Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II.
of art with allegory, the seriousness of moral instruction and satire
with the charms of female and infantine beauty; the graces of form,
action, colour and beauty of parts, with those of collective groups; and
the propriety and beauty of----”
He was proceeding in this strain, when, turning suddenly as he supposed
to Tallyho, he was not a little surprised and confused to find, instead
of his Cousin, the beautiful and interesting Miss Mortimer, at his
elbow, listening with close attention to his description.
“Miss Mortimer,” continued he--which following immediately in connection
with his last sentence, created a buz of laughter from Sparkle,
Merrywell, and Mortimer, who were in conversation at a short distance,
and considerably increased his confusion.
“Very gallant, indeed,” said Miss Mortimer, “and truly edifying. These
studies from nature appear to have peculiar charms for you, but I
apprehend your observations were not meant for my ear.”
“I was certainly not aware,” continued he, “how much I was honoured;
but perceiving the company you are in, I am not much astonished at
the trick, and undoubtedly ~244~~have a right to feel proud of the
attentions that have been paid to my observations.”
By this time the party was increased by the arrival of Col. B----, his
daughter Maria, and Lady Lovelace, who, with Sparkle's opera glass in
her hand, was alternately looking at the paintings, and gazing at the
company. Sparkle, in the mean time, was assiduous in his attentions to
Miss Mortimer, whose lively remarks and elegant person excited general
admiration.
The first greetings of such an unexpected meeting were followed by an
invitation on the part of the Colonel to Tom and Bob to dine with them
at half past six.
Tallyho excused himself upon the score of a previous engagement; and a
wink conveyed to Tom was instantly understood; he politely declined the
honour upon the same ground, evidently perceiving there was more meant
than said; and after a few more turns among the company, and a survey of
the Pictures, during which they lost the company of young Mortimer
and his friend Merry well, (at which the Ladies expressed themselves
disappointed) they, with Sparkle, assisted the females into the
Colonel's carriage, wished them a good morning, and took their way
towards Temple Bar.
“I am at a loss,” said Dashall, “to guess what you meant by a prior
engagement; for my part, I confess I had engaged myself with you, and
never felt a greater inclination for a ramble in my life.”
“Then,” said Bob, “I'll tell you--Merry well and Mortimer had determined
to give the old Colonel and his company the slip; and I have engaged,
provided you have no objection, to dine with them at the Globe in Fleet
Street, at half past four. They are in high glee, ready and ripe for
fun, determined to beat up the eastern quarters of the town.”
“An excellent intention,” continued Tom, “and exactly agreeable to my
own inclinations--we'll meet them, and my life on't we shall have a
merry evening. It is now four--we will take a walk through the temple,
and then to dinner with what appetite we may--so come along. You have
heard of the Temple, situated close to the Bar, which takes its name.
It is principally occupied by Lawyers, and Law-officers, a useful and
important body of men, whose lives are devoted to the study and
practice of the law of the land, to keep peace and harmony among the
~245~~individuals of society, though there are, unfortunately, too many
pretenders to legal knowledge, who prey upon the ignorant and live by
litigation{1}--such as persons who have
1 In a recent meeting at the Egyptian Hall, a celebrated
Irish Barrister is reported to have said, that 'blasphemy
was the only trade that prospered.' The assertion, like many
others in the same speech, was certainly a bold one, and one
which the gentleman would have found some difficulty in
establishing. If, however, the learned gentleman had
substituted the word law for blasphemy, he would have been
much nearer the truth.
Of all the evils with which this country is afflicted, that
of an excessive passion for law is the greatest. The sum
paid annually in taxes is nothing to that which is spent in
litigation. Go into our courts of justice, and you will
often see sixty or seventy lawyers at a time; follow them
home, and you will find that they are residing in the
fashionable parts of the town, and living in the most
expensive manner. Look at the lists of the two houses of
parliament, and you will find lawyers predominate in the
House of Commons; and, in the upper house, more peers who
owe their origin to the law, than have sprung from the army
and navy united. There is scarcely a street of any
respectability without an attorney, not to mention the
numbers that are congregated in the inns of court. In London
alone, we are told, there are nearly three thousand
certificated attornies, and in the country they are numerous
in proportion.
While on the subject of lawyers, we shall add a few
unconnected anecdotes, which will exhibit the difference
between times past and present.
In the Rolls of Parliament for the year 1445, there is a
petition from two counties in England, stating that the
number of attornies had lately increased from sixteen to
twenty-four, whereby the peace of those counties had been
greatly interrupted by suits. And it was prayed that it
might be ordained, that there should only be six attornies
for the county of Norfolk, the same number for Suffolk, and
two for the city of Norwich.
