troop of revellers round an empty grate. The chronicler of this ridiculous mummery observes: "And all the time of the dance the ancient song, accompanied by music, was sung by one Toby Aston, dressed in a bar-gown, whose father had formerly been Master of the Plea Office in the King's Bench. When this was over, the ladies came down from the gallery, went into the parliament chamber, and stayed about a quarter of an hour, while the hall was being put in order. They then went into the hall and danced a few minuets. Country dances began at ten, and at twelve a very fine cold collation was provided for the whole company, from which they returned to dancing, which they continued as long as they pleased, and the whole day's entertainment was generally thought to be very genteelly and liberally conducted. The Prince of Wales honoured the performance with his company part of the time; he came in to the music incog. about the middle of the play, and went away as soon as the farce of 'walking round the coal fire' was over."

With this notable dance of lawyers round an empty grate, the old revels disappeared. In their Grand Days, equivalent to the gaudy days, or feast days, or audit days of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, the Inns of Court still retain the last vestiges of their ancient jollifications, but the uproarious riot of the obsolete festivities is but faintly echoed by the songs and laughter of the junior barristers and students who in these degenerate times gladden their hearts and loosen their tongues with an extra glass of wine after grand dinners, and then hasten back to chambers for tobacco and tea.

On the discontinuance of the revels the Inns of Court lost their chief attractions for the courtly pleasure-seekers of the town, and many a day passed before another royal visit was paid to any one of the societies. In 1734 George III.'s father stood amongst the musicians in the Inner Temple Hall; and after the lapse of one century and eleven years the present queen accepted the hospitality of Lincoln's Inn. No record exists of a royal visit made to an Inn of Court between those events. Only the other day, however, the Prince of Wales went eastwards and partook of a banquet in the hall of Middle Temple, of which society he is a barrister and a bencher.

CHAPTER LIII.

LITIGANT versus CAMPHOR.

HE traditional propensity of lawyers for the stage, of which so many illustrations have been given, lingered among barristers on circuit to a comparatively recent date. Old stagers of "the Home" and "the Western" remember how the juniors of their briefless and bagless days used to astonish the natives of Guildford and Exeter with Shakesperian performances that would have made Edmund Kean bite his lips with indignation, and have sent Mrs. Siddons into inextinguishable laughter. The "Northern Circuit" also was at one time famous for the histrionic ability of its bar, but towards the close of the last century the dramatic recreations of its junior members were discountenanced by the Grand Court.

Of that court, established for the maintenance of professional dignity and etiquette, Lord Eldon was for some time Attorney General; and one of his last acts in fulfilling the duties of that office was to prosecute before " our Lord the Junior" one Mr. Taylor of the Circuit, who, to the scandal of his brethren of the long robe, and to the diminution of that esteem in which the British bar was held and ought to be held by the public, had acted the part of Counsellor Traverse in the "Clandestine Marriage," on the stage of the York Theatre. The record of this memorable trial, preserved in the archives of the Northern Circuit, runs thus:-" York Grand Night, Sat., Mar. 16, 1782. Mr. Atty. Gen. Scott mentioned that he had no sooner arriv'd in York than a playbill was put into his hands, in which, to his great astonishment, he found the respectable names of many of his brethren on the circuit. The play of the 'Clandestine Marriage' was to be performed for the benefit of Mr. Back. Mr. Smith was to lay aside the peaceful gown and array him

self in a military habit; and a very distinguishable and conspicuous part was to be performed by Mr. Taylor, who appear'd in his proper character, not as the two former gentlemen, in such a masquerade dress that Mr. Atty. Gen. cou'd not produce any witness who cou'd take upon him to swear to the identity of their persons, but Mr. Law being called upon, depos'd that he saw Mr. Taylor appear on the stage in his bar wig acting the part of Counsellor Traverse, in the 'Clandestine Marriage,' and though Mr. Taylor acted the counsellor then, as he always does, in an inimitable manner, yet the Court was of opinion that by appearing upon the stage in that habit, he rather lessen'd the dignity of the wig, and therefore fined him 1 bottle-pd."

As our Lord the Junior regarded so gravely the offence of Mr. Taylor, what would he have said had he been many years later required to sit in judgment on Charles Mathews, the famous comedian, who brought the bar into contempt and the Chief Justice of England into derision by his exquisite mimicry of Lord Ellenborough's judicial voice and manner? In personating Counsellor Flexible, in the farce entitled "Love, Law, and Physic," the actor greatly delighted his house by imitations of Erskine and Garrow, and drew a tempest of applause by his account of the judge's summing up in the case of Litigant v. Camphor. "When he came," says Mrs. Mathews, in her biography of the actor, " to the judge's summing up, the effect was quite astounding to him, for he had no idea of its being so received. The shout of recognition and enjoyment indeed was so alarming to his nerves, so unlike all former receptions of such efforts, that he repented the attempt in proportion as it was well taken, and a call for it a second time fairly upset him, albeit not unused to loud applause and approbation." The next morning every paper informed Lord Ellenborough how he had been made the laugh of a densely crowded theatre, and filled him with reasonable fear that for many a term he would not be able to raise his voice in his own court without throwing counsel and clients, solicitors and suitors, into convulsions of merriment. Enraged by the indignity, he wrote for protection to the Lord Chamberlain, who, with equal prudence and tact, soothed the anger in the judicial breast, and

obtained from the actor a ready promise not to renew his misconduct. "Love, Law, and Physic" was not withdrawn ; but Counsellor Flexible never again entertained the public with "the judge's charge," although it was vociferously demanded at each succeeding presentation of the farce. To a select party at Carlton House the comedian, however, was induced to repeat the imitation, on which occasion the Prince Regent and his brother of York were infinitely amused. "The prince was in raptures," the wifely biographer assures her readers, "and declared himself astonished at the closeness of the imitation, shutting his eyes while he listened to it with excessive enjoyment, and many exclamations of wonder and delight, such as Excellent!' Perfect!' It is himself!' The Duke of York manifested his approval by peals of laughter."

PART X.-POLITICAL LAWYERS.

IN

CHAPTER LIV.

LAWYERS IN THE HOUSE.

N England the ordinary career of a decidedly successful and eminent barrister opens with a period spent in the useful but inglorious labours of an over-worked junior; comprises a second term in which the more lucrative achievements of a popular leader are diversified by the triumphs of parliamentary warfare; and closes with promotion to the honours and emoluments of the bench. As a judge he has fresh prospects of fame and influence. By lucid judgments, accurate knowledge, and fearless impartiality, he may emulate the renown of Holt and Mansfield; if his seat be one of inferior grade, he may aspire to the highest judicial office of the realm; and when he has ceased to explain the law in Westminster Hall, or has descended from the woolsack, he may still, like Lyndhurst, influence the counsels of a great political party, or like Brougham may benefit his country by zealous attention to the appellate jurisdiction of the Lords, or like Westbury may aid in removing the abuses of our courts, and in reforming our laws.

After promotion their courses of action are various, but in their upward struggle rising barristers are almost unanimous in wishing to gain admittance to the House of Commons, in order that their services to a party may by that party be rewarded with judicial preferment. Many cases could be cited where lawyers have, like Lord Langdale, raised themselves to the bench and the peerage without undergoing the vexation and toil of parliamentary servitude. Alike to the honour of