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GRAY'S INN. 
 
GRAY'S INN 
 
 NOTES 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF ITS 
 
 HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 W. E. DOUTHWAITE, 
 
 LIBRARIAN. 
 
 LONDON. 
 1876. 
 
t^ 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY BENSON AND PAGE, 22, KING'S ROAD, GRAY'S INN, W.C. 
 
C/" 
 
 v 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF GRATS INN, 
 
 It has been observed by a modern writer that 
 Holborn has long been famous as a law quarter of 
 London. Gray's Inn, Staple Inn, Barnard's Inn, 
 Furnival's Inn, and Thavie's Inn are all in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Holborn. Some idea of the neighbourhood 
 in the time of Elizabeth may be obtained by reference 
 to the map of Ralph Agas. Holborn there appears 
 as an open country road, commanding a northward 
 view of the Hampstead and Highgate Hills, and of the 
 little "lonely, almost forsaken, church of St. Pancras" 
 midway. A few houses and shops by Holborn Bars, 
 and the gardens and buildings of Gray's Inn are seen, 
 with Gray's Inn Lane, the houses in which then 
 extended no farther than the Inn. Four of the 
 
 267564 
 
Gray's Inn Lane houses, looking like houses built of 
 cards, one storey projecting over another, still remain 
 as specimens of the buildings in Elizabeth's time. 
 
 Gray's Inn was esteemed a most agreeable resort on 
 account of its retirement, and was frequented not only 
 by barristers and students of the law, but by divines 
 and literary men. Sir Samuel Romilly in a letter to 
 his sister, dated from his Chambers in Gray's Inn 
 Square, in 1780, says, '^ My rooms are exceedingly 
 lively .... the moment the sun peeps out, I am 
 in the country, .... having only one row of 
 houses between me and Highgate and Hampstead." 
 
 Among the distinguished literary men who resided 
 here, may be mentioned the illustrious Lord Macaulay, 
 who, between the years 1829 and 1834, occupied 
 chambers at 8, South Square, afterwards taken down 
 for an extension of the Library. 
 
 Gray's Inn stands upon the site of a property anciently 
 known as the Manor of Portpoole, or Purpool, and 
 is generally supposed to have derived its name 
 from the noble family of the Greys of Wilton. 
 Domesday Book gives no account of the Manor of 
 Portpool. Holborn, however, is mentioned thus : — " At 
 Holeburne the King has two cottagers, who render 
 yearly twenty pence to the King's Sheriff. The Sheriff 
 
of Middlesex always had charge of these cottagers in 
 the time of King Edward. William the Chamberlain 
 renders yearly to the King's Sheriff six shillings for the 
 land where his Vineyard is set." 
 
 A very large portion of the Hundred of Ossulston, in 
 which Gray's Inn is situated, appears to have belonged 
 to the Bishop and Canons of St. Paul ; and from the 
 Manor of Portpool, an ancient prebend of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral takes the name. In the list of prebendaries 
 of St. Paul's Cathedral, given in Dugdale, ihe name 
 of Theobald stands as the first prebendary of Port- 
 pool ; no date is given of his collation, but he is sup- 
 posed to be the same person who occurs as Archdeacon 
 of Essex in 1218, and again in 1228. 
 
 According to Archdeacon Hale, the records of the 
 Cathedral of St. Paul's exhibit no conclusive evidence 
 when, or under what circumstances, either the Chapter 
 as a body, or the prebendaries as individuals, became 
 possessed of their lands and manors ; and Portpool 
 seems to have been one of those portions of the 
 Cathedral property which formed the separate estate of 
 one of the Canons.'' 
 
 Portpool is also mentioned in the reign of Henry HI. 
 
 * Domesday of St. Paul's, introd., p. iv. 
 
 B 2 
 
In the Fine Rolls, 42 Henry III. (1258), it is stated 
 that, '^ William le Bachelor and Isabella his wife give 
 half a mark for one assize of novel disseisin, taken before 
 the Justices at Westminster, against Simeon de Gai'dio 
 and others of tenements in the umys of Hohhurn and 
 Purtpolj in the suburb oj London.''^ '^ And in Par ton's 
 Account of the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields, 
 it is stated that one, ^^ Robert de Furtefole^ by Deed 
 dated 46 Henry III. (1262), gave to the Hospital of 
 St. Giles {int. al.), ten shillings annual rent, issuing 
 from his house, St. Andrew Parish, to find a Chaplain 
 to celebrate his anniversary obit in the Hospital Church. 
 
 The earliest mention hitherto found of the Manor of 
 Portpool, is in the 22 Edward I. (1294), when the 
 Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral were 
 summoned to appear before the Justices itinerant, to 
 answer by what warrant they claimed to have a Court 
 Leet and various other liberties in Chiswick, Sutton, 
 and other places, and in Purtepol Sokne. The following 
 is an extract from the Quo Warranto Rolls : — 
 
 '' The Dean and Chapter of the Church of St. Paul 
 were summoned to answer the Lord the King of a Plea 
 by what warrant they claim to liave view of frankj^ledge 
 
 » "Exppv]ita e Eotulis Fininin," vol. 2. p. 205. 
 
and the aiDciuls of breach of the assize of bread and 
 ale, pillory, tumbrel, infangethef, outfangethef, gallows, 
 chattels of fugitives, condemned persons their tenants, 
 year and waste of their lands, and the amerciaments of 
 their men in, among other places, Purtepol Sohie and 
 Fynesbury Sokne. And the Dean and Chapter they 
 come, and the Dean saith that he found the aforesaid 
 Church seized of the aforesaid liberties, and that he ought 
 not to answer thereupon, without the Bishop of London. 
 And the Bishop is present, and freely joins himself with 
 the aforesaid Dean and Chapter in answering, who say, 
 that they and their predecessors /rom time whereof memory 
 is not, have had all the Liberties aforesaid in the afore- 
 said Vills, and have used the same without interrup- 
 tion, and except that they have not had Gallows 
 otherwise than in Fynesbury Sokne, at which they 
 have caused Judgments to be executed on the con- 
 demned of their Tenants of all the Vills aforesaid, 
 and this from the aforesaid time when memory is 
 not, and by this warrant they claim the Liberties 
 aforesaid." 
 
 The Jury elected for this purpose say upon their 
 oath " that the aforesaid Bishop, Dean and Chapter have 
 had the aforesaid Liberties in their aforesaid Manors, and 
 have freely used them from time whereof memory is 
 
6 
 
 not, without any interruption. Except that they have 
 not had nor have they Gallows otherwise than in 
 the aforesaid Yill of Fynesbury, and they say that 
 when any man of their aforesaid Vills hath been 
 taken, they cause to assemble 20 men each having 
 his two liides of lands to proceed to Judgment upon 
 him. 
 
 " Therefore the aforesaid Bishop, Dean and Chapter 
 go without a day saving the right of our Lord the 
 King," &c/^ 
 
 These proceedings in Quo Warranto, clearly show 
 that the Manor of Portpool belonged in ancient times 
 to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul, London. 
 
 « " Placita de Quo Warranto," 22 Ed. I. 
 
THE DE GREY FAMILY, THEIR CONNECTION 
 WITH THE PROPERTY, AND THE ACQUISITION 
 OF IT BY THE SOCIETY, 
 
 According to Dugrlale, the family of the De Greys 
 was descended from Henry de Grey of Codnar. The 
 exact time when the Manor of Portpool came into 
 their possession has not been ascertained. 
 
 Keginald de Grey, the first of the family mentioned 
 in connection with the property, died in the first year of 
 Edward IT. (1308). An Inquisition, taken after his 
 death at " Purtpole,'''' states, that he died seized of a 
 messuage and certain lands there, and of rents of assize, 
 which he held of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul, 
 London, by rent, service, and suit, at their Court 
 Baron, leaving John his son and heir. 
 
liKXuisitio post mortem of Reginald Gkey. 
 
 1 Eclw. II. 
 " An Inquisition taken before the Escheator of the 
 Lord the King, on Monday, on the morrow of the close 
 of Easter, in the first year of the reign of King Edward, 
 son of King Edward the First, at Purtepole, concerning 
 the lands and tenements of which Reginald le Grey was 
 "seised on the day on which he died in his demesne as of 
 fee, in the county of Middlesex, by the oath of Thomas 
 de Meldebourne (and others), who say upon their oath, 
 that the said Reginald le Grey was seised at Portpool, 
 on the day on which he died, of a certain messuage, with 
 gardens, and with one dove-house, which are worth by 
 the year beyond reprises ten shillings ; also they say, 
 that there are there thirty acres of arable land, which are 
 worth by the year twenty shillings, price the acre eight- 
 pence ; also they say, that there is there of assize-rent 
 22s., payable at two terms of the year — namely, at the 
 feast of St. Michael, lis., and at the feast of the Annun- 
 ciation of the Blessed Mary, lis. ; also they say, that 
 there is there a certain windmill, which is worth by the 
 year 20s. ; also they say, that the said Reginald le Grey 
 held all the aforesaid lands and tenements of the Dean 
 and Chapter of St. Paul, London, in chief, by the 
 service of 42s. 2d., payable at two terms of the year. 
 

 
 namely, &c., and suit of court, from three weeks to 
 three weeks; also they say, that John le Grey is his 
 next heir, and is of the age of thirty years and more." 
 In witness, &c. 
 
 To enable this John de Grey to alienate some part 
 of the property in mortmain, the Crown, at his instance, 
 issued a writ of ad quod damnum, and the return to 
 such writ, after stating that it was not to the damage 
 of the King or any others, states, that the property is 
 '^ holden of Robert de Chiggeiuell, by the service of 
 rendering to the same Robert, o?ie rose yearly ; and the 
 same Robert holds the said tenements, together with 
 other tenements, of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul, 
 London, and the aforesaid Dean and Chapter, hold the 
 same of the Lord the King, in pure and perpetual 
 alms."'^ 
 
 John de Grey died in the seventeenth year of Edward 
 II. (1324), and was succeeded by his son Henry, who 
 died in the sixteenth year of Edward III. (1343), leaving 
 a son and heir Reginald. 
 
 This Reginald de Grey de Wilton, as appears by the 
 Inquisition taken after his death, 44 Edward III. 
 
 ^ Pat. 8 Edw. II. 
 
10 
 
 (1370), died seized of the Manor, called for the first 
 time an Inn, " Hospitium in Pourtepole," which he is 
 stated to^have leased out. 
 
 Inquisitio post mortem of Reginald Grey de Wilton. 
 
 44 Edw. III. 
 
 HOLBOURNE. — GrEYE. 
 
 ^^ An inquisition taken at Holbourne, in the county of 
 Middlesex, before John de Busshoppeston, the Escheator 
 of the Lord the King, in the county aforesaid, on the 24th 
 day of June, in the forty-fourth year of the reign of 
 King Edward the Third, after the Conquest, by virtue 
 of a certain writ of the said Lord the King, sewed to 
 this inquisition, by the oath of Roger Leget (and others), 
 who say, upon their oath, that Reginald de Grey of 
 Wilton, in the writ contained, held not any lands or 
 tenements in his demesne as of fee, nor in service, of the 
 Lord the King in Chief, in the county aforesaid, on the 
 day on which he died. But they say that the said 
 Reginald held, on the day aforesaid, in the county 
 aforesaid, a certain inn in Portepole, near Holbourn, 
 with one garden, and eleven small shops, with the 
 appurtenances, in his demesne, as of fee, together with 
 three acres of land adjacent, of the Dean and Chapter 
 
11 
 
 of the church of St. Paul, London, hj fealty, and by the 
 service of 32s. 2d, payable at the feast of Easter and 
 St. Michael, equally, by the year. And they say that 
 the aforesaid inn, garden, shops, and land, with the 
 appurtenances, are worth, by the year, in all issues, 
 according to the true value of the same, beyond reprises 
 and resolved rent, 100 shillings, and are so let to farm^ 
 
 payable equally at the feasts aforesaid " 
 
 In witness, &c. 
 
 From Keginald the property descended to Sir Henry 
 de Grey of Wilton, Knight, who, as is shown by the 
 Inquisition on his death, 19 Richard II. (1395), had 
 previously enfeoffed Roger Harecourt and several others 
 in fee of his Manor of Portpole, in Holborn, called 
 Gray's Inn. 
 
 Inquisitio post mortem of Henry Gray de Wilton. 
 
 19 Eichard II. 
 
 ^* An inquisition taken at Holborn, in the county of 
 Middlesex, on Friday, next after the feast of Saint 
 Basil, in the nineteenth year of the reign of King 
 Richard the Second, before John Reche, Escheator of 
 the Lord the King, in the same county, by virtue of a 
 
writ of the said Lord the King, to the same escheator 
 directed and to this inquisition sewed, by the oath of 
 John Bygonet-and others, who say, upon their oath, 
 that Henry Grey de Wtlton, Knight, in the writ named, 
 held not any lands or tenements in the aforesaid county, 
 on the day on which he died, which, of the Lord the 
 King, or of any other, are holden, because they say that 
 the said Henry, by his deed, enfeoffed Roger Harecourt, 
 William Danbury, John de Broughton, Jun., John 
 Bouer, Rector of the church of Shirland, Henry Babyng- 
 ton, and others, whose names to the jurors aforesaid are 
 unknown of his manor of Portpole, in Hoi born, called 
 Gray's Inn, together with all the other lands and 
 tenements which he had in the said county of Middlesex, 
 to hold to them and their heirs for ever ; by virtue of 
 which feoffment, the aforesaid Roger John and others 
 were seised of the manor, lands, and tenements aforesaid, 
 before the death of the said Henry, and at the time of 
 his death, and still are ; and they say that the said 
 manor, together with the lands and tenements aforesaid, 
 are holden of the Dean and Chapter of the church of St. 
 Paul, London, by what services they know not. And 
 they say, that the aforesaid manor, lands, and tenements, 
 are worth, by the year, in all issues beyond reprises, 
 according to the true value of the same 100 shillings* 
 
^ 13 
 
 And they say, that the aforesaid Henry died on 
 Saturday, next after the feast of St. Alphage last past ; 
 and that one Richard Grey is son and next heir of the 
 same Henry, and was of the age of three years on 
 Wednesday next before the feast of All Saints last 
 past." 
 
