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423 A MOVEMENT IN ENGLISH LEGAL EDUCATION. 423 thus compelled to resign his presidency. Mr. Amphlett, Q. C, was chosen in succession, and he too was taken from the society by elevation to the bench. Mr. Justice Quain died, and the organi- zation lost its vitality and ceased to hold meetings. Lord Selborne, having on a change of ministry retired from the Chancellorship, two years later returned to the charge with a bill for incorporating the Inns of Court and establishing a general school of law. The bill went to a second reading and was with- drawn. The success of a reformer does not so often consist in carrying his particular bill or resolution, as in compelling or inducing even the enemies of reform to come to its standards. The Inns, after long opposition, had come, as we have seen, in 1872, to require examination for call to the bar. Mr. Crackanthorpe was asked whether, after enforced examina- tions, there were any differences in the ability of those who came to the bar, and frankly replied, " I cannot say that there were. Ability comes to the top at the bar in very curious ways, and it is impossible often to say why a man succeeds at the bar." He was of the opinion, however, that the examinations had an effect in keeping out grossly ignorant people. There was a lull in the agitation for better legal education until 1 89 1. Then Lord Justice Lindley and Mr. Justice Mathews, of the Council of Legal Education, interested themselves in effecting a re- form within the Inns, by which the Inns appointed an increased number of readers, or professors and assistants. Instead of five professors at ;^ 1,000 a year, there were six full professors at ;^500 and four assistant readers at £l^0 a year. The readers were elected for terms of three years, and were often re-elected. They were many of them eminent persons, having other employment, as Professor Bryce, Mr. Frederick Harrison, and Sir Frederick Pollock. Attendance of students at the lectures is not compulsory, but it aids to pass the examinations and to fit for practice, and is therefore desirable. Mr. Crackanthrope reported that at the previous term 92 stu- dents appHed to pass; 57 were passed, and 35 rejected. Nothing is asked in the examinations that is not taught at the lectures. Many of the students are attending in barristers' chambers, at the same time paying a hundred guineas for a year's course there. They attend lectures and classes about two hours a day. No one is allowed to attend except he is a member of an Inn of Court, and thus those who seek a knowledge of law as a part of a liberal edu-