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dinner should not defray, about the charges of the said dinner, above xxl. viz. either of them xl. at the most; and that no reader should have more wine to be spent in his reading than two hogsheads at the

most.

"And the said justices thought proper to advise, that the readers should be recommended by the benchers of their houses, not only in the proportion of their own diet; but also, what number of guests, and of what sort, they should bid to their table during their reading, to the intent that a mediocrity might be used frugally without excess."

These orders were ratified; and for bucks brought in during the time of reading, by way of assisting, the house allowed "towards the reward for each iiis. iiiid.; the rest to be at the reader's own charge."

They likewise agreed to allow "pepper and flower !for baking of all the venison which should be spent in the hall, but not for what was spent at the reader's own table."

The readers of this house might admit any person into the society they thought proper, and were allowed one clerk in commons at the rate of xxd. a week; but a double reader, two clerks, each at the

same rate.

Eminent Men.]-Of these Lincoln's Inn boasts a far greater number among its members than any other of the law societies. The first on the illustrious list is the famous sir John Fortescue, knight, lord chief justice of the king's bench in the reign of Hen. VI. and author of the learned discourse "De

Laudibus Legum Angliæ." This treatise was written in France during his attendance there upon his royal pupil Edward prince of Wales, eldest son of king Henry VI. (to whom he was then chancellor, as we learn by the preamble). Judge Fortescue was a member of this society in the 6th of Hen. VI.

Sir Arthur Plantagenet, knight, the natural son of Edward IV., afterwards created viscount Lisle, was admitted of this society the 4th Feb. 2 Hen. VII.

Sir Thomas Lovell, before mentioned, occurs in the list of readers 15 Edw. IV. as a "double reader," 21 Ed. IV. and held the office of treasurer in the next reign. He was made a banneret at the battle of Stoke A. D. 1487, and was a great favourite of Henry VII., who, when a simple esquire, made him chancellor of the exchequer for life. He afterwards rose to the dignities of a knight of the garter, treasurer of the household and president of the council, constable of the tower, and was one of the executors of Henry VII.'s will. He died at his house at Enfield in 1524, and was buried in the chapel of Halliwell nunnery, Shoreditch, which he had refounded.

Sir THOMAS MORE.-This great man, whose name and talents are too well known to need any comment, removed to Lincoln's Inn from New Inn; in the latter of which he first laid the foundation of that legal knowledge for which he was afterwards so celebrated. He is the first lay chancellor upon X record, and presided in the chancery with great

• It has been said that he was the first lay chancellor since the reign of Henry II. But it is certain that Becket, who was chancellor in

abilities. He was the son of John More, who was himself for many years a puisne judge of the king's bench, and died at a very advanced age. It is said that his son, in passing through Westminster Hall to the chancery, never failed to fall on his knees and ask his blessing whenever he saw him sitting in the court.

Sir Thomas More had the honour to be the intimate friend of Erasmus, and was himself a great master of the elegant learning of the ancients. His well-known " Utopia," a kind of political romance, gained him the highest reputation as an author. He was beheaded for denying the king's supremacy the 6th of July 1535, aged 53.

LAMBARD, the great antiquary, and author of the "Perambulation of Kent," and Spelman, the learned author of the "Glossary," and other excellent works, were both members of Lincoln's Inn. Concerning the former, it was agreed by a special order of council, "that having deserved universally well of the commonwealth and country, and likewise of the fellowship and society of this house, and being like hereafter to win greater credit to himself and the society of the house, he should have a room to sit amongst the society of the fellowship of the bench as other assistants used to do, without any thing paying for the same."

Spelman was admitted of this society in 28 Eliz. and died "full of years, and of literary and virtuous fame," in 1641.

that reign, was in holy orders when he bore that office, though he had thrown off the clerical habit.

Sir JAMES LEY was for his singular merit made lord chief justice in Ireland, and afterwards in England, by James I. He was also by that prince created baron Ley, and constituted lord high treasurer. On the accession of Charles he was created earl of Marlborough. His Reports, to which his portrait is affixed, were first printed in 1659.

Sir JOHN DENHAM, author of the admirable poem, entitled " Cooper's Hill," first studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and afterwards at Lincoln's Inn: he was an active loyalist in the reign of Charles I. and at the restoration was made surveyor-general and a knight of the bath. He died in March 1688, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, near the tombs of Chaucer, Spencer, and Cowley; the latter of whom he survived but a few days.

WILLIAM PRYNNE, the author of the valuable collection of Records, in four large volumes; Selden, sometimes styled "the great dictator of learning to the English nation," a man of extensive and profound knowledge; lord chancellor Egerton; Lenthall, speaker of the parliament during the Oliverian usurpation; Oliver St. John, earl of Bolingbroke, another conspicuous character of the same period; sir William Noy, author of "The Complete Lawyer," and other learned and judicious works, and attorneygeneral to Charles I.; sir Ranulph Crewe, chief justice of the common pleas in 1664; and, lastly, the great sir Matthew Hale before mentioned; with many others equally celebrated,-were members of this inn.

Y

Sir MATTHEW HALE was eminent for all the several qualifications that compose the character of an able lawyer and a good man. His learning in his profession was scarcely equalled, and never exceeded. But he was also a philosopher and a divine, and was as good and amiable in his private, as he was great and venerable in his public capacity. He was made a judge in 1653-4, and was, without exception, the most impartial dispenser of justice of any of his contemporaries. His decisions on the bench (says a late historian) were frequently a learned lecture upon the point of law; and such was his reputation for integrity, that the interested parties were generally satisfied with them, though they happened to be against themselves. No man more abhorred the chicane of lawyers, or more discountenanced the evil arts of pleading; and he was so very conscientious, that the jealousy of being misled by his affections made him rather partial to that side to which he was least inclined. This excellent person died in 1676.

CHAP. VI.

THAIVE'S INN.

THAIVE'S INN, burnt down some few years since, and now converted into a private court, adjoined the parish church of St. Andrew, Holborn, and is at least as old as the time of king Edward III. It took its name from one John Thaive, or Tavie, whose house it then was, and who directed, that after the decease of his

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