 In witness, &c. 
 
 This Henry left his son E-ichard his heir; who by 
 Deed, enrolled in Chancery, 3 Henry Y. (1415), 
 confirmed the feoffment which his father had made, as 
 will be seen from the following extract from the Close 
 Roll 3 Henry V. 
 
 " Richard de Grey de Wilton, Knight, 
 
 to John Boneyr." 
 
 *^ Whereas Henry de Grey our Father lately enfeoffed 
 John Boneyr, Clerk, and Robert Alfreton, together with 
 others now deceased, in fee simple without any condition 
 specified in deed or in feoffment, of his manors, lands, 
 and tenements, underwritten, to wit, of his manor of 
 
 Shifland and Stratton in the county of Derby." 
 
 " And also of his Manor of Portepole in the 
 
 County of Middlesex with all its appurtenances called 
 
 Greyes Inn de Wilton." " Know ye that we 
 
 the aforesaid Richard Lord de Grey de Wilton have 
 
14 
 
 remised released and wholly for us and our heirs have for 
 ever quitted claim to the aforesaid John Boneyr and 
 Robert Alfreton being in their full and peaceable 
 possession of all and singular the aforesaid manors, 
 lands tenements and rents and services." 
 
 The Manor of Portpool or Gray's Inn continued in 
 the possession of the family of the De Greys, till the 21st 
 year of Henry VII. (1505), when Edmund Lord Grey 
 of Wilton, after he had obtained livery of his lands 
 as 8071 of Johiy son of Regiriald, son of Richai'd, who 
 died in the year 1441, conveyed by bargain and sale, 
 recovery and fine, the said manor and his advowson 
 of the chantry of Portepole, and all his possessions 
 in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, to Hugh Denys 
 and Mary his wife, and their feoffees, some of whom 
 were members of Gray's Inn. In the ^'Letters and 
 Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the reign of Henry 
 VIII.,"" the name Hugh Denys frequently appears 
 as the holder of offices under the Crown. He 
 possessed grants of '^ corrody " or allowance in the 
 King's gift, in the priory of Tywardreth, Cornwall ; 
 and in the monastery of St. Edmunds Bury. He 
 was also keeper of the Manor and Park, Wan- 
 
 a Vol. i. 1509-15] 4. 
 
15 
 
 stede ; gauger of the port of Bristol, and ^' verger 
 before the King." He died 30th December, 1512. 
 
 In the 7th Henry VIH. (1516), the survivors of the 
 feoffees mentioned above, obtained the King's Licence 
 to alienate to the Prior and Convent of Shene, " the 
 Manor of Portepole^ with the appurtenances, in the 
 County of Middlesex, and four Messuages four Gardens 
 one Toft, eight acres of Land, and \0s. Rent, with the 
 appurtenances in the parish of St. Andrew the Apostle, 
 in Holborn, without the Bars of the Old Temple,^ 
 London, and the advowson of the Chantry to the same 
 Manor belonging, in the county of Middlesex, which of 
 us are holden as an escheat for that Robert Chigwell, 
 of whom the Manor aforesaid and other the premises 
 were holden, died without heir, by service fealty, and 
 the rent of one red rose,^^ &c.^ 
 
 The family of Chigwell, and the connection of 
 some of the members of it with the property, is 
 involved in much obscurity, and after considerable 
 research, no satisfactory or reliable information can be 
 obtained. 
 
 The name of Chigwell is frequently mentioned in 
 
 * The old Temple is said to have occupied the place where Southampton 
 Buildings now stand, 
 
 t- Pat., 7 Henry VIII. pt. 3, m. 30. 
 
IG 
 
 the city records, in the reigns of Edward I. and II. 
 Some of the family are also mentioned as having 
 property in Holborn about this time. In Parton's 
 Account of the possessions of the Hospital of St. Giles 
 in the Fields, there is mention of " a rent of 6s., arising 
 from a tenement and appurtenances situate within the 
 Bars of Holburne, between the tenement of Richard 
 
 de Chigivell without the same Bars ivest, 
 
 granted by Richard de Chigwell 25 Edw. I." And 
 in Malcolm's '^ Londinium Redivivum,"" there is an 
 extract from one of the ancient registers of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, relating to the rental of the prebend of 
 Holborn about 1322, in which the tenement of " Robert 
 de Chyhvell,'''' '' near the gate of the BdrSy^^ is also men- 
 tioned. And in the list of prebendaries of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral given in Dugdale, the name of Robert de 
 Chigwell occurs as prebendary of Reculverland in 
 1336. 
 
 It appears in the extracts from the accounts 
 of the Stewards of Gray's Inn ^ for the years 
 1518, 1520, and 1524, that the Society of Gray's 
 Inn paid a rent of £6 135. Ad., to the monas- 
 tery of Shene. In these years the Steward accounts 
 
 Vol. iii., p. 21. ^ Harleian MS., No. 1912. 
 
17 
 
 thus:— "Piiid to the Prior of Sheeiie for half a j^ear's 
 rent due for Gray's Inn, three pounds six shillings 
 and eight pence." 
 
 On the dissolution of the monasteries, the monastery 
 of Shene and all its possessions came to the Crown, 
 and the minister's accounts for the county of Surrey, 
 31 Henry VIII. (1539), contain the following:— 
 
 " Lands and Possessions late pertaining to the Priory 
 of Sheene." 
 " The Account of Francis Shakerly collector of 
 rents there, from the feast of St. Michael the 
 Archangel, in the 31st year of the reign of King Henry 
 the Eighth, unto the same feast of St. Michael the 
 Archangel thence next ensuing, in the 32nd year of the 
 said King, to wit, for one whole year." 
 
 " Grees Inn in Middlesex" 
 "And for six pounds thirteen shillings and four 
 pence for a Pension there." 
 
 Dugdale, who, at the time he wrote, had evidently 
 consulted records of the Society not now in existence, 
 states that this Manor or Inn was granted by the King 
 unto the Society in fee farm '^ for by the account of 
 the Treasurer of this Society, made 18th Nov. 32 Hen. 
 VIII., it is evident that the said rent of £6 13s. 4d., was 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 paid to the King's use for one whole year, and so hath 
 been ever since as may appear by the accounts of the 
 said house."'* 
 
 In the year 1651, an arrangement was made between 
 the Commissioners of the Commonwealth and the 
 Society, by which the Pension or annual payment of 
 £6 13s. 4d., due to the Society, from, or in respect 
 of part of the possessions of the Prior and Convent 
 of St. Bartholomew towards the maintenance of a 
 Chaplain, was relinquished for the purchase of the 
 house or fee farm rent. At the Restoration that 
 arrangement was repudiated, and the house or fee 
 farm rent was again paid to the Crown, and the 
 Crown subsequently sold it to Sir Philip Matthews, 
 to whose co-heirs it subsequently descended. 
 
 The Society continued to pay the fee farm Rent of 
 £6 13s. 4d., until the year 1733, Avhen they purchased 
 it from the parties deriving title, from the co-heirs of 
 Sir Philip Matthews. 
 
 No grant from the Crown to the Society can be 
 found, but it is suggested that the circumstances afford 
 ample and substantial grounds for presuming one. 
 From the dissolution of the monasteries, or very shortly 
 
 ■* Origine« Jnridici.'les. p. 272. 
 
19 
 
 afterwards, down to the present time, the Society has 
 had continuous and undisturbed possession of the whole 
 property. It paid the fee farm Rent of £6 13s. 4d., 
 to the Crown until the Commonwealth, to commissioners 
 during the time of the Commonwealth, to the Crown 
 ao^ain from the Restoration until the last purchase of 
 it by the Society, as just stated; and from the time 
 of such purchase to the present time it has held, and 
 now holds, the property discharged from any rent, or 
 other payment. 
 
 c 2 
 
Cjuy'S inn as an inn of court. 
 
 Though the exact date is not known when Gray's 
 Inn became the residence of members of the profession 
 of the law, there is evidence from which it may reason- 
 ably be inferred that it was so occupied before 
 the year 1370. In the inquisition on the death 
 of Eeginald de Grey de Wilton of that date/ it 
 is stated that he died, seized of '^ a certain Inn in 
 Portepole, near Holbourn/' which Inn or *^ Hospi- 
 tium " was then let to farm at the yearly rent 
 of 100 shillings. It is also stated in a " Discourse or 
 Treatise on the Third University of England," by Sir 
 George Buck, appended to '^ Stow's Annals/"' that 
 " an estate of this House [Gray's Inn] was taken 
 in the reign of Edioard the Thiixl, by gentlemen and 
 professors of the common law, as Master Saintlow 
 Kuiveton, a learned gentleman, and a rare antiquary, 
 and an auncient fellow of this colledge, affirmeth, out 
 of his owne search and readings of antiquities concern- 
 ing the House." In Gough's edition of " Camden's 
 
 a p. 10. ^ p. 1073. 
 
21 
 
 Mr. St. Lo. Kniveton is stated to be 
 ^' a Derbyshire gentleman, and a good antiquary, to 
 whose studious diligence Camden acknowledges him- 
 self much indebted." 
 
 The fact of Gray's Inn being an Inn of Court 
 prior to the year 1370, is still further confirmed 
 by the circumstance that the Harleian manuscript 
 before quoted contains a list of readers of Gray's Inn, 
 with their armorial bearings illuminated. The dates 
 when the first fourteen of these readers filled that 
 office are not stated, but the first reader named in 
 the list is William de Skipwith, Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas, in 33 Edward III. (1359); the second is 
 John Markham, Justice of the Common Pleas in 
 1396 ; the third is William Gascoigne, Chief Justice 
 of the King's Bench in 1400. The remainder have 
 the dates of their elevation to the Bench, ranging 
 from 1403 to 1483. 
 
 One of these readers, Sir Thomas Billinge, Chief 
 Justice of the King's Bench in 1464, in a letter dated 
 July, 1454, with reference to one Ledam, says : — " I 
 wylde sye schuU do wyll, be cause ye ar a felaw in 
 Gray's In, wer I was a felaw." ^ 
 
 The Harleian manuscript also contains a table 
 
 * Vol. i., p. 30. ^ " Paston Letters," Gairdner's edition, vol. i., p. 297. 
 
22 
 
 showing the number of gentlemen admitted into the 
 Society each year from 1521 to 1674 ; a list of the 
 names of such nubility, spiritual and temporal, as have 
 been admitted of the Society ; a general collection 
 of the several Calls of Ancients from 1514 to 1674 ; 
 alphabetical list of the Benchers and Treasurers, &c. 
 
 The compiler of this manuscript: was Simon Segar, 
 grandson of Sir William Segar, King-at-arms. Several 
 members of the Segar family were admitted as 
 members of Gray's Inn. Simon Segar was admitted into 
 the Society in the year 1656 ; and on the 14th of June, 
 1667, he was appointed " Collector of all the dutys of 
 the House, except Commons due to the Steward." 
 In 1670 he was appointed third Butler, and in 
 1674 second Butler and Library Keeper. Subse- 
 quently several sums of money were paid him for "setting 
 up the readers coates of armes in the Library." None 
 of these armorial bearings are now to be found, but it 
 may be assumed that the list in the manuscript is a cuj^y 
 of the collection. 
 
 The early records of the Society do not seem to 
 have been preserved with that care which their imjiort- 
 ance demanded. How this manuscript came into the 
 Harleian collection does not appear, and in the 
 " Catalog! Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiber- 
 
23 
 
 niae," published in 1697, it is stated that Francis 
 Bernard, M.D., had amongst his collection of manuscripts 
 a folio volume entitled " Ancient Orders and Consti- 
 tutions of the Society of Gray's Inn." This manuscript 
 was afterwards in the possession of Charles Bernard, 
 Esq., Serjeant Surgeon to Queen Anne, and was sold at 
 the sale of his library, March, 1710.'' Dr. Bernard, 
 Chief Physician to King James II., is said to have had 
 the best private collection of scarce and curious books 
 that had been seen in England, and was a good judge 
 of their value. They appear to have been sold by 
 auction in 1698, when the catalogue is dated, and 
 realized by the sale the nett sum of £1600.'' 
 
 In 4 Henry V. (1416), mention is made of the house 
 of the Treasurer of England in Gray's Inn : — 
 " To Sir John Rothenall, Knight, Keeper of the 
 King's Wardrobe. In money paid to him, arising 
 from the fifteenths and tenths, viz., by the hands of 
 John Feriby, receiving the money from a certain 
 attorney of the Lord de Talbot, dwelling in Graye's 
 Inn, at the house of the Treasurer of England, for the 
 expenses of the household of the Emperor whilst at 
 Eltham, By Writ, &c., £200."^ 
 
 ^A copy of the catalogue of the sale is in Dr. Williams' Library. 
 •* Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes,'' vol. iv., p. 104. 
 ^ Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, p. 348. 
 
24 
 
 It may be concluded, upon the evidence afforded 
 by the above records, that although it cannot be stated 
 precisely when the Society of Gray's Inn was first 
 formed, there is no reason to suppose it is of less anti- 
 quity thar^ any of the other Inns of Court. As a late 
 writer has remarked, ^^ the four Inns of Court stand 
 upon a footing of equality. No precedence, priority, 
 or superior antiquity, is conceded to, or claimed by one 
 Inn beyond another. The zeal of individual members 
 has sometimes ascribed to one Inn eminence or antiquity 
 above its sister-inns ; but they are now what they 
 were when Shirley dedicated to them his masque, the 
 ' Triumphs of Peace ' — the four equal and honourable 
 Societies of the Inns of Court." ^ 
 
 The general daily life in the Inns of Court in olden 
 time is described by Fortescue as of a varied and 
 attractive character. On the working days most of the 
 members applied themselves to the study of the law ; 
 and on the holy days to the study of Holy Scripture. 
 But they did not entirely neglect lighter pursuits, for 
 they learnt to sing and to exercise themselves in all kinds 
 of harmony, and they made provision for the exercise and 
 consequent health of the body, for they also practised 
 dancing and other noblemen's pastimes. They did 
 everything in peace and amity. 
 
