Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/239

 NOTES BY THE WAY.

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��Sheriffs were present, and the sermon was preached by the Bishop of London, who referred to the fact that his predecessor, Bishop Ridley, in 1552 preached at the opening of the school before King Edward VI., and now in the reign of Edward VII. it fell to his lot to bid the scholars farewell. The Bishop stated that one of the old chalices which Christ's Hospital has used for 350 years would accompany the school to their new chapel, and closed his address with the wish that " the Hospital of Christ, most beautiful of names, may continue to teach and train up many and many brave and great young Englishmen for generations yet unborn."

CLIFFORD'S INN.

This oldest Inn of Chancery was the subject of an action 1902, Mar. 29. in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, March 19th, 1902. Along Clifford's Inn. with New Inn it is the only Inn of Chancery remaining out of ten that fulfils its original functions as a kind of preparatory school to the Inns of Court. The question before the Court was whether the Inn belongs to the individual members for their own personal benefit, or whether, as Mr. Justice Cozens-Hardy had decided, it was held subject to a trust for charitable purposes. At present there are only sixteen members, of whom four were plaintiffs in the action and the remainder defendants.

The Daily Telegraph of March 20th contains an interesting Its history. report of the action. Mr. Ralph Nevill, K.C., on behalf of the appellants, stated that in 1345 the property was let to members of the society, one of the Inns of Chancery, by Isabella de Clifford, at a rent of 101. a year. From time immemorial the society had been governed by a principal and tw r elve " rules " or " antients," who formed the upper ten or " upper mess." The rest formed the " lower mess " or " Kentish mess." Originally all the members were engaged in some way in the practice of the law. The property itself upon which the Inn stood was granted by Edward II. to Robert de Clifford in 1310. In 1618 the land leased was granted by Francis, Earl of Cumberland, and Henry, Lord Clifford, to the twelve " rules." The society was not incorporated, but was a voluntary society, their powers concerning admission being dele- gated by the judges. Before the end of the thirteenth century these Inns of Chancery had seen their best days, and became merely meeting-places for social purposes and for the encouragement of the study of the law. In 1884 there were only nine members in the " Kentish mess " remaining. Mr. Nevill gave some curious quotations from the rules, going back to 1485. The fee for ad- mission was forty pence ; penalty for staying out after the gates were shut at nine o'clock sixpence ; a member who tore or spoiled a table-cloth was fined twopence ; for being late at dinner the fine was one penny. The game of " tables " might be played "in an honest manner without gambling."

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