Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/99

INNS OF ments on points of law raised by the students and conducted with much care under the supervision of a bencher and two barristers sitting as judges in the halls of the inns. Bolts were of an analogous character, though deemed inferior to moots. Both had fallen into complete desuetude until lately, when the society of Gray s Inn has revived meetings, it is understood with some success. In the early history of the inns discrimination was exer cised in regard to the social status of candidates for ad mission to them. Feme, a writer of the 16th century, referred to by Dugdale, states than none were admitted into the houses of court except they were gentlemen of blood. So also Pliny, writing in the 1st century of the Christian era, (Letters, ii. 14), says that before his day young men even of the highest families of Home were not ad mitted to practice except upon the introduction of some man of consular rank. But he goes on to add that all barriers were then broken down, everything being open to everybody, a remark quite applicable to the bar of England and elsewhere in the present day. It may here be noted that no dignity or title confers any rank at the bar. A privy councillor, a peer s son, a baronet, the speaker of the House of Commons, or a knight, all rank at the bar merely according to their legal precedence. Formerly orders were frequently issued both by the benchers and by the crown on the subject of the dress, manners, morals, and religious observances of students and members. No such interference with the liberty of the subject is now recognized in the inns of court ; and, although there is some semblance of a collegiate discipline maintained, this is re stricted to the dining in hall, where many ancient usages, survive, and to the closing of the gates of the inns at night. Each inn maintains a chapel, with the accompaniment of preachers and other clergy, the services being those of the Church of England. The Inner and the Middle Temple have joint use of the Temple church, a fabric of high antiquity and much dignity. The chapels of Lincoln s Inn and Gray s Inn are also very interesting. The office of preacher is usually filled by an ecclesiastic of learning and repute chosen by the benchers. The principal functionary of this rank in connexion with the Temple church is, however, constituted by letters patent by the crown without episcopal institution or induction, enjoying, nevertheless, no authority independently of the benchers. He bears the title of Master of the Temple. It has already been stated, on the authority of Fortescue, that the students of the Inns of Court learned to dance, sing, and play instrumental music ; and those accomplish ments found expression no doubt in the " masques " and " revels " for which the societies formerly distinguished themselves, especially the Inner Temple and Gray s Inn. These entertainments were of great antiquity and much magnificence, involving very considerable expense. Evelyn (Diary) speaks of the revels at the Middle Temple as an old and riotous custom, having relation neither to virtue nor to policy. The last revel appears to have been held at the Inner Temple in 1734, to mark the occasion of the elevation of Lord Chancellor Talbot to the woolsack. The plays and masques performed were sometimes repeated elsewhere than in the hall of the inn, especially before the sovereign at court. A master of the revels was appointed, commonly designated Lord of Misrule, whose authority in making the necessary arrangements was paramount. Abundant infor mation as to the scope and nature of these entertainments has come down to us : one of the festivals is minutely described by Gerard Leigh in his Accedence of Armorie, 1612; and a tradition ascribes the first performance of Shakespeare s Tivelfth Night to a revel held in the Middle Temple hall in February 1601. At the present day no O U K T 89 entertainments are given; excepting on very rare occasions, the hospitality of the inns has ceased to find expression save in the " Grand Day " held once in each of the four terms, when it is customary for the judges and other dis tinguished visitors to dine with the benchers (who sit apart from the barristers and students on a dais in some state), and "Readers Feasts," on both which occasions extra com mons and wine are served to the members attending. The Inner and the Middle Teinple, so far as their history can be traced hack, have always been separate societies. Fortescue, writing between 1461 and 1470, makes no allusion to a previous junction of the two inns. Dugdale (1671) speaks of the Temple as one society, and states that the students so increased in number that at length they divided into two bodies, becoming the Inner and Middle Temple respectively, lie does not, however, give any authority for this statement, or furnish the date of the division. The first reliable mention of the Temple as an inn of court is to be found in the Pa ston Letters, where, under date November 1440, the Inner Temple is spoken of as a college, as is also subsequently the Middle Temple. The Temple, as the name would serve to indicate, was the seat in England of the famous monastic order known as the Knights Templars, on whose suppression in 1312 it passed with other of their possessions to the crown, and after an interval of some years to the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, who in the reign of Edward III. demised the mansion and its surroundings to certain professors of the common law who came from Thavie s Inn. Notwithstanding the destruction of the muniments of the Temple by fire or by popular commotion, sufficient testimony is attainable to show that in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. the Temple had become the residence of the legal communities which have since maintained there a permanent footing. The two societies continued as tenants to the Knights Hospitallers of St John until the dissolution of the order in 1539 ; they then became the lessees of the crown, and so remained until 1609, when James I. made a grant by letters patent of the premises in perpetuity to the benchers of the respective societies on a yearly payment by each of 10, a payment which has long ceased to be made, having been bought up in the reign of Charles II. In this grant the two inns are described as the Inner and the Middle Temple or New Temple, " and as " being two out of those four colleges the most famous of all Europe " for the study of the law. Excepting the church, nothing now remains of the edifices belonging to the Knights Templars, the present buildings having been almost wholly erected since the reign of Queen Elizabeth or since the Great Fire, in Avhich the major part of the Inner Temple perished. The church, a noble structure, has been in the joint occupation of the Inner and Middle Temple from time immemorial, the former taking the southern and the latter the northern half. The round portion of the church was consecrated in 1185, the nave or choir in 1240. It is the largest and most com plete of the four remaining round churches in England, and is built on the plan of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Narrowly escaping the ravages of the fire of 1666, this beautiful building remains to this day one of the most perfect specimens of early Gothic architecture in England, and is maintained in the highest order in respect not merely to the edifice itself but to the services conducted within its walls. In former times the lawyers awaited their clients for consultation in the Round Church, as similarly the serjeants-at-law were accustomed to resort to St Paul s Cathedra], where each serjeant had a pillar assigned him. The Inner Temple, comprehending a hall, parliament chamber, library, and other buildings, occupies the site of the ancient mansion of the Knights Templars, built about the year 1240, and has from time to time been more or less re-erected and extended, the most recent changes in this direction dating from 1870, when the present handsome range of buildings, including a new dining hall, was com pleted. The library owes its existence to William I etyt, keeper of the Tower Records in the time of Queen Anne, who was also a benefactor to the library of the Middle Temple. The greatest addition by gift was made by the Baron Maseres in 1825. The number of volumes now in the library is 30,000, arranged in suit able rooms adjoining the hall. Of the Inns of Chancery belonging to the Inner Temple Clifford s Inn was anciently the town residence of the Barons Clifford, and was demised in 1345 to a body of students of the law. Clement s Inn was an Inn of Chancery before the reign of Edward IV., taking its name from the parish church of St Clement Danes, to which it had formerly belonged. The Middle Temple possesses in its hall one of the most stately and interesting of existing Elizabethan structures. Commenced in 1562, under the auspices of the learned Plowden, then treasurer, it was not completed until 1572, the richly carved screen at the east end in the style of the Renaissance being put up three years later, in 1575. The idea long commonly received that the screen was constructed of timber taken from ships of the Spanish Armada (1588) is therefore baseless. The noble edifice, which through many vicissi tudes of fire and popular tumult has been preserved unaltered to XIII. 12