of the church are over, they employ themselves in the study of sacred and prophane history: here every thing which is good and virtuous is to be learned: all vice is discouraged and banished. So that knights, barons, and the greatest nobility of the kingdom, often place their children in those Inns of Court; not so much to make the laws their study, much less to live by the profession (having large patrimonies of their own) but to form their manners and to preserve them from the contagion of vice. The discipline is so excellent, that there is scarce ever known to be any picques or differences, any bickerings or disturbances amongst

The most minute details are furnished by Dugdale, respecting the ancient Revels, grand Christmasses, Banqueting Nights, and amusements of the Inns of Courts, and the comic personages who acted conspicuous parts on these occasions, as the Lord of Misrule, the King of Cocknies, and Jack Straw, together with the master of the game, who was appointed by the Lord Chancellor, after hearing a plausible speech in his favor from the Common Serjeant, and who introduced a Fox and a Cat to be killed by Dogs beneath the fire. As to the lighter accomplishments, which Fortescue mentions to have been taught in the Inns of Court, Sir Christopher Hatton first obtained Queen Elizabeth's favor, by his appearance in a masque prepared by the lawyers. (Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia, and see Gray's Long Story.) Saunders excelled on the harpsichord, and Lord Keeper Guilford was a perfect musician. We read that in the reign of James, barristers were put out of Commons by_decimation, for the offence of neglecting to dance before the Judges. Sir J. Davis wrote a composition in lyric verse, entitled "Orchestra, or a poem expressing the antiquity and excellency of dancing." Lord Bacon, who composed an essay upon the subject of masques, regrets in his letters the failure of a project, to prepare a joint masque by the four Inns of Court, in honor of Queen Elizabeth. A masque, the result of the united exertions of these learned societies, was, however, brought about in the reign of Charles I. Among the Committee for arranging this splendid pageant, will be seen the names of Selden, Whitelock, Hyde, Finch, Herbert, Noy; and it is said, by the historian, to have been a pleasure to them. The animated description which is given of this masque in Whitelock's Memorials, will always be read with great interest, as affording a characteristic exhibition of the manners of the age.

them. The only way they have of punishing delinquents, is by expelling them the society: which punishment they dread more than criminals do imprisonment and irons: for he who is expelled out of one society, is never taken in by any of the other. Whence it happens, that there is a constant harmony amongst them, the greatest friendship and a general freedom of conversation. I need not be particular in describing the manner and method how the laws are studied in those places, since your Highness is never like to be a student there. But, I may say in the general, that it is pleasant, excellently well adapted for proficiency, and every way worthy of your esteem and encouragement. One thing more I will beg leave to observe, viz. that neither at Orleans, where both the Canon and Civil Laws are professed and studied; and whither students resort from all parts; neither at Angiers, Caen, nor any other University in France (Paris excepted) are there so many students, who have past their minority, as in our Inns of Court, where the natives only are admitteda.

a Great caution seems formerly to have been observed in admitting persons as members of the Inns of Court, whose rank in society, and whose education was not a guarantee for the propriety of their conduct. There is extant an order of King James, signed by Sir. E. Coke, Lord Bacon and others, that none but gentlemen by descent should be received. (Dugdale's Origines, p. 316.) The study and practice of the law may in themselves be considered as materially influencing the intellectual, the moral, and political character of the individual. This is a subject which does not admit of being more than merely adverted to, in the compass of a note. It may however be mentioned, that Lord Bacon recommends the study of the law as a remedy for some particular defects in the mental powers and Burke speaks of it as a science which does more to quicken and invigorate the understanding, than all the other kinds of learning put together.-And if it be on some occasions the duty of a Barrister to advocate a cause which in his judgment is not founded upon right, or to advance arguments of the solidity of which he is not persuaded, yet such a line of conduct will not, although it be examined according to the