 ^ Pearce's " Inns of Court,'" p. <)1. 
 
ANCIENT CONSTITUTION OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 In ancient times the Society of Gray's Inn consisted of 
 members divided into the following grades : Students, 
 Inner Barristers, Utter Barristers, Ancients, Readers, 
 and Benchers. The earliest information respecting some 
 of these degrees is contained in a report on a Commission 
 which appears to have been issued by Henry YIIT., to 
 inquire into the form and order of study practised in the 
 *' Houses of Court." ''^ The Commissioners, Thomas 
 Denton, Nicholas Bacon, and Robert Carey, state : "the 
 whole company and fellowship of learners is divided and 
 sorted into three parts and degrees, that is to say, 
 into Benchers, or as they call them in some of the 
 houses, Readers, Utter Barresters, and Inner Barresters. 
 Benchers or Readers are called such as before time have 
 openly read ; and to them is chiefly committed the 
 
 '^ Waterbouse's "Commentary upon Fortescue's de Laudibus Lajnm 
 Anglue,'" p. 544. 
 
26 
 
 government and ordering of the house, as to men meetest, 
 both for their age, discretion, and wisdomes ; and of these 
 is one yearly chosen which is called the Treasurer, or, in 
 some house. Pensioner, who receiveth yearly the said 
 pension money, and of the receipt and payment of the 
 same is yearly accountable. 
 
 '' Every quarter, once or more if need shall require, the 
 Readers and Benchers cause one of the officers to 
 summon the whole company openly in the Hall at 
 dinner, that such a night the Pension, or as some Houses 
 call it the Parliament, shall be holden, which Pension, or 
 Parliament in some houses, is nothing else but a conference 
 and assembly of their Benchers and Utter Barristers 
 only, and in some other of the houses, it is. an assembly 
 of Benchers, and such of the Utter Barristers and other 
 ancient and wise men of the house, as the Benchers have 
 elected to them before time, and these together are named 
 the Sage Company, and meet in a place therefore 
 appointed, and there treat of such matters as shall seem 
 expedient for the good ordering of the house, and the 
 reformation of such things as seem meet to be reformed. 
 In these are the Readers both for the Lent and the 
 Summer Vacation chosen ; and also if the Treasurer of 
 the house leave off his office, in this is a new chosen. 
 And always at the Parliament Lolden after Michaelmas, 
 
27 
 
 two auditors appointed there, to hear, and take the 
 Accounts before the whole Company at the Pension, 
 and out of these Pensions all misdemeanours and offences 
 done by any Fellow of the house, are reformed and 
 ordered according to the discretion of certain of the most 
 ancient of the house, which are in Commons at the time 
 of the offence done." 
 
 ^' Utter Barristers are such that for their learning and 
 continuance are called by the said Readers to plead and 
 argue in the said house, doubtful cases and questions, 
 which amongst them are called Motes, at certain times 
 propounded, and brought in before the said Benchers, as 
 Readers, and are called Utter Barristers^ for that they^ 
 when they argue the said Motes, they sit uttermost on the 
 formes, ichich they call the Barr, and this degree is the 
 chiefest degree for learners in the house next the 
 Benchers ; for of these be chosen and made the Readers 
 of all the Inns of Chancery, and also of the most ancient 
 of these is one elected yearly to read amongst them, 
 who after his reading, is called a Bencher, or Reader. 
 
 ''All the residue of learners are called Inner Barristers, 
 which are the youngest, men, that for lack of learning 
 and continuance are not able to argue and reason in these 
 Motes, nevertheless whensoever any of the said Motes 
 be brought in before any of the said Benchers, then two 
 
28 
 
 of the said Inner Barristers sitting on the said forme 
 with the Utter Barristers, doe for their exercises recite 
 hy heart the pleading of the same Mote Case, in Laio 
 French, which pleading is the declaration at large of the 
 said Mote Case, the one of them taking the part of the 
 plaintiff, and the other the part of the defendant." 
 
 It will be observed that this report does not mention 
 the Ancients. From the various entries in the records 
 of the Society, the Ancients, or as they were more 
 frequently called " The Grand Company of Ancients/' 
 consisted of three classes, viz., Barristers called by 
 seniority to that degree ; sons of Judges who by right 
 of inheritance were admitted Ancients ; and persons of 
 distinction, who, to use the words of Fortescue, were 
 placed in the Inns of Court, not so much to make the 
 Laws their study as to form their manners and to pre- 
 serve them from the contagion of vice. The barristers 
 called by seniority were bound to serve nine vacations 
 from the time of their call in attendance upon the 
 Reader. But sons of Judges and persons of dibtinction 
 were allowed to be of the Grand Company without 
 any change of vacations. 
 
 The office of Reader was one of considerable dignity 
 and importance. He was expected to give great enter- 
 tainments, which involved on his part a large expendi- 
 
29 
 
 ture. As soon as he was appointed to read he became a 
 member of tlie Bench, but not a perfect and absolute 
 member — that Is, not duly qualified to take part in the 
 proceedings of the governing body — until he had finished 
 his readinoj. 
 
 Various orders relating to the duties of Readers 
 appear in the records of the Society. At one time the 
 Reader had the privilege of admitting any one into the 
 Society. But in 1581 this privilege was taken away, 
 and it was ordered that *^ every person that shall be 
 admitted of the Society shall personally present himself 
 at Pension and require to be admitted." 
 
 In consequence of the great expense attendant upon 
 the office of Reader, it was often declined or evaded. 
 When declined, by payment of a fine, the Reader was 
 exonerated from his duties, and allowed the privileges of 
 a Bencher as if he had read ; and in case there should be 
 any neglect in fulfilling the office, and to prevent any 
 neglect of duty, it was ordered that every one admitted 
 to the Bench, that is not past his reading, do deposit 100 
 marks as a raufion for their respective Readings, to be 
 repaid when they shall have performed their several 
 Readings. 
 
 In course of time the Readings were discontinued, 
 and at the present day on a member belno- elected a 
 
30 
 
 Master of the Bench, he pays a certain sum to the 
 Society, which is still called caution money. 
 
 In the early records of the Society, the term 
 " associate " to the Bench frequently occurs. The 
 associates were allowed " to be at the Pensions to hear, 
 but to have no voice therein." 
 
 In ancient times an introductory course of study in 
 one of the Inns of Chancery was indispensable 
 before admission to an Inn of Court. In 1556, the 
 payment on admittance into this Society was twenty 
 shillings. " Sons of Double Readers were admitted 
 without any payment, and Sons of other Readers 
 upon payment of half of the fine." After the young 
 student had been admitted three years, he was called 
 by the Reader to the bar of his Inn, that is, he became 
 an Inner Barrister or Barrister of the Inn. The next 
 step was that of Utter Barrister, and according to the 
 rules of the Society, no member could be called to this 
 degree, who had not twice '^ mooted " in the Hall or in some 
 Inn of Chancery, and also " argued twice at the Skreen 
 in the Library at times mootible." After being called, 
 they were bound to keep three learned vacations, and 
 to sit at the Readings. No Barrister, however, was 
 allowed to plead at Westminster, or set his hand to any 
 plea, unless he had been allowed five years a Barrister. 
 
31 
 
 The students of the Inns of Court and Chancery 
 were subjected to certain rules of discipline. By an 
 Order of the Star Chamber in the 16 Henry VIII., the 
 ofoverninor bodies of those Societies were " advised that 
 they should not thenceforth suffer the gentlemen students 
 amono; them to be out of their houses after six of the 
 clock in the night, without very great and necessary 
 causes, nor to weare upon them any manner of 
 weapon."^ 
 
 ^Archselogia, vol. xxv, p. 380. 
 
ANCIENT ORDERS OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 In the 16th of Elizabeth it was ordered, that none of 
 this Society should wear any gown or outward gar- 
 ment of any light colour upon penalty of expulsion. 
 Another order was issued in the same year, for ^' every 
 one of this Society to frame and reform himself for the 
 manner of his apparel, according to the proclamation 
 last set forth, and within the time therein limited, or 
 else not to be accounted of this House." In the 27th of 
 Elizabeth it was ordered, that whosoever, being a Fellow 
 of this House, did thenceforth wear any hat in the 
 Hall at dinner or supper time, he should forfeit, for 
 every time of such his offending, 3s. 4d. An excep- 
 tion was made in the 40th of Elizabeth in the case of 
 Mr. Yelverton, an Ancient, in consideration of his in- 
 firmity, by which he was " tolerated to wear his hat 
 in the Hall, any order to the contrary notwithstand- 
 ing;" and in the 42nd year of tlie same reign, an 
 
 -^ 
 
3a 
 
 order was made that no gentlemen of this Society 
 do come into the Hall to any meal with their hats, 
 bootSj or spurs, but with their caps, decently and 
 orderly, upon pain, for every offence, to forfeit 3s. 4d. ; 
 and that no gentleman of this Society do go into 
 the city" or suburbs, or to walk into the fields, other- 
 wise than in his gown, upon penalty of 3s. 4d. Also 
 ^' That no Fellow of the Society stand with his back 
 to the fire." 
 
 " That no Fellow of the Society make any rude 
 noise in the hall at exercises or at meal times." 
 
 Among the other ancient orders of the Society 
 are the following : — 
 
 30 January, 23 Elizabeth. — It was ordered, " that 
 no laundress, nor women called victuallers hereafter 
 shall come into any gentleman's chamber under 40 
 years of age." 
 
 . In the 29th Elizabeth it was ordered, " that the 
 third Butler should be at the carrying forth from the 
 buttery, and also at the distribution of the alms, thrice 
 by the week at Gray^s Inn Gate; to see that due 
 consideration be had to the poorer sort of aged and 
 impotent persons, according, as in former time, he had 
 used to do." 
 
THE OLD BUILDINGS. 
 
 It is supposed that the early records of the Society 
 were destroyed by fire in 1604, and little is therefore 
 known respecting the date or extent of the ancient 
 buildings of the Inn, but that they were by no 
 means commodious appears from the fact that even 
 the ancients of the house were '^ necessitated " to 
 lodge double. As an illustration of this, Dugdale gives 
 an account of a Pension held on the 9th July, 21 Hen. 
 VIIL, when John Hales, then one of the Barons of the 
 Exchequer, produced a letter directed to him from 
 Sir Thomas Neville, which was to acquaint the Society 
 that he would accept of Mr. Attorney-General (Sir 
 Christopher Hales) to be his bedfellow in his chamber 
 here, and that entry might be made thereof in the 
 book of their rules ; and, among the curious orders of 
 the Society relating to this practice, the following may 
 
35 
 
 be mentioned :— In the 21st of Elizabeth it was ordered, 
 that '^ henceforth no fellow of this house shall make 
 choice of his bedfellow, but only the Readers, the 
 admission of all others shall be referred to the discre- 
 tion of the Treasurers." 
 
 By an Order of Pension made in the 28th of Eliza- 
 beth, it was ordered, " that it may be known if any 
 lodge in the house who are not of the house, &c. 
 surveyors shall be yearly chosen to search all the 
 chambers of the house." To carry into effect this 
 Order, six surveyors were appointed for the North 
 Court, four for the Middle Court, and seven for the 
 South Court. 
 
 By another Order of Pension made in January, 1646, 
 it was ordered, " that an exact Survey of all the Cham- 
 bers in the house, viz., of the situation, the tenants' 
 names, the terms and the rent, and those to be put 
 together in a book of survey, distinguishing them 
 according to the several Courts and Buildings in each 
 Court." This book of survey has not been found. 
 By another survey, however, made in 1688, the Inn 
 appears to be at that date still divided into three 
 Courts, then called Holborn Court, Conny or Coney 
 Court, and Middle Court (afterwards called Chapel 
 Court). The two latter Courts occupied the present 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 area of Gray's Inn Square, which was ordered to be 
 so called on 7 June, 1793. The greater part of Coney 
 Court was burnt in 1687, whicli facilitated improve- 
 ments. Holborn Court, and the number of build- 
 ings mentioned in the survey, must have included Field 
 Court, so called from its being a passage into the Red 
 Lion Fields. This part of the fnn is now known as 
 South Square. 
 
 In Strype*8 edition of Stow (1720), it is said that 
 " the chief Courts in Gray's Inn, are Holbourn Court, 
 Chappel Court, and Cony Court. But since the taking 
 down the middle row of old chambers, which severed 
 Cony Court from Chappel Court, both are laid open 
 together ; only a separation of a palisado pail running 
 cr6ss, to keep the coachmen from driving their horses 
 into Coney Court; which since the levelling and 
 gravelling is kept very handsome. And this court being 
 the best situate, as to an open aire, especially the west 
 and north sides, which look into the Garden and adjacent 
 fields, is of most esteem, and hath the best buildings. 
 The Hall where the gentlemen of the Society dine and 
 sup, is large and good ; but the Chappel adjoining is too 
 small ; and I could wish that the Society would new 
 build it, and to raise it on arched pillars, as Lincoln's 
 Inn Chappel, and then there would be a good dry walk 
 
37 
 
 underneath in rainy weather. Besides these Courts, 
 there is another more westward, having the Garden wall 
 on the north side, and buildings on the west, with some 
 part of the south. Out of this Court there is a passage, 
 down steps, into Holbourn Court, another passage into 
 Chappel Court, another into Fulwood's Rents, and 
 another into the fields." 
 
