Gray's Imi.
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HOLBORN
GATE. ^
But we cannot deny the Benchers the merit of consistency. The old Knights Templars used, in a spirit of false economy, to make one horse carry two of their number, and were supposed to prove their humility by so doing. Either for an example to their younger brethren, or by reason of the very limited accommodation, the Benchers of Gray's Inn went a step farther, and were wont to " sleep double." Dugdale is our witness that in 1530 Sir Thomas Nevill wrote to the Benchers that he " would accept of Mr. Attorney-General [Sir Christopher Hales] to be his Bedfellow." And Mr. Attorney was graciously pleased to accept the invitation and his share of bed. Their imitation of Templarían abstinence did not end here. The Reader in Divinity (an office recruited from among the Bench ers) was not allowed to marry, and for some years this self-denying ordinance extended to every rank save that of Steward, Chief Butler, and Cook. The reason for it is not given. Possibly it
may have been the same as that given for the enforced celibacy of the vergers of St. Paul's Cathedral; namely, " because having a wife is a troublesome and disturbing affair, . . . and because no man can serve two masters, the vergers are to be either bache lors or to give up their wives." It may be well to add that the Gray's Inn Reader was not allowed this lax alternative. In spite of all these stringent rules the students had their diversions. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James the Masques and Revels held by the Inns of Court were amongst the most fashionable entertainments of London. Great sums of money were spent on their production, schools of dancing were established in the Inn to perfect the performers, and the most ingenious wits of the Society were engaged for months before hand to devise " new and startling effects." The intrinsic worth of these productions is, as a rule, small. But occasionally, when a master-hand such as Beaumont was used, or when a budding genius rose from among the students, the compositions reach a high standard*of merit. It is believed that Bacon himself was sole or joint author of more than one of these. As a young student he, with
Candlemas' Mght at 9 ¿£y- Clock
Fac-similé of a Ticket of Admission to the Masque at
Gray's Inn on Feb. 2, 1682.
two others, designed the dumb shows in an entertainment called "The Misfortunes of
.