strictest

strictest philosophical principles, appear repugnant to the moral feelings. (For the opinions of the Stoic Panatius and Cicero, Cic. de Off. lib. ii. c. 14. and see Preface to Sir. J. Davis's Reports. For an indictment against a Counsel charged with taking fees on both sides of a cause, Tremaine P. C. p. 261. and Stat. West. I. c. 9. prohibition against Serjeants attempting "pur enginer le Court, ou la partie.)-In examining the political conduct of lawyers, it will be observed, that as their professional studies lead them to take a near view of the excellencies of the Constitution, so they have been actuated by a powerful impulse to foster and vindicate it. Accordingly, this Country is deeply indebted to the members of the legal profession, for the preservation of its most valued liberties. Bracton and Fortescue are the earliest authorities in favor of our national freedom. The first conspicuous instance of a Commoner opposing in Parliament the arbitrary will of the Crown, was afforded by Sir Thomas More. And in the next reign, when Wolsey came with great magnificence to the House of Commons, in order to overawe the members into granting a parliamentary aid, he met with an inflexible resistance from the same intrepid lawyer. (Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography. Ellis's Original Letters, Vol. I. p. 220.) How much of the wisdom with which the petition of Right was framed, and of the resolution with which it was forwarded, is owing to the learning, sagacity, and intrepidity, of Coke and of Selden. How great a part of the merit of the Bill of Rights, and of the spirited publications which prepared the minds of men for the Revolution, is due to Lord Somers. The Restoration might have been a national blessing, if the limitations upon the power of the Crown, which were proposed by Sir M. Hale, had been appreciated and enforced. An attempt was made in the time of the Commonwealth, to exclude lawyers from sitting in the House of Commons. A similar project had been contrived in the reign of Edward III, but it does not appear to have been acted upon until that of Henry IV, and the Parliament in which it was adopted has been called in derision the "Parliamentum indoctum," or the "lacklearning Parliament." Whitelock has related, in his Memorials, a distinguished speech, which was delivered on the occasion of the debate upon this subject, tending to shew that those in power had most reason to be displeased with this profession, as a bridle to their power." (Whitel. Mem. p. 415. 4 Inst. 48. And see Introduction to Brodie's British Empire, p. 63. upon a remarkable mistake of Prynne and Whitelock, in citing a passage from Walsingham, respecting the "Parliamentum indoctum.")— Hume has made a reflection, how much the history of this Country is indebted to four great men, who held the highest stations in the law, More, Bacon, Clarendon, Whitelock. One

of

of which number stands pre-eminent above the rest of mankind, whether in the annals of ancient or modern philosophy: whilst the cultivators of literature and the arts, will always revere, in Sir Thomas More, the bosom friend of Erasmus, and the patron of Holbein; the man on whom was passed the merited eulogium-" Pectus omni nive candidius, ingenium quale Anglia nec habuit unquam, nec habitura est, alioquin nequaquam infelicium ingeniorum parens." (Erasm. lib. 29. Epist. 42.) The literary taste of this Country derived no unimportant benefit from Lord Somers, when he liberally supplied Addison with the means of completing his education, and enabled him to make the tour of Italy. (And further on Lord Somers's Character, Walpole's Noble Authors, Addison's Freeholder, No. 39. Swift's Dedication to the Tale of a Tub, also the Four Last Years of Queen Anne. Hickes's Diss. Epist. on the Saxon Etymology of the word Somers, "maximum et clarissimum.) The muse of Pope never speaks with more feeling to the heart, than when excited by the kindred genius of his Templar friend, whose judicial and senatorial talents, and whose "hundred arts refined" were equally "known and honored."-Doubtless it would be easy to point out several defects in the mental qualifications of lawyers which may fairly be considered as resulting from their professional studies and habits. This is the natural consequence of the mind becoming addicted to any one particular pursuit; and as such it engaged the attention of Lord Bacon in his celebrated work on the advancement of learning, in which he treats of these impediments to knowledge under the appellation of "idola tribus." Moreover the allurements of profit and ambition make it more necessary for an English Barrister, than for a person placed in any other class of society, to regard their seductive influence in the light in which the great philosopher, whose writings have just been referred to, has viewed them, that they are "the golden ball thrown before Atalanta, which while she goeth aside, and stoopeth to take up, the race is hindered."

CHAP. L.

BUT, my Prince, since you are so desirous to know, wherefore, in the Laws of England, the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor are not conferred, as in the professions of the Canon and Civil Law in our Universities; I would give you to understand, that though in our Inns of Court there be no degrees which bear those titles; yet there is in them conferred a degree, or rather an Honorary Estate, no less celebrated and solemn than that of Doctor, which is called the degree of a Serjeant at Law, it is conferred in the following manner.

The Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, by and with the advice and consent of all the Judges, is wont to pitch upon, as often as he sees fitting, seven or eight of the discreeter persons, such as have made the greatest proficiency in the general study of the laws, and whom they judge best qualified. The manner is, to deliver in their names in writing to the Lord High Chancellor of England; who, in virtue of the King's Writ, shall forthwith command every one of the persons so pitched upon, that he be before the King, at a day certain, to take upon him the state and degree of a Serjeant at Law, under a great penalty, in every one of the said Writs specified and limited.

At which day, the parties summoned and appearing, each of them shall be sworn upon the holy Gospels, that he will be ready, at a further day and place to be appointed, to take upon him the state