 In ancient times the principal entrance to Gray's Inn 
 was from Gray's Inn Lane, and so it is represented in 
 Agas's map, the buildings appearing to stand some 
 distance from Holborn. The gate in Gray's Inn Lane 
 is called in the early records of the Society the "old 
 gate." Stow says that it was rather a *^ postern than 
 a gate," and he thus relates how the present gate 
 leading into Holborn came to be built : — " In this 
 present age there hath beene great cost bestowed 
 therein, upon faire buildings ; and very lately the 
 gentlemen of this house purchased a messuage, and 
 a curtillage, situate upon the south side of this 
 house, and thereupon have erected a fayre gate, 
 and a gatehouse, for a more convenient and more 
 honourable passage into the high streete of Hol- 
 bourne, whereof this house stood in much neede, for 
 the other former gates were rather posterns than 
 gates," 
 
38 
 
 An Order of Pension in 1587, shows the first step that ** 
 
 was taken : ^' (Ordered, that Mr. Aiinger, Mr. Stanhope, 
 Mr. Sherrington, and Mr. Penruddock, be appointed to 
 consider whether it be needful to have a passage from y* 
 House into Hoi born, and what way may be taken for 
 obtaining y^ same." On 5th February, 1593, another 
 Order of Pension directed, '^ That £150 be paid to 
 Mr. Fullwood for a parcel of ground in Hoi borne, for 
 building a gate out of Gray's Inn into Holborne, pro- 
 vided that the gentlemen of the house will contributie 
 such a sufficient sum to be added to the same sum of 
 £150, as will be sufficient to finish the building of the 
 said gate, so as the stock of the house be not any 
 further charo;ed towards the same." In the following: 
 year, on the 22nd of April, it was ordered, that Mr. 
 Aunger, Mr. Fullwood, and two others, " do view the 
 place for the new Gate, and line out the way for the 
 same, and appoint in what order the same shall be 
 built." 
 
 It is related in the Memoirs of Sir Samuel Komilly,'* 
 that during the Gordon Riots, when Gray's Inn, 
 in which many Catholics resided, was particularly 
 obnoxious, he was up a whole night under arms, 
 
 " Vol. i. p 13t). 
 
if 
 
 39 
 
 and stood as sentinel for several hours at the 
 gate in Holborn. To the shop under this gate- 
 way a certain interest is attached, from its having 
 been the place of business of Jacob Tonson, the cele- 
 brated bookseller, who removed here from Chancery 
 Lane, in 1697. 
 
 The principal entrance to the gardens, was from 
 Fulwood's Rents, the receiver of the said rents being 
 evidently the Mr. Full wood who sold the parcel of 
 ground for the Holborn Gate. " When coffee drinking 
 first came into vogue in London, Fulwood's Rents was 
 a place of great resort, and taken up by coffee houses, 
 ale houses, and houses of entertainment, by reason of 
 its vicinity to Gray's Inn." From this, it would 
 appear that Gray's Inn gardens were a very popular 
 promenade. 
 
 Fulwood's Rents and Baldwin's Gardens were at 
 one time sanctuaries, but lost that privilege in 
 1697. 
 
 By an Order of Pension, dated November 28, 1663, 
 it was ordered, that ^' The Right Hon. Charles Earl of 
 Warwick, in consideration of the sum of twenty pounds 
 to be by him paid to the Treasurer of Gray's Inn, shall 
 have for a term of forty years a piece of ground be- 
 longing to Gray's Inn, and lying in a brick wall erected 
 
40 
 
 by Mrs. AlliDgton, deceased, on the north side of her 
 then dwelling-house in High Holborn, — then called 
 Allington House, and now Warwick House, containing 
 seven roods . . . north towards Gray's Inn Fields." 
 Thirty-one years after, Warwick Court (now Gray's 
 Inn Place) was built on W^arwick Garden. Stow 
 describes AYarwick Court as " newly built of War- 
 wick Garden, garnished on both sides by large and 
 well built hrich hou^s. Jit only for persons of repute. 
 The north end lieth open into the passage belonging 
 to Gray's Inn which leadeth into Red Lion Fields." 
 
 After the formation of Holborn into a continuous 
 street in 1600, Parton, in his Account of the Parish 
 of St. Giles in the Fields, p. 186, .states, that a 
 J^owling Green was laid out, and a house of en- 
 tertainment erected called " The Bowling Green 
 House," on the site of the present Red Lion Square, 
 — then called Red Lion Fields. The Red Lion 
 Fields are the fields referred to, as being entered 
 from the passage from Field Court, leading also 
 into Bloomsbury. In an entry in Pepys' Diary, 
 dated 2nd October, 1664, he thus refers to these fields: 
 «' After church, I walked to my Lady Sandwich's, 
 through my Lord Southampton's new buildings in 
 the fields behind Gray's Inn ; and, indeed, they are 
 
41 
 
 a very great and noble work." And Evelyn, in his 
 Diary, 9th February, 1665, writes, " Dined at my Lord 
 Treasurer's, the Earle of Southampton, in Bloomsbury, 
 where he was building a noble square or piazza, a little 
 towne ; his owne house stands too low ; some noble 
 roomes, a pretty cedar chapell, a naked garden to the 
 north, but good aire." Mr. Foss, in his "Lives of 
 the Judges," quotes the passage from Pepys' Diary, 
 to show '^ that Gray's Inn Sguare was built by 
 Lord Southampton about 1664." There is no 
 doubt Mr. Foss is mistaken. The buildings in 
 Bloomsbury Square, Southampton Row, &c., being 
 those referred to by Pepys, and by Evelyn also, and 
 not Gray's Inn Square. 
 
 Twenty years later, in another Diary by Narcissus 
 Luttrell, occurs the following passage : — '^ 10th June, 
 1684. — Dr. Barebone, the great builder, haveing'some 
 time since bought the Red Lion Fields, near Graies 
 Inn Walks, to build on, and having for that purpose 
 employed several workmen to goe on with the same, the 
 gentlemen of Graies Inn took notice of it, and thinking 
 it an injury to them, went with a considerable body of 
 100 persons; upon which the workmen assaulted the 
 gentlemen, and flung bricks at them, and the gentlemen 
 at them again ; so a sharp engagement ensued, but the 
 
42 
 
 gentlemen routed them at last, and brought away one 
 or two of the workmen to Graies Inn ; in this skirmish 
 one or two of the gentlemen and servants of the House 
 were hurt, and several of the workmen." ^ 
 
 In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1856,* there is 
 an interesting reference to King's Road, showing 
 its antiquity as a king's highway. In Agas's map 
 of the time of Elizabeth, it appears as a way 
 across the fields from Hoi born, and the gate 
 must have been where Kingsgate Street is now. 
 A few years since there was an Inn there with 
 the sign of the Gatehouse. The antiquity of the 
 King's Road, which connects Theobalds Road with 
 Gray's Inn Lane, running on the north side of the 
 gardens of Gray's Inn, is shown in some proceedings 
 before the Privy Council in the year 1684, when 
 Andrew Lawrence, Esq., surveyor of his Majesty's 
 highways, represented that his Majesty and his pre- 
 decessors, time out of mind, have had a private way 
 "on the back side of Holbourne and Gray's Inn, and 
 soe through Finsbury Fields to Kingsland, for His 
 Majesty's passage to New^market.' " The Gate is 
 also referred to in an Order of Pension dated 6th May, 
 
 « Vol. xlv., p. 574. 
 
43 • ' 
 
 1670, by which it was directed, '^ that the ground 
 lying without the walks between the wall and the 
 way leading from Gray's Inn Lane towards King's 
 Gate in Holbourne bee fenced by inclosures, and 
 the cattle and horses turned out at present, and that 
 gravel be digged there for the use of this Society." 
 Theobalds Road was so called because it led to Theo- 
 balds, in Hertfordshire, the favourite hunting seat of 
 King James I. 
 
THE CHAPEL, 
 
 The earliest mention of the Chapel of Gray's Inn 
 in the records of the Society, is In the Uth of 
 Elizabeth, when it was ordered, ^^ that a Pulpit be 
 prepared in the Chapel, and that the Partition in the 
 said Chapel be removed, and Stalls made, according 
 to the discretion of the Dean of the Chapel." Dug- 
 dale, however, gives an account of a Pension, 16th 
 May, 31 Henry VIII., when consideration being had 
 of the King's command that all the images of Thomas 
 a Beckett should be removed from churches and 
 chapels, it was ordered, that Edward Hall, then one 
 of the readers of the house, should take out a cer- 
 tain window in the Chapel, " wherein the picture of 
 the said archbishop was gloriously painted, and place 
 another instead thereof, in memory of our Lord pray- 
 ing on the Mount." The same authority states, that 
 on the 8th of November, 6 Edward VI., in pursu- 
 
45 
 
 ance of the Act of Reformation, it was ordered, 
 *' that the Pensioner and Steward should make sale 
 of certain utensils, then being in the said Chapel, 
 for the behoof of the Society. Which being accord- 
 ing sold, there then remained — 
 "A Chales. A Book of Service. 
 
 A Surpless. An Aulter Cloth. 
 
 A Bible of the largest A Table. 
 
 volume. A Lanthorn of Glass. 
 
 A Psalter. A Chist." 
 
 In the first year of the reign of Queen Mary 
 there was " a new altar set up, and ornaments for 
 the same provided." 
 
 It is generally supposed that the present Chapel 
 stands on the site of the ancient religious structure, 
 mentioned in the Royal Licence to John de Grey in 
 the year 1314, and a plan of the boundaries and 
 environs of St. Giles's Parish, published by Mr. 
 Parton in his Account of the parish of St. Giles in 
 the Fields, seems to support this supposition. 
 
 From various Orders of Pension made in the 
 year 1619, the Chapel appears to have been enlarged 
 in that year. In 1689 it was ordered, "that it be 
 referred to Mr. Treasurer to get a Bell for the 
 Chapel, to be new cast, and a wheel thereto to be new 
 
46 
 
 made, as he finds necessary." This appears to have 
 been done, as is shown by the inscription on the 
 bell, thus : — 
 
 *^ James Bartlet 
 
 made mee, 1689. 
 
 Samuel Buck, 
 
 Treasurer." 
 On the 6th May, 1689, it was ordered, "that a 
 model be forthwith repaired by an able surveyor 
 for a Chapel to be new erected for this Society, 
 and the Treasurer and Dr. Wake be desired to pro- 
 mote the said building by obtaining contributions for 
 the same." Nothing, however, appears to have been 
 done, for by an Order of Pension, made the lOth, 
 February, 1698, it was ordered "that the Chapel 
 being much in d6\)ay and very ruinous, be forthwith 
 taken down, so far as shall be thought fit, and that 
 it be referred to Sir Wm. Williams, Mr. Barrett, 
 Dean of the Chapel; Mr. Buck, Mr. South, Mr. 
 Pidgeon, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Treasurer, Mr. Carter . . . 
 . . . or any three of them, to take to their assist- 
 ance such surveyors as they shall think fit, and to 
 repair, alter model of said Chapel, in the best man- 
 ner they can. And in order thereunto, Mr. Treasurer 
 is desired to furnish, out of the money received of 
 
47 
 
 the Lady Allibone's fine, such sum and sums as the 
 said referees, or any three of them, shall, from time 
 to time, until next term, for the carryinir on the said 
 work. And that the said referees are desired to 
 agree by the square, or otherwise by the groat, for 
 the performance of the said work." 
 
 By a Royal Licence dated in the 8th of Edward II. 
 (1314), John, the son of Reginald de Grey, was autho- 
 rized to convey thirty acres of land, two acres of 
 meadow, and ten shillings rent, with the appurte- 
 nances in Kentish Town, and in the parish of St. 
 Andrew's, Holbornj without the bars of the Old 
 Temple, London, to the Prior and Convent of St. 
 Bartholomew's, in Smithfield, and to their successors, 
 to provide a chaplain to perform divine service daily 
 in the chapel of his manor of ^' Purtepole " for the 
 soul of the said John, and the souls of his ancestors 
 for ever. 
 
 The Prior and Convent of St. Bartholomew, how- 
 ever, in lieu of providing a Chaplain for the service 
 of the Chapel, appear to have paid to the Society, 
 annually, the sum of £7 13s. 4d. ; for, in the Valor 
 Ecclesiasticus, 26 Henry VIII., there is an account of 
 the Reprizes or Rent^ paid out of the mona^^tery of St. 
 Bartholomew, thus : — 
 
48 
 
 ^^To the Master and Fellows of 
 Gray's Inn for the salary of the Chap- 
 lain celebrating divine service within 
 the Chapel there with twenty shillings 
 paid yearly to the aforesaid Master 
 and Fellows. 
 
 y £7 13 4. 
 
 On the dissolution of the monasteries, when the 
 revenues of the priory came to the Crown, a decree 
 was made by the Court of Augmentation, dated 10 
 November, 33 Henry VIII., as follows : — 
 
 "For as much as it is duely proved, before the 
 Chancellor and counsell of the Court of Augmen- 
 tations of the revenues of our Sovereign Lord the 
 King's Crowne, that the pryor and convent of the late 
 monastery of Seynt Barthilmewe, in Smythfeld, besydes 
 London, now dissolved, and their predecessors, at their 
 proper costys and chargys, ti/me oute of mynde, before 
 the dissolution of the same late monastery did fynde, and 
 of right ought to fynde, one chappelyn, to singe and sey 
 masse and other dyvyne service every day yerely, at and 
 in the chappell at Grey's Inne, besyddes Holborn, nygh 
 London, for the studients, gentylmen, and fellowes of 
 the same house of Grey's Inne : And that the said late 
 prior and his predecessors were yerely charged with the 
 
40 
 
 pension of sevyn pounds thirtene shillings and fourepence, 
 for the salarye or stypende of the seyd chappylayn, going 
 owte of the lands and possessions of the said late 
 monastery : It is therefore ordered and decreed, by the 
 said Chancellor and counsell, in the terme of Seynt 
 MIchaell, that is to say, the tenth day of Novembre^ in 
 the three and thirtie yere of our seid Sovereign Lord 
 Kynge Henry the Eight, that the treasarur and fellowes 
 of the seyd house of Grey's Inne, in recompence of the 
 said sty pen d of sevyn poimds tldrtene sldllings and 
 fourpencei shall have yerely of the King's highness, for 
 the fyndynge of the seyd chappelayn, duringe the King's 
 pleasure, the some of sixe pounds thh^iene sliillings and 
 fourepence styrling yerely, to be paid by the hands of the 
 tresaurer of the seyd Court of Augmentations, for the 
 tyme being, of such the King's treasure, of the revenues 
 of the said Augmentations, as shall happyn to remayn in 
 his hands, and to be yerely paid to the treasurere of the 
 seyd house of Grey's Tnne, for the tyme beynge, at the 
 feasts of the Natyvytie of our Lord God — the Annun- 
 ciation of our blessed Lady the Vyrgyn — the Natyvytie 
 of Seynt John Baptist, and Seynt Michaell the Arch- 
 aungell, by evyn portions." 
 
