The. Lawyer's Easy Chair. the circumstances of his position . No one can expect a lawyer in full practice to give in his manuscript any true indication of his intellect or character." Was not Napoleon "in full practice"? (In the regular, neat, and legible hand of Poe one would not detect the half-crazy dreamer of " The Raven.") By the way, Mr. Schooling loses a great and evident oppor tunity in failing to liken the Emperor to a spider with its craft and venom . Probably all that the great man would say to him would be, " Shoo, fly, don't bother me! " We cordially invite the learned professor to lecture on this side of the ocean, and give us his opinion of Horace Greeley and Rufus Choate and Roger Foster, also of John Hancock, from his hand writing. There would be a lively curiosity on the part of the public here to see a writing-master who sets down the Emperor Napoleon as a " charlatan." We would especially like to show him another hand writing, — very minute, delicate, careful, legible, beautiful — and then exhibit to him the portrait of the writer, with " Grover Cleveland " on it! Professor Schooling would want his passport at once.
"Ancient York Masonic Rolls." — Our excel lent friend, Judge Bradwell of Chicago, sends us a comely volume with this title, descriptive of ancient documents in the York Lodge of Masons in England, and of the visit of the Apollo Commandery of Chi cago at that venerable seat in 1883. Our brother in law perhaps assumes that this Chairman is a Mason, but he has never been anything higher than a humble hod-carrier who has devoted himself to lugging materials up to the fellows "at the top." But the book is beautiful and interesting, not only to members of the ancient and honorable brotherhood, but to all who have a sentiment for the antique. It is filled with attractive pictures of architectural views in York as well as with portraits of prominent Masons, which include those of the author and his honored and lamented wife. There is also a picture of the Masonic Temple, Chicago, which ought to be thirty-three stories high, but is only eighteen, if our count is correct. The very interesting question whether women were ever admitted to the order is here discussed, with strong leanings in the affirmative, and even an intimation that Abraham's Sarah was a member. (We have always wondered whether Lot's wife was not turned into a pillar of salt for disclosing the secrets.) Judge Bradwell very warrantably argues that women were admitted, from the follow ing language of one of the York Rolls : "he or shee that is to be made Mason shall lay their hands " on the " booke," etc. It is contended on the other hand that "shee" is a copyist's error for "they." This would seem an improbable mistake, and moreover
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"they" would not only be superfluous but make awkward grammar. The conjunction "or" distin guishes between the sexes or it has no proper office. Most probably it was of old deemed the safer course to admit women in order to save husbands from nag ging and to scare the wives into secresy. Now we wish Brother Bradwell would investigate the Morgan case and try to solve that most puzzling mystery. In all the history of crime there is not a case more worthy of the efforts of some modern Poe or Gaboriau or Anna Katherine Green, as an exercise of de tective analysis.
High Jinks. — Why cannot we have legal high jinks in this country? They have them in London about Christmas — dramatic, military, etc. On the 6th of December "The Comedy of Errors" — the play, not a lawsuit — was acted at Gray's Inn. The benchers, with the ladies to them appertaining, were present in force; also the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, and judges, and Q. C.'s and Sirs, with their respective ladies; also the preacher (evidently not Solomon) and the reader. That em inent society newspaper, the " Law Journal," informs us: " There was no stage, and the actors appeared through the Tudor doors at the lower end of the hall, and played their parts on the floor level with the spectators. There were no divisions into acts and scenes. The costumes were as far as possible an ex act reproduction of the dress and equipment of the period, and the Court and guard of the Duke of Ephesus were a reproduction of those of Queen Elizabeth. In the circumstances, especially the absence of stage and footlights, the representation was a great success, the enunciation of the actors being particularly good." "The piece was brought to a close by the Queen's prayer, taken from the play of ' Ralph Roister Doister.' " There was afterward a supper with archaic music, lutes, viols, and virginals. On December 14, the Bar Musical Society (Lord Herschell, president), gave a concert in the Inner Temple Hall. Then, on December 7, the shooting-prizes won by the Rifle Volunteers of the Inns of Court during the last year were distributed in the Inner Temple Hall by Vis countess Wolseley. Mr. Justice Grantham presided, and made a speech glorifying the history of the corps, but bewailing its diminished numbers. (In the pres ent war-scare they ought to be able to recruit rapidly.) Then the commander-in-chief, Lord Wolseley, made a speech, in which he recommended the corps to im prove their shooting, slyly observing " that a bodv of men who could afford to give away such prizes ought to be able to maintain their corps in a good posi tion" — "a volunteer who could not shoot was an encumbrance to his corps." We have a painful sus
