page 2 note * Skeat.

page 4 note * Brabrook.

page 5 note * The orders of 1676 declare that the Inns of Chancery “shall hold their government subordinate to the Benchers of every the Innes of Court to which they belong—that the Benchers shall make laws to govern them , and that in case any Attorney, Clerk, or officer of Courts of Justice shall withstand direction he shall be severely punished, either by forejudging from the Court or otherwise as the case shall deserve.”—Origines Judiciales.—(Dugdale.)

page 6 note * “In 1594 there were grand doings at Gray's Inn, and these revels are “ described in a curious volume, entitled Gesta Grayorum, or, the History of “ the High and Mighty Prince Henry, Prince of Purpoole, Archduke of “Stapulia and Bernarda, Duke of High and nether Holborn, Marquis of St. “Giles and Tottenham, Count Palatine of Bloomsbury and Clerkenwell, Great “ Lord of the Cantons of Islington, Kentish Town, Paddington, and Knights “bridge, Knight of the most Heroical Order of the Helmet and Sovereign of the “same; who reigned and died A.D. 1594.” The Prince of Purpoole was Henry Helmes, a Norfolk gentleman, “ who was “ thought to be accomplished with all good parts, fit for so great a dignity, and “ was also a very proper man of personage, and very active in dancing and “ revelling.”

page 7 note * In the orders of 1676, a century later, they are described as “but immaterial persons of an inferior nature ”, and therefore “ not hereafter to be admitted of any of the four houses of court.”—Dugdale.

page 8 note * “Moot—to discuss a point, chiefly used in the phrase, a ‘moot point.’ The proper sense of moot is meeting, as in moot hall, hall of assembly; hence, to moot is to discuss at a meeting, and a moot point is one reserved for public discussion.”—(Skeat.)

^{page 9 note *} Douthwaite.

^{page 9 note †} Dugdale.

^{page9 note ‡} If he had been at Staple or Barnard's Inn, his admission fee to Gray's Inn would have been 40s.; the rate to others, after 8 Elizabeth, was £3. 6s. 8d.

^{page 10 note *} Hope.

^{page 10 note †} Stable.

^{page 11 note *} Douthwaite.

^{page 11 note †} Timbs.

^{page 13 note *} “ About this time (Henry IV) also attorneys, by reason of their multitude “and from their malpractices , ha d grown to be a public nuisance. Chief Justice “Gascoigne caused an Act to be passed limiting their number in every county. “ They had also to swear every term that they would deal faithfully and truly by “ their clients, and could it be proved that they had not done so they were liable “ to be imprisoned for a twelvemonth and condemned to pay a ransom according “ to the King's pleasure,”—Chronicles of an Old Inn, by Andrée Hope.

^{page 16 note *} Herbert.

^{page 17 note *} “ Restorations at Staple Inn.—The old fifteenth-century buildings in Holborn in connection with Staple Inn, which were some time since purchased by the Prudential Life Assurance Company, are about to undergo a process of restoration by the new owners, and within the last few days scaffolding has been erected in the Holbor n frontage for the purpose. It has, however, been decided by the owners that all the original and ancient features of the buildings shall be strictly preserved, no structuia l alterations whatever being permitted. The old stucco work with which th e Holborn frontage of the buildings is faced is in course of removal, and when that has been cleared away the timbers and other structural materials will be carefully examined, and, where defective, will be replaced by new materials of a similar character, but it is not expected that much of the old oak of which the buildings are chiefly constructed, an d which has stood the test of several centuries, will be found to have gone to decay. These examinations and this portion of the work having been effected, th e frontage will be re-faced on the old lines, reproducing the elevation as it has appeared since the buildings were originally erected, the ancient gables and overhanging windows being in no way disturbed or interfered with. The old arched gateway will also be restored, and all its old features preserved, as in the case of the Holborn frontage. A new roof is likewise to be put upon th e building, corresponding, in its structural character, with that which it replaces. The restoration s also extend to all the rooms in th e buildings, the walls and ceilings of which are to be cleaned, and repainted and decorated in the same style as when the buildings were first erected. Messrs. Holland and Hannen are the contractors who have been entrusted with the works.”—Citizen, 15 Oct. 1887.”

^{page 18 note *} The “enriched Gothic door” bears the date of 1753, and the initials of Thomas Leach, Principal, an admirable sample, as it seems to me, of what we now speak of as Churchwarden's Gothic.

^{page 19 note *} Douthwaite.

^{page 20 note *} Andreé Hope.

^{page 21 note *} See Builder, 11 June 1887.

^{page 21 note †} In the halls of Middle Temple and Gray's Inn these panels are filled with armorial bearings.

^{page 23 note *} “ And having hadd good knowledge of Mr. Thomas Cary, a gentelman of or howse, both for his Knowledge in Law, being an utter barester of good standing and learning and for his behaviour, sober and dyscrete, We are bold to be humble suters unto yo^r good L and to recommende him for a very fltt and able man for that place, humbly Intreating yo^r L favour in his behalfe unt o the Societie of that howse for the better governement and Increase of learning ther hereafter, To make choyse of him And thus seasing yo^r L furder troble we committ yow to the tuission of the highest, whome we praye long to preserve, from Grais Inne this presente Mondaie the xj^th of Maye 1584.”