 By the arrangement between the Commissioners of 
 the Commonwealth and the Society, in the year 1651, 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 this payment ceased, ami altlioiigli the rent of £6 13s. 4(1., 
 was again claimed by the Crown after the Restoration, 
 the salary of the Chaplain does not appear to have 
 been revived. 
 
 The Chaplain of Gray's Inn is mentioned in the 
 Year Books ^s early as 2 Henry IV.(1400), in an action 
 of battery brought by him. 
 
 The earliest entry in the remaining records of the 
 Society, relating to the Minister or Preacher, is in the 
 16th of Elizabeth (1574), when by an Order of Pension 
 of that date, it was ordered, ^^ that the Minister be 
 allowed £4 a year." There is no doubt the Minister 
 here referred to was Mr. William Cherke or Cliarke, 
 Sizar of Peter House, Cambridge, in 1560, and Fellow 
 in 1566, who is said to have been appointed Preacher 
 of Gray's Inn, April, 1574. 
 
 In the 18th of Elizabeth, it was ordered, '^that Mr. 
 Cherke shall continue still in this house as Preacher of 
 the same, and shall have his former allowance for the 
 same, if it be not misliked by the Privy Council, or 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of Lon- 
 don." In 1581, Mr. Charke was appointed Preacher of 
 Lincoln's Inn. 
 
 The next appointment was that of Dr. Crooke, Sizar of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, 1560, and Fellow in 1563. 
 
51 
 
 Tl.e following letter from Lortl Burglilc}' recommending 
 Dr. Crookc appears in the records of the Society : — 
 
 " After my herty Commendacons whereas I am geven 
 to understand that yc are in mynde and purpose to make 
 provision of some meete and snffycient Preacher to be 
 conversant and resident in your societie. As I cannot 
 but well lyke of this your gcncrall intention, so I must 
 admonish you that the good choise of the man is that 
 which will commend all the rest for your better devotion 
 therein. I am likewise informed that the Bishop of 
 London, whose approbacon you are principally to 
 support, doth concurie in goode oppynon of one who, 
 amongst others, is named unto you so far forthc as 
 he hath solicited unto him the acceptance of the charge. 
 The man is called Mr. Crooke, and hath taken degree 
 of Doctor and is otherwise, as I here, qualyfyed with 
 partes of gravitie and discretion such as, besides the 
 common duties of a Minister, are peculiarlie requisite for 
 that place. I have thought good tlierefore, for the 
 especial regarde which I have of the good government 
 of your house, as one of the seminaries of the nobilitie 
 and gentlemen of this realme, and as the place where 
 myself came forthc unto service, to recommende unto 
 you both the pursuit of your owne goode meaniiige in 
 such due order of providing as tu your ditcretion and 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 professjon cannot be unknown, and the consideration 
 of this man for the fulfilling of your intention and 
 supplying of your want, and w^ithal the conditons of his 
 entertevnment that he may be answerable to his qualitie 
 and conditon. And thus I bldd you hertelie farewell. 
 At the Court, the XXX of Januarie, 1580. 
 
 Your loving friend and also fellow of your Company" 
 
 "BURGHLEY." 
 
 The next Preacher was Roger Fenton, D.D._, who 
 was succeeded by Eichard Sibbes, D.D., the author 
 of the " Bruised Reed," w^hich is said to have led to 
 the conversion of Richard Baxter. 
 
 Among the other eminent divines who have been 
 Preachers of Gray's Inn are to be found the names 
 of William Wake, D.D., Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 1716. 
 
 Robert Moss, D.D., Dean of Ely, 1713. 
 
 Walker King, D.D., Bishop of Rochester, 1809. 
 
 George Shepherd, D.D., appointed Preacher 12 
 November, 1817. 
 
 Dr. Sheplicrd held the office of Preacher .33 years, 
 and was succeeded by Archdeacon James Augustus 
 Hessey, Probationary Fellow of St. John's College, 
 Oxford, 1832; Fellow, 1835; 1st Class in Litt. 
 
53 
 
 Humanior : at B.A., 1836; Vicar of Helidon, North- 
 amptonshire, 1839, which, however, he resigned in the 
 same year; College Logic Lecturer, 1839-1842; Public 
 Examiner in the University, 1842-1844; Head Master 
 of Merchant Taylor's School, 1845 to 1870; Select 
 Preacher in the University of Oxford, 1849 ; Preacher 
 of Gray's Inn, 1860; Bampton Lecturer, 1860; Hon. 
 Prebendary of St. Paul's, 1860 ; Grinfield Lecturer in 
 the Septuagint in the University of Oxford (for two 
 years), June, 1865 ; reappointed Grinfield Lecturer 
 (for two years), June, 1865 ; reappointed Grinfield 
 Lecturer (for two years), June, 1867 ; Examining 
 Chaplain to the Bishop of London, 1870 ; Boyle 
 Lecturer, 1871-1873; Classical Examiner for Indian 
 Civil Service, 1872; Archdeacon of Middlesex, 1875. 
 
 By an order of Pension of the 15th November, 1598, 
 it was ordered, ^* that the Reader in Divinity to be 
 chosen shall be a man unmarried, and having no 
 ecclesiastical living other than a prebend without care 
 of souls, nor Readership in any other place, and that 
 he shall keep the same place during his continuance 
 unmarried, and not being preferred to any ecclesiastical 
 living or other Readership, and no longer." 
 
 This order corresponds with a usage formerly 
 existing respecting the vergers of St. Paul's Cathe- 
 
54 
 
 ilral, wlio were required by one of tlie Oatlieclral 
 slatutes to be in a state of celibacy, or to relinquish 
 their wives or their office. According to Dean Mil- 
 man, the statute says '*tliat because having a wife is 
 a troublesome and disturbing affair, and husbands are 
 apt to study the wishes of their wives or their mis- 
 tresses, and no man can serve two masters, the 
 vergers are to be either bachelors or to give up 
 their wives." "^ 
 
 The east window of the chapel contains the arms of 
 Wilham Juxon, Gilbert Sheldon, and William Wake, 
 Archbishops of Canterbury, of George Morley, Bishop 
 of Winchester, of Nathaniel Crewe, Bishop of Durham, 
 and Walker King, Bishop of Rochester. 
 
 In 1862, the late Samuel Turner, Esq., one of the 
 Masters of tlie Bench, and Dean of the Chapel, 
 presented the Society with three handsome windows 
 representing (1.) Christ in the Temple in the midst of 
 the Doctors ; (2.) Christ in the act of delivering the 
 Sermon on the Mount ; (3.) the Ascension of Christ. 
 
 In the centre opening of the first window, is the 
 youthful figure of our Lord seated, engaged in 
 answering the various questions put to Him by the 
 
 ^ " Annals of Hi. Paul's Cat! edral," p. 142 (n.) 
 
55 
 
 surrounding Doctors of the Law, who occupy the 
 foreground and two side openings. Mary and Joseph 
 seeking their son, are introduced in the background, 
 while the accessories of scrolls, tablets, &c., giving 
 good opportunity for colour, and making the general 
 effect very harmonious. Surmounting each opening in 
 this window, and on the same principle in the other two 
 windows, is a light canopy of perpendicular form, 
 executed in various tints of white, golden yellow, and 
 warm sepia tints of brown, on a deep ruby-coloured 
 ground. This frames the upper part of each window, 
 and serves to throw out well the rich blue which 
 forms the general ground of the upper part of each 
 subject. The bottom of this window is arranged in 
 arcaded bases with flowers in each arcade. 
 
 The arrangement of the canopy work in the second 
 window is similar to that of the other window, but 
 the base of this window is different. This base 
 appears as a shield with label supported by handsome 
 coloured foliage on a ruby ground. The subject itself 
 shows in the centre our Lord seated beneath a palm 
 tree on the Mount, clothed in ruby and white. At His 
 feet, running through the three openings, are tic 
 listening multitude in various attitudes of attention, 
 and in the side openings, a little lower than our Lor(l 
 
56 
 
 are groups ot the Apostles standing in the background, 
 which is composed of trees and open country, and 
 which, by the coolness of its colour, forms a good 
 foil for the rich dresses and colour-grouping of the 
 figures. The foreground-grass, amidst which grows 
 the typical lily, as when He said, addressing it, ^'Behold 
 the lily," &c., also affords, by its quiet colour, a good 
 contrast. 
 
 In the third window is shown, as in the other 
 windows, the arrangement of canopy and base; this 
 latter, as in the first window, is arcaded. The subject 
 in the centre opening shows the figure of our Lord 
 ascending in glory, on either hand of whom, in the 
 side openings, are angels clothed in white, who, with 
 hands pointing to the Saviour, seem to call the attention 
 of the Apostles below in the words " Ye men of 
 Galilee," &c. The Apostles, in expressive attitudes of 
 devotion and emotion, stand and kneel, gazing upwards. 
 The attitudes of the angels are very expressive, and 
 there is an absence of anything like weakness in the 
 upper part of the subject, which is, as a rule, rather 
 noticeable in the Ascension on account of the mass 
 of blue introduced in the sky. 
 
 The three windows are designed, as far as possible, 
 to be in keeping with the prevailing character of the 
 
57 
 
 architecture^ which is fifteenth century Gothic work. 
 The colouring arrived at is a subdued richness, and 
 shows a great variety of tint in the arrangement of the 
 whole. A sound religious feeling appears throughout 
 the whole of the windows, and the general effect gained 
 by the artist, Mr. Alexander Gibbs, of 38, Bedford 
 Square, is good and characteristic. 
 
^H 
 
 
 ^g 
 
 THE HALL. 
 
 There is no evidence as to when the Hall was first 
 built ; but Dugdale, quoting from records of the So- 
 ciety which are not now in existence, says tlie " Old 
 IlalV^ was '^ seiled. " in the year 1551, with fifty -four 
 yards of wainscot, at 2s. per yard ; and that four years 
 afterwards the Society began the ^' re-edifying it," 
 every fellow of the House having a chamber therein 
 being assessed towards the charge thereof, upon penalty 
 of losing his chamber in case he did not pay what he 
 was then ^^taxt" at. The work was completed in the 
 2nd of Elizabeth, the charge amounting to £863 10s. 8d. 
 The Hall (seventy feet in length, thirty-five in width, 
 and forty-seven in height), follows the usual plan of the 
 threat Halls of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At 
 the eastern end is the raised dais, on which is placed 
 the chief table, and on the right is the bay window, a 
 characteristic feature of the Tudor style. At the 
 opposite end of the Hall a wooden screen conceals the 
 
f>9 
 
 entrance vestibule, contalninc^ tlic doorways and leading 
 to the household offices. 
 
 This screen is o£ very handsome design, consisting of 
 a range of semi-circular headed archways, with Ionic 
 columns between, richly carved with arabesque and 
 scroll ornaments. Above this screen is the minstrel 
 gallery, with an open and carved balustrade. 
 
 In the centre of the Hall, now occupied by the 
 modern stove, stood formerly the ancient reredos, or 
 brass grate for fire, with its louvre in the roof above. 
 This is now replaced by a glazed lantern. 
 
 The Hall is lighted at its western end by a large 
 traceried window over the minstrel gallery, and on the 
 southern side by five muliioned and transomed windows. 
 The northern wall, in addition to the large bay window, 
 contains four windows similar to those on the opposite 
 side. The space between these windows and the flo;>r 
 is filled by oak panelling, with the armorial bearings of 
 such n^embers of the society as have filled the office 
 of treasurer. 
 
 The open timber roof is a fine example of the 
 hammer-beam type, and is in a good state of preserva- 
 tion. 
 
 The building and the exterior have been much 
 modernized, and the red brickwork coated with stucco. 
 
60 
 
 which, with the low elevation of the chapel adjoining, 
 gives an undignified effect to what is, in the interior, 
 a fine and handsome specimen of sixteenth century 
 architecture. 
 
 The windows of the Hall contain the arms of distin- 
 guished members of the society. The following notice 
 of them in the year 1580, is taken from the Harleian 
 manuscript, No. 2113, fol. 107: — '^ In Greys Inn hall 
 wyndowe in glasse Junii 15, 1580. Guido Farrfux, 
 miles, Judex Aug. supremus.'' Jno. Erneleye, miles. 
 Judex primarius de coi Banco.^ S' Anthonye Le 
 Fitzherbart Justicior de coi.'' Lord Kiche.^ Justice 
 Staunford.^ Doc"" Thomas Wilson Secretary to her 
 Matie."' 
 
 Many of the escutcheons shown in Dugdale's ^' Ori- 
 gines Juridiciales " have entirely disappeared, and the 
 places of others have been so changed that it is now 
 very difficult to trace them. Among those, still in a 
 good state of preservation, may be mentioned those of 
 
 '^ Called Serjeant from Gray's Inn in Michaelmas, 1463. Year Book, 
 3 Edward. IV fol. 12. 
 
 b 1519. *= 1522. 
 
 ^ Robert Lord Rich, whose son Robert, also a member of Gray's Inn, was 
 created in 1618 Earl of Warwick. 
 
 ® Justice of the Common Pleas in 1554. 
 
 ' Succeeded Sir Thomas Smith as Secretary of State in 1577. 
 
61 
 
 Sir William Gascoigne, and Sir John Markham, Chief 
 Justices of the King's Bench in tlie years 1400 and 1462 
 respectively ; that of Lord Burghley ; those of Nicholas 
 and Francis Bacon ; Thomas Moyle, Header of the 
 Society in 1534, and Si)eaker of the House of Commons 
 in 1542 ; Sir John Holt, Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench in 1689, &c., &c. ^ 
 
 On the walls of the Hall are the portraits of King 
 Charles I., King Charles H., and King James 11. 
 
