomas, 72
Macnally, Leonard, 114
Maitland's "History of Lon-
don " quoted, 94
Manchester, Earl of, 107
Martin, Kichard, Header of

Middle Temple, 44
Master of the Temple, 9, 29, 53,

117
Masujima, Rokuichiro, 7 ^
Matsunami, N., 78
May, Sir Humphry, 46

Sir T. Erskine, 116
Maynard, Sir John, 113
Middle Temple-
building in, 15, 63

census of, 15

chambers in, 15

City Corporation and, 64

colonising furthered by, 39

custody of records, 12

Denmark, King of, at, 71

drinking by, 7

earliest mention of, 7

equality with Inner Temple,
8,9

family attachment to, 79,
104

fire in, 63

history of, 68

Irishmen at, 113,114

Japanese students in, 77,
78

Middle Temple — continued

King's visits to, 116-118

Lord of Misrule in, 69

masque in, 55

members'insubordination, 68-
70

officials made members, 112

records of, 12, 38, 67

Referees in, 87, 88

Under-Treasurer in, 24

Vacation Parliament in, 69
Middle Temple Gate, 48, 102
Middle Temple Hall, 71

building of, 82, 104

description of, 17

old building, 1 5

portraits in, 17

" Twelfth Night " in, 52
Middle Temple Lane, 16
Middle Temple Library —

Ashley's books in, 84, 86

catalogTie of, 84, 91, 92, 93

chains in, 90

excellence of, 94

foundation of, 82

gifts to, 89, 91

ideal for, 96

keeper of, 83, 85

new building for, 95, 97

Petyt's gift to, 90

purchases for, 90

Selden's books offered to, 88,
89

Stowell's bequest to, 95

tract catalogue, 92, 93

windows in, 96
Middle Temple Treasury, 104
Midleton, Arthur, 72
Mocenigo, Pietro, 56, 122
MoUoy, Charles, 113
Molyneux, Emery, 83
Molyneux globes, 83, 84
Monmouth, Duke of, 55

M.T.

K

130

INDEX

Montagu, Sir Edward, 105

Edward, Baron Boughtou,
106

George, 107

Henry, Earl of Manchester,
106

Henry, second Earl of Man-
chester, 106

James, 106

James, 107

Walter, 106

William, 106
Moone, Churchill, 49
Moore, Thomas, 114
Morgan, Francis, 103
Moulin, Jacques du, 56
Murphy, Arthur, 114
IMusgrave, Sir Eichard, 114

N

Norris, Admiral, 39
North, Francis, 59
North, Koger, 59, 63
Northumberland, Earl of, 41,
112

Okamura, Teruhiko, 79
Onslow, Arthur, 114

George, 114
Orange, Prince of, 58, 59
Ormond, Duke of, 60

Paget, Lord, 47
Parliament of Inn —

meeting of, 13

proceedings of, 13
Patent, King James's, 18, 19,
82, 122

Paulet, Sir Amyas, treasurer ,
101, 102

Peckham, Sir Henry, 56

Percy, George, 41
Henry, 111

Petyt, Sir William-
bequest by, 90

Phillimore, Sir Robert, 116

Plowden, Edmund, treasurer,
4 n., 82, 104

Plowden Buildings, 104

Pollock, Sir Frederick, 116

Popham, Sir John, Treasurer of
Middle Temple, 37, 38, 39,
41

Praed, Winthrop Mack worth,
116

Prince Consort, bencher Lin-
coln's Inn, 101

Pumpe-court, 110, 111

Pym, John, 113

Q
Quain, Sir J. R., 116

R

Radnor, Earl of, 60
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 34, 35, 36 ,
40

knowledge of law, 34
Randolph, Peyton, 74
Rashdall's " Universities in the
Middle Ages" quoted, 1, 7
Readers —

arms of, 17

duties of, 20, 21

feasts of, 21, 23, 55, 59-60

reading of, 21, 23, 27, 63
Referees, 87-88
Reynolds, Robert, 110
Rich, Richard, 104
Robertson, Lord, 121

INDEX

131

Roe, Sir Thomas, 48
Bo we, Nicholas, 113
Eutledge, Edward, 71
John, 72-74

S

Sanderson, William, 83
Sandwich, Earl of, 107
Sandys, Edwin, Archbishop of
York, 33
Sir Edwin, 45, 48
treasurer of Virginia Com-
pany, 45
George, 111

Miles, Treasurer of the Mid-
dle Temple, 33, 39, 45
Thomas, 45
Savile, Sir John, 37
Scales' Inn, 87
Selden, John, 48

library of, 88-89
Selwyn, William, 101
Serjeants —
call of, 70
degree of, 2, 3
feast of, 103
Shaftsbury, Earls of, 80
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,

114
Sherlock, Thomas, 115
Shower, Sir Bartholomew, 91
Somerset, Duke of, 60
Henry, Marquess of Worces-
ter, 112
Somerville, William, 113
Spenser quoted, 16
Stowell, Lord, 114
bequest to Middle Temple
Library, 95
Symonds, Rev. William, 43

Talfourd, Thomas Noon, 115
Temple —

assessment of, 53

buildings in 17-18, 30-31, 62,
63,65

Chaucer's reference to, 6

division between Inner and
Middle, 7, 8

iires in, 63

Lord Mayor in, 64

oflSces in, 32

Orange, Prince of, visit to,
58,59

partition deed relating to, 67

plague in, 52, 61, 65

rent of, 18, 19

revels in, 61

right of sanctuary in, 28

shops in, 32, 42

Wat Tyler in, 5, 6
Temple Church —

business in, 30

Communion in, 9

description of, 29-30

grant of, 29

Knights Hospitallers pos-
session of, 5

patent preserved in, 19

Reader in, 29, 43
Temple Stairs, 16
Tenterden, Lord, 114
Thackeray, W. M., 115
Thorpe, George, 46
Tickell, 115
Tokyo University, Professors of,

77,78
Tomizu, Hiroto, 77
Tomlyns, Richard, 46
Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 114
Tracy, William, 46
Tradescant collection, 63

132

INDEX

Treasnrer —
appointment of, 23, 25, 53
duties of, 24, 25
position of, 23, 24, 25
records in charge of, 12

Troughton, John, librarian, 92

" Twelfth Night," 52

U

University, definition of, 1

Vere, Sir Francis, 39
Victoria, Queen, 100, 117
Villiers, George, Duke of Buck-
ingham, 55
Viner, Charles, 113
Virginia —

governor of, 36

proposals for colonising, 36

settlers in, 40, 42, 43, 45
Virginia Company, 38, 40

charter of, 41

counsel to, 44, 47

dissolution of, 49

members of, 38, 40, 41

proceedings of, 48

records of, 46-47

Virginia Company — continued
sermons before, 43
treasurer of, 45

W

Waghenaer's naval work, 34, 80

Wake, Sir Isaac, 111

"Walker, Clement, 113

Wattes, Sir John, 40

Westbury, Lord Chancellor, 116

Weston, Richard, Earl of Port-
land, 111

Wheat, William, 49

Whitaker, Eev. Alexander, 44

Whitelocke's " Liber Fame-
lieus" quoted, 21-23

Whitelocke, Bulstrode, 23, 113

Wills, Mr. Justice, 118

Wolsey, anecdote of, 102

Worcester, Marquess, 112

Worsley, Master, 92

Worsley's Book, 68, 94

Wotton, Sir Harry, 111

York, Duke of, 56, 57

Duke of, 118
Yorke, Charles, 114

Philip, Earl Hardwicke, 114

Philip, 114

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