A HISTORY

OF

THE INNS OF COURT

AND CHANCER Y.

OF THE

INNS OF COURT

AND CHANCERY;

WITH

NOTICES OF THEIR ANCIENT DISCIPLINE,

RULES, ORDERS, AND CUSTOMS, READINGS, MOOTS, MASQUES,

REVELS, AND ENTERTAINMENTS;

INCLUDING AN

ACCOUNT OF THE EMINENT MEN

OF THE FOUR LEARNED AND HONOURABLE SOCIETIES,-
LINCOLN'S INN, THE INNER TEMPLE, THE MIDDLE TEMPLE,
AND GRAY'S INN,
&c.

BY ROBERT R. PEARCE, ESQ.

OF GRAY'S INN, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.

LONDON:

RICHARD BENTLEY, 8, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Der Majesty;

AND SOLD BY HENRY BUTTERWORTH, FLEET STREET.

1848.

BIBLIOTHECA

REGIA
MONACENSIS.

LONDON:

Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY, WILSON, and FLEY, Bangor House, Shoe Lane.

PREFACE.

It has been my endeavour, in the following pages, to present to the reader every authentic particular known relative to the early history of the Inns of Court, and the houses of Chancery subordinate to them. All the early authorities who have written on this subject, and such statutes and records as illustrate the history of the legal profession in this country, together with the monuments and tablets in the halls and chapels of the four Inns of Court, and such manuscript collections as contained matter bearing on my subject, have been carefully reviewed and examined.

I have been desirous of collecting as copious and as exact an account as practicable of the Ancient Readings in the Four Inns, as an exhibition of those readings cannot fail to stimulate the cause of legal education, to

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