 Sir Nicholas Bacon. Presented by Henry Colling- 
 wood Selby, Esq., one of the Masters of the Bench in 
 1798. 
 
 Lord Bacon. Presented by John King, Esq., one of 
 the Masters of the Bench in 1813. 
 
 Lord Coke. Presented by Thomas Davis Bayly, 
 Esq., one of the Masters of the Bench in 1875. 
 
 Sir Christopher Yelverton, Justice of the King's 
 Bencli, 1602. Presented by the late Samuel Turner, 
 Eeq., one of the Masters of the Bench in 1841, and 
 Dean of the Chapel in 1847. 
 
 Sir John Turton, Baron of the Exchequer, 1689. 
 Presented by his descendant, William Turton, Esq. 
 
 Lord Raymond, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 1725. 
 
 Sir James Eyre, Baron of the Exchequer, 1772, 
 
62 
 
 Lord Chief Baron 1787. Presented by his relative, 
 Harry Edgell, Etq., one of llic Musters of the Bench, 
 in 1837. 
 
 Sir John Ilullock, Baron of tlie Exchequer, 1823, 
 Bequeathed to the Society by Lady Hullock. 
 
 Stephen Gardner, Bishop of Winchester, &c., &c. 
 
MASQUES AND REVELS. 
 
 In Gray's Inn ILilI were performed many of those 
 masques and revels whicli in ancient times were cele- 
 brated with so much magnificence by the Inns of Court. 
 The first entertainment of this kind, of which there 
 is any record, took place at Gray's Inn, in the year 
 1525. 
 
 Hall, in his chronicle, thus speaks of it : — 
 *'A Plaic at Gray's Inn. This Christmas was a 
 goodly disguising played at Gray's Inn, which was 
 compiled by John Koo, Serjeant at the Law, twenty 
 year past. This play was so set forth with rich and 
 costly apparel, and with strange devices of masks and 
 morrishes, that it was highly praised by all men, ex- 
 cept by the Cardinal, who imagined that the play was 
 devised of him. In a great fury he sent for Master 
 Roo, and took from him his Coif and sent him to 
 the Fleet, and afterwards he sent for the young gentle- 
 men thiit i)layed in the play, and highly rebuked and 
 threatened them, and sent one of them, called Master 
 
64 
 
 Aloyle, of Kent, to the Fleet, but, by means of friends, 
 Master Roo and he were delivered at last. This play 
 sore displeased the Cardinal, and yet it was never 
 meant for him, wherefore many wise men grudged to 
 see him take it so to heart; and even the Cardinal 
 said that the King was highly displeased with it, and 
 spake nothing of himself." 
 
 Fox, in his ^'Acts and Monuments," writing of 
 Simon Fish, of Gray's Inn, thus alludes to the event : 
 "It happened the first year that this gentleman came 
 to London to dwell, which was about the year of our 
 Lord 1525, that there was a certain play or interlude 
 made by one M. Eoo, of the same Inn, gentleman, in 
 which play partly was matter against the Cardinal 
 Wolsey, and when none durst take upon them to play 
 that part which touched the said Cardinal, this 
 aforesaid M. Fish took upon him to do it. Where- 
 upon great displeasure ensued against him on the 
 Cardinal's part, insomuch as he, being pursued by 
 the said Cardinal, the same night that this tragedy 
 was played, was compelled of force to avoid his own 
 house, and so fled over the sea to Tindal." 
 
 The Inns of Court which seem to have distinguished 
 themselves most in these "Revels" were the Inner 
 Temple and Gray's Inn, between which houses there 
 
65 
 
 seems anciently to have existed some kind of union, 
 as is shown by the fact that on the great gate of the 
 gardens of the Inner Temple appears at this day the 
 *^ griffin" of Gray's Inn, whilst over the great gateway 
 in Gray's Inn Square is carved in bold relief the 
 " winged horse " of the Inner Temple. 
 
 This union is also celebrated by Beaumont and 
 Fletcher in a masque entitled '^ The Masque of the 
 Inner Temple and Gray's Inn/' and '^ Gray's Inn and 
 the Inner Temple," which was performed at White- 
 hall in 1612; and ^^the strict alliance which ever was 
 betwixt the two " houses is also mentioned in the 
 ^^ Epistle Dedicatory" to a curious pamphlet, bearing 
 the title " Gesta Grayorum, or, the History of the high 
 and mighty Prince, Henry Prince of Purpoole, etc., 
 who reigned and died a.d. 1594." 
 
 In this pamphlet it is stated that on the 20th of 
 December, being St. Thomas's Eve, the Prince, with 
 all his train in order, marched from his lodo-ing to the 
 great Hall, and there took his place on his throne, 
 under a rich cloth of state his counsellors and great 
 lords were placed about him ; below the half-pace, at 
 a table, sate his learned council and lawyers, the rest 
 of the officers and attendants took their proper places 
 as belonged to their condition. 
 
 p 
 
66 
 
 The performance on this occasion is said to have 
 increased the expectation of those things that were to 
 ensue, insomuch that the common report amongst all 
 strangers was so great, and the expectations of the 
 proceedings so extraordinary, that besides the daily 
 revels and such like sports, there were divers grand 
 nights for the entertainment of strangers. 
 
 On the first of these grand nights, when the sports 
 were especially intended for the Templarians, the mul- 
 titude of beholders was so great that there was no 
 convenient room for those that were actors. The 
 Templarians seem to have left the Hall discontented 
 and displeased, and the next night there was ai) inquiry 
 " into the cause of these disorders." A few days 
 afterwards, viz., on the 3rd of January, an entertain- 
 ment of a superior kind was produced in the pre- 
 sence of the Lord Keeper, the Lords Shrewsbury, 
 Cumberland, Northumberland, Southampton, Essex, 
 Burleygh, (fee, ^' with a great number of knights, ladies^ 
 and worshipful personages, all of which had convenient 
 places and very good entertainment."^ 
 
 The next day the Prince, accompanied by the Am^ 
 hassadors of Templaria, and attended by eighty gentlemen 
 
 » G-e8taQTayorum,p. 25. Lord Bacon is said to have assisted in the prepara- 
 tion of this. See Spedding's Life and Letters of Lord Bacon, yol. i., p. 342. 
 
67 
 
 of Gray's Inn and the Temple (each of them wearing 
 a plume on his head), dined in state with the Lord 
 Mayor at Crosby Place. The next grand night was 
 upon Twelfth Night, on which occasion there was a 
 great company of lords, ladies, and knights ; and at 
 Shrovetide, the Prince and his company visited Queen 
 EHzabeth at Greenwich. After the performance, Her 
 Majesty '^ willed the Lord Chamberlain that the 
 gentlemen should be invited on the next day, and 
 that he should present them unto her," which was 
 done, and Her Majesty gave them her hand to kiss, 
 with most gracious words of commendation to them ; 
 *' particularly and in general of Gray's Inn, as an 
 house that she was much beholden unto, for that it 
 did always study for some sports to present unto her." 
 The same night there was fighting at ^^ Barriers," at 
 which the Prince behaved so valiantly and skilfully 
 that the prize, a jewel set with seventeen diamonds 
 and four rubies, was presented to him by the Queen. 
 
 The following order of Pension relative to the 
 above entertainment was made on the 9th February, 
 , 37 Elizabeth :-- 
 
 " At this Pension it is ordered that every Eeader 
 of this House, toward the charges of the shews and 
 sports before her Majesty at Shrovetide last past, shall 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 pay ten shillings, and every Ancient six shillings and 
 eight pence, and every Utter Barrister five shillings, and 
 every other gentleman of this Society three shillings 
 and six pence before the end of this term." 
 
 There is a tradition in Gray's Inn that the screen 
 under the gallery in the Hall, a most elaborate piece 
 of carved work in oak, as well as some of the dining- 
 tables now used in the Hall, were given to the Society 
 by that Queen as tokens of her rega'rd. It may also 
 be mentioned that at dinner on the Grand Day in 
 each term " the glorious, pious, and immortal memory 
 of good Queen Bess " is still solemnly given in Hall. 
 
 In 1613, *^ The Mashe of Flowers''^ was '^ presented 
 by the gentlemen of Graies Inne, at the Court of 
 Whitehall, in the Ban quetting- House, upon Twelfe 
 night, being the last of the solemnities and magni- 
 ficences which were performed at the marriage of the 
 Earle of Somerset, and the Lady Frances, Daughter of 
 the Earl of Suffolk." 
 
 In the ^^ Court and Times of James I."'' there is 
 a letter from J. Chamberlain, dated 23rd December, 
 1613, in which he says ^^ Sir Francis Bacon prepares 
 a masque to honour this marriage, which will stand 
 him in above £2000, and although he have been 
 » Vol. i., p. 282. 
 
69 
 
 offered some help hy the House, and specially by Mr. 
 Solicitor, Sir Henry Yelverton, who would have sent 
 him £500, yet he would not accept it, but offers them 
 the whole charge with the honour." 
 
 The masque was published in the following year, 
 with a dedication " to the verie honourable Sir 
 Francis Bacon, his Majesties Attorney General." 
 The dedication states : '^ That you have graced in 
 general the Societies of the Innes of Court, in con- 
 tinuing them still as third persons with the nobility 
 and Court, in doing the King honour, and particularly 
 Graies Inne, which as you have formerly brought to 
 flourish both in the ancienter and younger sort, by 
 countenancing virtue in every quality, so now you 
 have made a notable demonstration thereof in the 
 liojhter and less serious kind.'"" 
 
 In a letter dated January 25, 1622-3, and published 
 in " The Court and Times of James I.," it is 
 stated : — 
 
 " The gentlemen of Grays Inn, to make an end of 
 Christmas on Twelfth night, in the dead time of the 
 night, shot off all the chambers [small cannon] which 
 
 ^ A copy of the Masque, purchased at the sale of the late Thomas 
 Hailes Lacy, was presented to the Society in 1874, by Samuel Kydd, 
 Esq., a Barrister of the Society. 
 
70 
 
 they had borrowed from the Tower, being as many 
 as filled four carts. The King awakened with 
 this noise, started out of his bed, and cried *' Treason, 
 Treason," and that the city was iu an uproar ; in such 
 sort as it is said, that the whole court was raised, and 
 almost in arms; the Earl of Arundell running to the 
 bedchamber, with his sword draWn, as to rescue the 
 King's person." 
 
 The following sketch of a ticket of admission to the 
 Masque at Gray's Inn, on 2nd February, 1682, is 
 taken from Nichols' ^^ Progresses of Elizabeth."* 
 
 M 
 
 Nichols states that the original plate of the above 
 ticket had been lent to him by Sir Thomas Gery 
 Cullum, Baronet, who had purchased it from the pack 
 
 «Vol. iv., p. 21. 
 
71 
 
 of an itinerant pedlar, in which it was mixed with a 
 parcel of old coins. 
 
 Sir Kichard Gipps whose name is attached to the 
 above ticket, was admitted a member of the Society on 
 5th February, 1 675. His name occurs in the records some- 
 times rather unfavourably for his reputation as a lover of 
 order, but he seems to have been in his element when 
 he became Master of the Revels as on the Candlemas 
 Day of 1682 and in the following November. This 
 last entertainment is thus alluded to by Luttrell in his 
 diary :— ^^On Saturday, the 4th instant, the revells began 
 at Graies Inn, which is to continue every Saturday 
 during this term and the next."*^ "On 23rd January, 
 Sir Richard Gipps, master of the revells at Graies Inn, 
 attended with his revellers and comptrollers, went to 
 Whitehall in one of his Majesty's coaches, with several 
 noblemen's coaches and six horses, to invite the King 
 and Queen, the Duke and Dutchesse, and the rest of 
 the Court, to a mask at Graies Inn, on Candlemas Day ; 
 and accordingly there was great preparation that day, 
 diverse of the nobility and gentry in masks attended, 
 who danced in the Hall, and afterwards were entertained 
 with a. splendid banquet." ^ 
 
 a Vol. i, p. 236. bvol. i, p. 249. 
 
72 
 
 The same entertainment is also noticed in ^' The 
 Loyal Protestant " of 14th November, 1682, in the 
 following complimentary terms : ^^ On Saturday last, 
 at the Revels in Grays Inn were several noble person- 
 ages, as The Prince of Burgundy, an Italian Marquis, 
 &c. ; where they were entertained with variety of 
 dances ; which, being ended, there was a rich banquet 
 prepared for them by Sir Eichard Gripps, a very worthy 
 and ingenious gentleman, who is Master of the Revels, 
 and has constituted a master of the ceremonies, eight 
 revellers, and twelve comptrollers." 
 
 Evelyn thus speaks of the revels in his day : — 
 
 1st January, 1661-2, '^ I went to London, invited to 
 the solemn foolerie of the Prince de la Grange at 
 Lincoln's Inn, where came the King, Duke, &c. It 
 began with a grand masque, and a formal pleading 
 before the mock princes, grandees, nobles, and knights 
 of the Sunn." 
 
 6th January, 1661-2, '^ This evening, according to 
 costome, his Majesty oj)ened the revells of that night, 
 by throwing the dice himself e in the privy chamber, 
 where was a table set on purpose, and lost his 100/. 
 (the year before he won 1500/.) The ladies also plaid 
 
 very deepe Sorry I am that such 
 
 a wretched costome as play to that excesse should be 
 
73 
 
 countenanced in a Court which ought to be an example 
 of virtue to the rest of the kingdom." 
 
 9th January, 1668, ^' Went to see the revells at 
 the Middle Temple, which is' also an old riotous cos- 
 tome, and has relation neither to virtue nor policy." 
 