The profits of the law have also increased in proportion. We
now frequently hear of gentlemen at the bar making ten or
fifteen thousand pounds a year by their practice; and a
solicitor in one single suit, (the trial of Warren Hastings)
is said to have gained no less than thirty-five thousand
pounds! How different three centuries ago, when Roper, in
his life of Sir Thomas More, informs us, that though he was
an advocate of the greatest eminence, and in full business,
yet he did not by his profession make above four hundred
pounds per annum. There is, however, a common tradition on
the other hand, that Sir Edward Coke's gains, at the latter
end of this century, equalled those of a modern attorney
general; and, by Lord Bacon's works, it appears that he made
6000L. per annum whilst in this office. Brownlow's profits,
likewise, one of the prothonotaries during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, were 6000L. per annum; and he used to close
the profits of the year with a _laus deo_; and when they
happened to be extraordinary,--_maxima laus deo_.
There is no person, we believe, who is acquainted with the
important duties of the Judges, or the laborious nature of
their office, will think that they are too amply
remunerated; and it is not a little remarkable, that when
law and lawyers have increased so prodigiously, the number
of the Judges is still the same. Fortescue, in the
dedication of his work, De Laudibus Legum Anglise, to Prince
Edward, says that the Judges were not accustomed to sit more
than three hours in a day; that is, from eight o'clock in
the morning until eleven; they passed the remainder of the
day in studying the laws, and reading the Holy Scriptures.
Carte supposes, that the great reason for the lawyers
pushing in shoals to become members of Parliament, arose
from their desire to receive the wages then paid them by
their constituents. By an act of the 5th of Henry IV.
lawyers were excluded from Parliament, not from a contempt
of the common law itself, but the professors of it, who, at
this time, being auditors to men of property, received an
annual stipend, _pro connlio impenso et impendendo_, and
were treated as retainers. In Madox's Form. Anglican, there
is a form of a retainer during his life, of John de Thorp,
as counsel to the Earl of Westmoreland; and it appears by
the Household Book of Algernon, fifth Earl of
Northumberland, that, in the beginning of the reign of Henry
the Eighth, there was, in that family, a regular
establishment for two counsellors and their servants.
A proclamation was issued on the 6th of November, in the
twentieth year of the reign of James I. in which the voters
for members of Parliament are directed, “not to choose
curious and wrangling lawyers, who may seek reputation by
stirring needless questions.”
A strong prejudice was at this time excited against lawyers.
In Aleyn's Henry VIII. (London, 1638,) we have the following
philippic against them:--
“A prating lawyer, (one of those which cloud
That honour'd science,) did their conduct take;
He talk'd all law, and the tumultuous crowd
Thought it had been all gospel that he spake.
At length, these fools their common error saw,
A lawyer on their side, but not the law.”
Pride the drayman used to say, that it would never be well
till the lawyers' gowns, like the Scottish colours, were
hung up in Westminster Hall.
From Chaucer's character of the Temple Manciple, it would
appear that the great preferment which advocates in this
time chiefly aspired to, was to become steward to some great
man: he says,--”
“Of masters he had mo than thryis ten,
That were of law expert and curious,
Of which there were a dozen in that house,
Worthy to ben stuards of house and londe,
Of any lord that is in Englonde.”
~246~~been employed as clerks to Pettifoggers, who obtain permission to
sue in their names; and persons who know no more of law than what they
have learned in Abbot's Park,{1} or on board the Fleet,{2} who assume
the title of Law Agents or Accountants, and are admirably fitted for
Agents in the Insolvent Debtor's Court under the Insolvent Act, to make
out Schedules, &c. Being up to all the arts and manouvres practised with
success for the liberation of themselves, they are well calculated to
become tutors of others, though they generally take care to be well paid
for it.”
By this time they were entering the Temple. “This,” continued Tom,
“is an immense range of buildings, stretching from Fleet-street to
the river, north and south; and from Lombard-street, Whitefriars, to
Essex-street in the Strand, east and west.
“It takes its name from its being founded by the Knights Templars in
England. The Templars were crusaders, who, about the year 1118, formed
themselves into a military body at Jerusalem, and guarded the roads
for the safety of pilgrims. In time the order became very powerful.
The Templars in Fleet-street, in the thirteenth century, frequently
entertained the King, the Pope's nuncio, foreign ambassadors, and other
great personages.
“It is now divided into two societies of students, called the Inner and
Middle Temple, and having the name of Inns of Court.
“These societies consist of Benchers, Barristers, Students, and Members.
The government is vested in the Benchers. In term time they dine in
the hall of the society, which is called keeping commons. To dine a
fortnight in each term, is deemed keeping the term; and twelve of these
terms qualify a student to be called to year of Henry the Sixth, when
Sir Walter Beauchamp, as counsel, supported the claim of precedence of
the Earl of Warwick, against the then Earl Marshal, at the bar of the