 The last record of these gay scenes and masques was 
 in 1773, on the elevation of Mr. Talbot to the woolsack. 
 After an elegant dinner every member of each mess had 
 a flask of claret, besides the usual allowance of port and 
 sack. The benchers then all assembled in the great hall, 
 and a large ring was formed round the fireplace, when 
 the master of the revels, taking the Lord Chancellor by 
 the right hand, he with his left took Mr. Justice Page, 
 who, joined to the other Serjeants and benchers, danced 
 about the coal fire according to the old ceremony three 
 times, while the ancient song, accompanied with music, 
 was sung by one Toby Aston, dressed as a barrister. 
 
THE LIBRARY. 
 
 Little is known of the origin or early history of the 
 Library of Gray's Inn. It is mentioned at the com- 
 mencement of the existing records of the Society, viz., 
 in 1568, when certain repairs were ordered to be done to 
 a ^^ Chamber by y^ Lyberary." According to a survey 
 of the buildings of the Inn in 1668, the Library appears 
 to have been at that time in a Chamber in Coney Court, 
 now Gray's Inn Square. It appears from several Orders 
 of Pension made in the reign of Elizabeth, between the 
 years 1571 and 1588, that candidates for the degree of 
 Utter Barrister had to perform, '^ at the Skreen in the 
 Library," the exercises which were then prescribed. 
 But there are no means of knowing what, or how 
 many books the Library then contained ; although it 
 is pretty certain, that the collection must have been 
 small, even for those days. 
 
 During the early part of the seventeenth century. 
 
75 
 
 the members oE the Inn appear to have taken a very 
 lively interest in the state of the Library, and to have 
 added greatly to its contents by donations of books. 
 Among the earliest of these donors were the following, 
 viz. (in 1634) Finch, afterwards Lord Keeper, and Sir 
 J. Banks, who was then Attorney-General, and after- 
 wards became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas ; (in 
 1635) Sir Efchard Hutton, one of the Justices of the 
 Common Pleas ; Sir Edward Moseley, Attorney-General 
 for the County Palatine of Lancaster ; Godbolt one of 
 the Readers of the Society ; and Francis and Nathaniel 
 Bacon, relatives of Lord Bacon; and (in 1636-38) Sir 
 Dudley Digges, who was then Master of the 
 Rolls. 
 
 By an order of Pension made in January, 1645, it 
 was ordered, that *^ Mr. Ladd and Mr. Bacon, two of 
 the Masters of the Bench, be desired to make inquiry 
 what books, and the names, have been delivered out of 
 the Library, and by whom and to whom such things are 
 delivered, and the same to notify at the next Pension." 
 By another order, of the 4th February, 1645, the first 
 *' Library-keeper" was appointed, at an annual salary of 
 3/. 6s. Sd. And by an Order of the 4th May, 1669, the 
 first catalogue was ordered to be made. 
 
 The reasons for making this catalogue, as stated on 
 
76 
 
 the face of the above order, were first : — '* that clivers 
 books in the Library " had " been embezzled ; " and, 
 secondly, that '^ divers others " v^ere *^ forthwith to be 
 brought in by Mr. Eaworth, according to a former 
 Order." The books '^ to be brought in by Mr. Kaworth " 
 seem to have consisted of about one hundred volumes ; 
 and this large increase to the Library was occasioned as 
 follows. It appears, by an Order of Pension of the 8th 
 January, 1668, that Raworth had been called upon, to 
 perform the office of Eeader ; but that being unable to 
 do this, '' by reason of some infirmities of his body then 
 upon him," he had offered, by way of fine for his delin- 
 quency, '^ the sum of 200?., to be paid into the Treasury 
 of the Society for the use thereof." And it was there- 
 upon ordered ^' that upon payment of the said sum of 
 200?., the said Mr. Eaworth " should ^^ continue at the 
 Bench, and enjoy the privileges of a Bencher, and have 
 a voice in Pension as formerly." By a subsequent Order 
 of Pension, made the 28th November, 1668, it was 
 ordered " that 200?. be paid by Mr. Raworth into the 
 Treasury, to be disposed of, viz. : 100?. for books to the 
 Library, and the other 100?. towards repairs in the 
 walks." And, accordingly, 100?. of the fine thus im- 
 posed on Mr. Raworth appears to have been expended, 
 as stated above, in the purchase of about one hundred 
 
77 
 
 volumes of books, which books are now in the Library, 
 and are duly, but it would seem not quite accurately, 
 inscribed as having been, '^ Ex Dono Eoberti Kaworth, 
 1669." 
 
 By an Order of Pension of the 6th May, 1689, the 
 Treasurer and two Benchers were ordered to make a 
 fresh catalogue, which was done accordingly. And it 
 appears from this catalogue, which is still in existence, 
 that the Library then consisted of about 320 volumes, 
 by far the larger number of which, however, were not 
 law books. 
 
 To remedy this, it was ordered, on the 10th February, 
 1719, *^ that Mr. Treasurer do examine the books in the 
 Library, and do treat with booksellers for the exchange 
 of such of them as he shall think unnecessary, for such 
 as may be more useful to this Society." And by an 
 Order of the 10th of February, 1725, it was referred to 
 a Committee of the Bench, '^to see what books are 
 necessary to complete the Library as to all law books," 
 and ^' to provide the Library with such as they shall see 
 wanting, or necessary to complete the same as aforesaid, 
 against the first Pension in the next Term." 
 
 The result of these orders seems to have been to make 
 it necessary to provide additional accommodation for the 
 books. And, accordingly, on the 23rd June, 1737, an 
 
78 
 
 Order of Pension was passed for building the -Library 
 in Holborn Court (now South Square), which occupied 
 part of the present site now covered by the present 
 Libraries, which were built in 184L 
 
 The library contains a small but valuable collection 
 of manuscripts in twenty -four volumes, some of which 
 are finely illuminated. A catalogue of them, compiled 
 by Alfred J. Horwood, Esq., was printed in 1869. 
 One of the volumes. Brae ton's ^^ De Legihus et Consuetii- 
 dinibus AnglicB,^^ a folio MS. of the end of the 13th, 
 or beginning of the 14th century, was presented to the 
 Society in the year 1635, by John Godbolt, Reader of 
 the Inn, in 1627. Nothing, however, is known how, 
 or when, the other volumes came into the possession of 
 the Society. They relate chiefly to theological subjects, 
 and are supposed to date from the 12th to the 15th 
 century. 
 
 In 1872, a catalogue of the books in the library, 
 was compiled and printed under the direction of John 
 A. Russell, Esq., Q.C., one of the Masters of the 
 Bench, and the present Master of the Library, and 
 a supplement containing the additions to the Library, 
 from March, 1872, to March, 1874, has since been 
 printed. The number of volumes at present in the 
 Library is about 13,000. 
 
THE GABDENS, 
 
 It is believed on very good grounds that the gardens 
 were originally laid out in the year 1597, under the 
 direction of Lord Bacon, the then Treasurer of the 
 Society ; and there is still preserved on the north-west 
 side of the garden a " catalpa-tree," whichj tradition says, 
 was planted by him. He evidently took great delight in 
 these gardens, and there is an Order of Pension extant 
 in the following terms : — 
 
 '' 4 July, 1597. — Ordered that the summe of 
 £7 15s. 4d. due to Mr. Bacon, for planting of elm trees 
 in the walkes, be paid next term," 
 
 And in the following year there was an order made for 
 the supply of more young elms, &c., the cost of which, 
 *' as appeared by Mr. Bacon's account," was £60 6s. 8d. 
 
 The following extracts from Howell's " Familiar 
 Letters," and Pepys' " Diary," show that Gray's Inn 
 Walks, or Gray's Inn Gardens, were at one time much 
 resorted to as a fashionable promenade. 
 
 Howell, writing from Venice in the year 1621, to a 
 
80 
 
 resident in Gray's Irni, says, "I liold your walks to be 
 the pleasantest place about London, and that you have 
 there the choicest society." 
 
 Pepys seems to have frequently visited Gray's Inn 
 Gardens, as appears by his '^ Diary," thus : — 
 
 *^4 May, 1662. — "When Church was done my wife 
 and I walked to Graye's Inne, to observe fashions of the 
 ladies, because of my wife's making some clothes." 
 
 17 AiLg,, 1622. — ''I was very well pleased with the 
 sight of a fine lady that I have often seen walk in Gray's 
 Inn Walks." 
 
 In Dryden's ^' Sir Martin Mar-all" (1668), there is 
 the following reference to Gray's Inn Walks : — 
 
 *^ Sir John Shallow. But where did you appoint to 
 meet him ? 
 
 " Mrs. Millisent, In Gray's Inn Walks." 
 
 Addison, in the Spectator, mentions Sir Eoger de 
 Coverley walking on the terrace in Gray's Inn Gardens, 
 *' Hemming twice or thrice to himself with great vigour, 
 for he loves to clear his pipes in good air, to make use 
 of his own phrase, and is not a little pleased with any 
 one who takes notice of the strength which he still 
 exerts in his morning hems." "- 
 
 a Spectator, No. 269. 
 
In Charles Lamb's '' Essays of Elia" there is an 
 interesting description of Gray's Inn Gardens after the 
 erection of Verulam Buildings : — 
 
 '' I am ill at dates, but I think it is now better than 
 five and twenty years ago, that walking in the gardens 
 of Gray's Inn — they were then finer than they are now 
 — the accursed Verulam Buildings had not encroached 
 upon all the east side of them, cutting out delicate green 
 crankles, and shouldering away one of two of the stately 
 alcoves of the terrace. The survivor stands, gaping and 
 relationless, as if it remembered its brother. They are still 
 the best gardens of any of the Inns of Court — my 
 beloved Temple not forgotten — have the gravest 
 character, their aspect being altogether reverend and 
 law breathing. Bacon has left the impress of his foot 
 upon their gravel walks," &c. 
 
 A correspondent in the Field of March 11th, 1876, 
 sends the following particulars relating to a variety 
 of birds not usually seen in London, which, during 
 the last ten years, he had noticed in Gray's Inn 
 
 Gardens : — 
 
 '* House Martin {Hinmdo urhioa). — A number of these were seen 
 flying over the tops of the houses last autumn in a south-westerly 
 direction. They do not frequent the neighbourhood. 
 
 " Common Cuckoo {Cuculus canoriis). — Two young ones had been seen, 
 possibly escaped from confinement ; but last autumn a fine adult bird 
 remained in the gardens for nearly a fortnight. 
 
82 
 
 " G-REY Flycatcher {Muscicapa grisola). — A pair of these birds gener- 
 ally frequent tlie gardens during several days in spring and autumn, but 
 do not remain to breed. 
 
 " Hooded or Dun Crow {Corvus comix).— K pair of these bii*ds 
 remained in the gardens for a few hours during a yery heavy autumn 
 gale about ten years ago ; they were on the ground during part of the 
 time, feeding with the rooks. 
 
 " Rook {Corvus frugilcgus). — These birds used to frequent these gardens 
 in considerable numbers, there being usually twenty-five or twenty-six 
 nests every spring. Last year there were several trees cut down in 
 March and early in April, and for a time the birds left. About six 
 pairs returned at the latter end of April, and bred ; this year they have 
 again been disturbed, but some six or eight pairs frequent the gardens, 
 and will, it is hoped, remain to breed. 
 
 " Jackdaw {Corvus monedula). — Occasionally seen feeding with the 
 rooks. 
 
 " Starling {Sturnus vulgaris). — A constant visitant. 
 
 " Fieldfare {liirdus pilaris). — Several of these birds frequented the 
 gardens for some days during the severe winter of 1874-75. 
 
 '• Song Thrush {Turdus mmicus). — Only three have been seen, one 
 ast Christmas, and the last a few days since. 
 
 " Redwing {Turdus iliacus). — These appeared at the same time with 
 the fieldfares. 
 
 " Robin {Erythaca ruhecula). — Only one seen, just before Christmas, 
 1875. 
 
 " Willow Wren {Phglloscopus trochilus). — These birds always appear 
 at the same time as the fly-catchers, but do not remain in the gardens 
 so long as they do. 
 
 " Great Titmouse {Par us major). — These birds very frequently visit 
 the gardens during the winter. 
 
 " Tomtit {Partes coeridcus). — These are often in the gardens during 
 the winter. 
 
 " Chaffinch {Fringillo coelcbs). — These birds are often seen, and are 
 generally male birds ; some no doubt escaped from confinement, but wild 
 birds of both sexes have also been seen. 
 
 " Goldfinch {Fringilla Carduelis). — Several have been seen of both 
 sexes, old and young; no doubt all had escaped from confinement. 
 
83 
 
 GrREY LixxET {Litiota cannahina). — Several of these have been seen, 
 but no doubt under the same circumstances as the goldfinch. 
 
 '* Lesser Redpoll {Linota linaria). — Very many of these have been 
 seen, generally, no doubt, escaped from confinement; but during last 
 winter a small flock of eight wild birds remained on the trees for a short 
 time. 
 
 " Green Lixxet {Fringilla chloris). — These are sometimes seen, pro- 
 bably escaped birds ; but two or three are believed to have been wild. 
 
 " House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). — These, of course, are plentiful, 
 and very tame where they find a friend who feeds them." 
 
 G 2 
 
EMINENT MEMBERS OF GRATS INN. 
 
 Among the names of the many distinguished lawyers 
 said to have been admitted into the Society of Gray's 
 Inn in ancient times, is that of Sir William Gascoigne, 
 Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1400. 
 
 Lord Campbell, in his "Lives of the Chief Justices"'' 
 states, " The Middle Temple men assert that, according 
 to certain traditions, Sir William Gascoigne belonged 
 to them ; while the Gray's Inn men rely upon the 
 fact that his arms are to be found in a window in 
 their Hall." But the reliance of the Gray's Inn men 
 is not merely founded on the fact of his arms being 
 found in such window, but upon that fact, and the 
 additional one stated in the Harleian MS., that he 
 was a Reader of Gray's Inn. 
 
 Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, Justice of the Common 
 Pleas in the reign of Henry VIII. ; Sir Nicholas Bacon, 
 Lord Keeper during the greater part of the reign of 
 
 * Vol. i., p. 121. 
 
85 
 
 Queen Elizabeth ; and his son Francis, Lord Bacon, 
 were also members of Gray's Inn. Lord Bacon was 
 admitted on the 27th June, 18 Elizabeth, and by an 
 Order of Pension dated 21st Nov., 19 Elizabeth, it was 
 ordered that that all the sons of Sir Nicholas Bacon, 
 '' now admitted of the house, viz., Nicholas, Nathaniel, 
 Edward, Anthony, and Francis, shall be of the Grand 
 Company, and not to be bound to any vacations." 
 
 The last-named, but greatest son, Francis, Lord 
 Bacon, was about eighteen years old when, in 1579, 
 he began to keep terms in Gray's Inn. He occu- 
 pied chambers in No. 1, Coney Court, now Gray's 
 Inn Square. In his later days, when Attorney- 
 General and Lord Chancellor, he had a lease of the 
 whole building. On the first day of Trinity Term, 
 May 7th, 1617, when he took his seat in the Court 
 of Chancery as Lord Keeper, the procession to West- 
 minster was formed at Gray's Inn. On his right hand 
 rode the Lord Treasurer ; on his left, the Lord Privy 
 Seal ; behind them a long procession of earls and barons, 
 knights and gentlemen. After he had sold York House 
 and reduced his establishment at Gorhambury, he con- 
 fined himself chiefly to his lodging in Gray's Inn, where 
 many of his essays and treatises were written^ On the 
 19th of December, 1625, with his own hand he wrote 
 
8t) . 
 
 his last will ; and early in the morning of Easter Sun- 
 day, the 9th of April, 1626, he expired. In his will he 
 wrote: — ^'For my burial, I desire it may be in St. 
 Michael's Church, near St. Alban's; there was my 
 mother buried, and it is the parish church of my mansion 
 house at Gorhambury, and it is the only Christian church 
 within the walls of old Verulam. For my name and 
 memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to 
 foreign nations, and the next ages." 
 
 Among the many other eminent lawyers who were 
 members of Gray's Inn, besides those mentioned as 
 Readers, are to be found the names of Sir William 
 Yelverton, Justice of the King's Bench in 1443, Sir 
 Christopher Yelverton, Justice of the King's Bench 
 in 1602 ; his son. Sir Henry Yelverton, Justice of the 
 Common Pleas in 1625. Sir Henry Yelverton, when 
 Attorney- General, gave great offence by refusing to 
 pass some illegal patents. Having introduced certain 
 unusual clauses in the charter of the City of London, 
 he was suspended from his office, and proceeded against 
 in the Star Chamber. In notes of a speech, in pass- 
 ing sentence, Lord Bacon thus alludes to their fellow- 
 ship in Gray's Inn : " Sorry for the person, being a 
 gentleman that I lived with in Gray's Inn; served 
 with him when I was attorney ; joined with since 
 
in many services, and one that ever gave me more 
 attributes in public than I deserved ; and, besides, a 
 man of very good parts ; which with me is friendship 
 at first sight ; much more joined with so antient 
 acquaintance." Sir John Holt, Chief Justice of 
 the King's Bench in 1689, was also a member of 
 Gray's Inn. The following sketch of Lord Chief 
 Justice Holt is from the fourteenth number of 
 the Tatler : — '^ He was a man of profound knowledge 
 of the laws of his country, and as just an observer 
 of them in his own person. He considei'ed justice 
 as a cardinal virtue, not as a trade for maintenance. 
 Wherever he was judge he never forgot that he was 
 also counsel. The criminal before him was always 
 sure he stood before his country, and, in a sort, a 
 parent of it ; the prisoner knew that, though his spirit 
 was broken with guilt and incapable of language to 
 defend itself, all would be gathered from him which 
 could conduce to his safety ;^and that his judge would 
 wrest no law to destroy him, nor conceal any that 
 could save him." And, coming down to later times, 
 the names of Lord Raymond and Sir Samuel Romilly 
 may be included. 
 
 Besides the eminent lawyers mentioned above, some 
 of our most celebrated statesmen and distinguished pre- 
 
88 
 
 lates were members of Gray's Inn. Of the former may 
 be mentioned Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of 
 Essex, and William Cecil, Lord Burleigh ; and, of the 
 latter, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester ; John 
 Whitgift, William Laud, and William Juxon, Arch- 
 bishops of Canterbury. Henry Cromwell, second son 
 of the Protector, was also a member of Gray's Inn. 
 Previous to the reign of James IL, five dukes, three 
 marquises, twenty-nine earls, and thirty-eight lords had 
 been admitted as members of the Society. It has 
 been well observed that the roll of admissions of the 
 four Inns of Court form a record of names as distin- 
 guished as can be found in any University in Europe. 
 According to a manuscript among the Burghley Papers 
 in the Lansdowne Collection, the number of students 
 in Gray's Inn, in 1585, far exceeded any of the other 
 Inns of Court, thus; — 
 
 Gray's Inn, in Term 356 Out of Term 229 
 
 Inner Temple, „ 200 „ 80 
 
 Middle Temple, „ 200 „ 50 
 
 Lincoln's Inn, „ 200 „ 50 
 
 In the same collection of manuscripts. No. 109, 
 art. 5, there is a copy of an Order of the Privy 
 Council, directing the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn and 
 
89 
 
 other Inns of Court, "to prefer none who refuse con- 
 formity to the established religion." As an illustration 
 of this order, the following testimonial of Thomas 
 Walker's religion from Robert Dorsett, Dean of 
 Chester, 1579, appears in the records of the Society : 
 
 " To the right Worshipfull the Readers of Grais Inne." 
 
 " Whereas, I have been requested by one Thomas 
 Walker to give my testimony of his religion unto your 
 worshippes. These are to certefy you that uppon good 
 and certayne information, I am persuaded that he is 
 zealous of the truth and hateth the Pope and all his 
 doctrines. And as he hath been brought upp by good 
 education in the faithe of Christe so beinge nourished by 
 you in that truth will growe up farther into a more 
 perfit knowledge by diligent learninge of the preachers 
 of Godd's worde and done exercise in his service and true 
 religion. And thus wishinge unto your Worshippes all 
 wisdome and knowledge in the lorde our Saviour, I take 
 my leave from Oxforde the xxi May, 1576. 
 
 " Robert Dorsett." 
 
 And in another manuscript of the same collection, 
 No. 106, art. 20, there is a petition to the Privy 
 Council as follows : — 
 
90 
 
 " The humble peticon of the Students of 
 Graye's Inne; their submission Humbly 
 praieing y*'"'' enlargement." 
 
 " Most humblie shewen unto y"' LL : That whereas 
 we Thomas Luttrell and others Studentes in Graye's 
 Inne throughe o"* unadvised facte in desaringe Woodes 
 Stake, have incurred yo'" Hono" heavy e displeasure for 
 w""^ we are more greeved than for our present Im- 
 prisonment. We therefore w*'' sorrowfull and submis- 
 sive myndes most humblie beseache your LL : of your 
 accustomed goodnesses to have favourable consideracon 
 of us in this case and to measure the matter with 
 our meaningCj w'^^ was voide of gyvinge any cause 
 of offence unto your Honours. And all we the said 
 offenders w^^ others our Fryndes shall remayne boun- 
 den unto y*^' LL : in all, by any manner of dutie and 
 service during life and assuredlie praye to God for 
 y""" healthes and happiness w^ increase of much honor." 
 
 In May, 1667, Pepys, in his Diary, records the 
 visit of a Mr. Howe, who told him '^ how the barristers 
 and students of Graye's Inne rose in rebellion against 
 the Benchers the other day, who outlawed them, and 
 a great deal of do ; but now they are at peace again." 
 
PRIZES AND SCHOLARSHIPS. 
 
 In the year 1864 John Lee, Esq., LL.D., a barrister 
 of the Society, and afterwards one of the Masters of 
 the Bench, gave the sum of £500, to be invested so 
 that the interest of the money might be annually 
 awarded by the Benchers for the time being, " as a 
 Prize for some Essay on the Laws of Justinian, or on 
 the Common or Statute Law of our own Country." 
 
 In order to carry out the intentions of Dr. Lee the 
 Society resolved " that the sum of £25 shall annually, 
 in Trinity Term, be awarded as a prize to the student, 
 being a member of the Inn, who shall have written 
 the best essay upon the subject mentioned in the 
 notice given by the Masters of the Bench during the 
 preceding Trinity Term.'' 
 
 In 1873 Joseph Arden, Esq., another member of 
 the Society, and now one of the Masters of the Bench, 
 " being desirous to encourage the study of the Laws of 
 England, and to confer a real and substantial benefit, 
 
92 
 
 as well as a distinction upon meritorious individuals, and 
 to aid them in the study and practice of such Laws at 
 the commencement of their professional career," founded 
 three scholarships of £60 per annum each; one to be 
 awarded every year, tenable for three years, from the 
 scholar's call to the Bar by the Society, to be de- 
 signated '' The Arden English Law Scholarships in 
 Gray's Inn, and to be conferred upon such candidate 
 as shall exhibit in the examination to be made, the 
 greatest proficiency in the Laws of England, or in any 
 two or more branches or divisions thereof." 
 
 The principal qualification necessary to obtain these 
 Scholarships, is the following: — ** To have obtained 
 Honours in the examination for Call to the Bar, or to 
 have passed such other examination as the Trustees may 
 from time to time require." 
 
 Contemporaneously with these scholarships, the Society 
 founded two others, one of the annual value of £45, 
 called ^' The Bacon," and the other of the annual value 
 of £40, called '' The Holt " Scholarship. These scholar- 
 ships are tenable for two years, and are to be awarded 
 to the students who shall have passed the best examina- 
 tion in " The History of England, Political and Con- 
 stitutional." 
 
 In addition to these Prizes and Scholarships, a 
 
93 
 
 special Prize of twenty guineas has been offered by 
 the Venerable Archdeacon Hessey, Preacher of the 
 Society, to be competed for by Students. The 
 subjects of the Examination are to be '^ The First 
 Book of Hooker's Law of Ecclesiastical Polity," and 
 the ** Three Sermons on Human Nature," by Bishop 
 Butler. 
 
MOOTS, 
 
 A WORD or two here as to the revival of '^ Moots," 
 which formerly used to bear no inconspicuous part 
 in the mechanism of legal education at the Inns 
 of Court 
 
 A movement was set on foot in 1875 for the resusci- 
 tation of these ancient and useful exercises; and the 
 proposal was enthusiastically received by the students 
 and barristers, and as warmly embraced and aided by 
 the Masters of the Bench. 
 
 Gray's Inn was particularly conspicuous of old for 
 these exercises, which Stow calls " boltas," " niootes," 
 and " putting of cases," In 12 Elizabeth, Moots were 
 ordered to be kept three days in every week in Hilary, 
 Easter, and Midsummer Term ; and in 16 Elizabeth, 
 " Bolts" were enjoined to be held in every term on 
 non-moot days. 
 
 '^ Boltino;" wn8 defined to be " conversational 
 
95 
 
 arguments upon cases and questions put to him (i,e. 
 the student), by a bencher and two barristers sitting 
 as his judges in private.^'' On becoming an expert 
 ** Bolter," the student was admitted to the " Meetings," 
 where questions were debated by the students before 
 the Benchers of the Society. " The subject of the 
 Mootings," says Mr. Macqueen,^ *^were feigned cases 
 thrown into the form of pleadings, which were generally 
 opened by a student, and followed up by an utter 
 
 barrister The avowed object of these 
 
 exercitations was, to promote the faculty of ready speaking. 
 To secure this end, the disputants were kept in ignorance 
 of the topic until called upon to discuss it. The case 
 drawn up by the Eeader was laid upon the salt-cellar 
 before meals ; and none were to look into it upon 
 pain of expulsion from the Society." 
 
 As a curious relic of the times, it may be 
 mentioned, that in 1631, in connection with these 
 disputations, the Butler was ordered "to be set in 
 ye stocks about noon for putting Mr. Frowle up to 
 Moot in his wrong" — whatever that may mean. 
 
 ** About the end of the seventeenth century," says 
 Lord Campbell in the Eeport of the Select Committee 
 
 a Lecture on the Farly Historj^ &c., of tbe Inns of Court, 1851. 
 
96 
 
 on Legal Education, ^^the Mootings fell into disuse, 
 or were continued merely as matters of form, but 
 long before then the system had been declining, and 
 Lord Bacon has lamented that there was not a better 
 system of education." 
 
 The Moots are held fortnightly during the Educa- 
 tional Term, and are open to all members of the Inns 
 of Court. 
 
 The discussions are strictly legal, and by way of 
 still further familiarizing the student with the practice 
 of his profession, the proceedings are conducted as 
 nearly as possible like those of the Courts themselves. 
 The President receives the same respect, title, and 
 authority as a Judge of the Supreme Court. The 
 moot question is propounded by the President for 
 the time being, and after the case has been argued 
 for and against — generally by three speakers on each 
 gi^e — the arguments are reviewed, and judgment 
 delivered. 
 
97 
 
 A RMORIA L BE A RINGS. 
 
 The Harleian manuscript gives the following description 
 of the armorial bearings of Gray's Inn. *' The hono''^^ 
 colledge of Grayes-Inne doth beare for their Coat Azure 
 an Indian Griffon proper Sergreant w^^ y^ laudable 
 inscription invironing the same : Integra lex ^qui 
 custos rectique magistra non habet affectus sed causas jure 
 guhernatJ''' 
 
 In the Appendix to Stow's Chronicle '^ it is stated : 
 " For armes this House or Colledge might (by 
 the auncient custome of honorable favour usually in- 
 dulged in these behalfes) beare the armes of the 
 Lord Gray, the auncient possessor, or inhabitant of 
 this House, but differenced with a border argent, and 
 azure counter-charged, or such like convenient dif- 
 ference. But the gentlemen of Grayes-Inne have not 
 long since chosen for device, or ensigne of their 
 House, a Griffon, or, in a field sables, and so they 
 are furnished already very well." 
 
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