70 I N N S of 
in the Romilh times, when the feveral priefts had a hall 
and lodging alfigned them within the houfe, as appears 
by teftimonials in the reign of Henry VII, The charges 
of the prefent church are jointly paid by bothTocieties, 
who have each their fide at divine worlhip. The tone of 
the organ here has long been remarked as one of the fine It 
in the kingdom. 
The old hall, which was a later ftruflure than the 
.church, and fuppofed by Dugdale, from the form of the 
windows, to be about the age of Edward III. was pulled 
down to make room for the prefent fubltantial fabric. 
This, though a fine room, is comparatively fmall; it is 
ornamented with emblematical paintings by fir Janies 
Thornhill, and full-length portraits of the celebrated Lit¬ 
tleton, who died in 1481, and his commentator Coke, a 
diftinguifhed lawyer and judge in the reigns of James I. 
and Charles I. Befides thefe, there are portraits of other 
particular judges deferving of remembrance. Befides. the 
hall and church, the Inner Temple contains a good li¬ 
brary, open to ftudents and others on application to the 
librarian from ten in the morning till one, and in the af¬ 
ternoon from two to fix. The other buildings conlift of 
feveral extenfive courts or fquares, fome of larger, fome of 
fmaller, dimenfions, and all furrounded by lioufes or cham¬ 
bers well inhabited. A beautiful garden on the Thames 
fide, chiefly covered with greenfward, and having a fpa- 
cious gravel walk or terrace on the water’s edge, fronts 
the hall. This is laid out with great tafte, and kept in 
perfect order, and in fummer-time forms a crowded pro¬ 
menade ; from whence the view up and down the water 
is extremely rich : Blackfriars-bridge, part of Weftminf- 
ter-bridge, and the elegant back-front of Somerfet-houfe, 
with the winding Thames, the oppolite bufy fhore, and 
the beautiful fwell of the diftant Surrey hills; all together 
form an affemblage of objects unrivalled in variety and 
magnificence. Before the hall itfelf is a broad paved ter¬ 
race, excellently adapted for the purpofes of walking and 
converfation when the gardens are not fufHciently dry. 
Though the greater part of the buildings in the Tem¬ 
ple, both Inner and Middle, that is to lay, the chambers, 
are handfome and convenient, and excellently adapted to 
the purpofes for which they are deftined ; yet, being of 
brick, and chiefly of modern date, they have nothing in 
their appearance to intereft but their neatnefs and uni¬ 
formity. Each home, conlifting of feveral fets of cham¬ 
bers, is afcended by a common llaircafe in the manner of 
the houfes at Paris and Edinburgh ; and each fet of cham¬ 
bers ufually occupies a floor, the rents of which differ in 
proportion to their fituation, fize, elegance, &c. The va¬ 
rious divifions of the buildings in the Temple for the molt 
part retain the names of their founders, though others are 
denominated from their vicinity to the principal offices, 
and other circumflances; as the King's Bench Walk, from 
being fituated near the King’s Bench Office ; Church-yarcl 
Court, from adjoining the church-yard. See. 
In 1615, forty gentlemen of the four inns of court, of 
which ten were of the fociety of the Inner Temple, were 
appointed to be barriers at court in honour of prince 
Charles being created prince of Wales, which they per¬ 
formed accordingly, the charge being defrayed by a con¬ 
tribution of 30s. from each bencher ; every barrifter of 
feven years handing 15s. and all other gentlemen in com¬ 
mons 1 os. each. A mafk was alfo performed at court by 
the gentlemen of the fame fociety, and of Gray’s Inn, at 
the marriage of the lady Elizabeth, daughter to James, to 
the eieflor Frederic; and at Chriftmas (9 Car. I.) a mafk 
was prefented to his majefty at the equal charges of the 
four inns of court; towards which was contributed by 
every bencher 5I. utter barrifter of feven years handing 
50s. and every gentleman under the bar 40s. befides feve¬ 
ral officers’ larger fums. 
At the grand feaft kept in the great hall of the Inner 
Temple, in the readerfhip of fir Heneage Finch, folicitor- 
general, (1661,) the fociety was honoured with a vifit from 
the king, who came in his barge from Whitehall, accom- 
COURT. 
panied by the duke of York, and attended by the lord 
chancellor, lord treafurer, lord privy leal; the dukes of 
Buckingham, Richmond, and Ormond; lord chamber- 
lain of.the houfehold; the earls of Offory, Briltal, Berke¬ 
ley, Portland, Stafford, Anglefey, Effex, Bath, and Car- 
lifie; the lords Wentworth, Cornbury, De la Ware, Ger- 
rard of Brandon, Berkeley of Stratton, and Cornwallis 5 
the comptroller and -vice-chamberlain of his majefty’s 
houfehold; fir William Morice, one of the principal fe- 
cretaries of ft ate; the earl of Middleton, lord commif- 
fioner of Scotland ; the earl of Glencarne, lord chancellor 
of Scotland ; the earls of Lauderdale and Newburgh, and 
other the commiffioners of that kingdom; with the earl 
of Kildare and other commiffioners of Ireland. At 
the ftairs where his majefty landed, flood to receive him 
the reader, and the lord chief juftice of the common 
pleas, the latter in his fcarlet robe and collar of SS. On 
each fide, as his majefty paffed, flood the reader’s fervants 
in fcarlet cloaks and white tabba doublets, there being a 
way made through the wall into the Temple garden ; and 
above them on eacli fide the benchers, barrifters, and other 
gentlemen of the fociety, all in their gowns and formali¬ 
ties, “ the loud mnfic playing from the time of his land¬ 
ing till he entered the hall, where he was received with 
twenty violins, which continued as long as his majefty ftaid.” 
Dinner was brought up on this occafion by fifty feleft 
gentlemen of the fociety in their gowns, who waited the 
whole time, no others appearing in the hall. The king 
and the duke of York l'at under a canopy of ftate at a 
table fet at the upper end of the hall, advanced three Heps 
above the reft ; the lord chancellor with the reft of the 
noblemen at a long table on the right fide of the hall ; 
and the reader with thofe of the fociety on the other fide. 
All-hallown, Candlemas, and Afcenfion-day, were an¬ 
ciently kept at this houfe with great fplendour; All- 
hallown and Candlemas were the chief for coft, folemnity, 
dancing, revelling, and muftc, and were condufted by a 
majler of the revels-, the order was as follows : Firft, the 
folemn revels, after dinner, and the play ended, were be¬ 
gun by the whole houfe, judges, ferjeants at law, bench¬ 
ers, and the fitter and inner bar, led by the mailer of the 
revels; after this ceremony, one of the gentlemen of the 
utter bar was chofen to f.ng a fong to the judges, ferjeants, 
or mailers of the bench, which was ufually performed; or 
in default of it, was an amerciament. Then the judges 
and benchers took their places, and fat down at the up¬ 
per end of the hall : which done, the utter barrifters and 
inner barrifters performed a fecond folemn revel before 
them. This ended, the utter barrifters took their places 
and fat down ; and fome of the gentlemen of the inner 
bar prefented the houfe with dancing, which was called the 
pojl-revels. Thele dances were continued till the judges 
or bench thought proper to rile and depart. The perfon 
appointed fteward, whofe province it was to provide for 
thefe entertainments, was by his office an efquire, and as 
fuch was entitled to wear a gold chain about his neck of 
the value of one hundred marks. 
Of the eminent men educated at the Inner Temple, we 
may notice, 1. Thomas Audley, Jord chancellor to Hen¬ 
ry VIII. who ferved the office of reader to the Inner Tem¬ 
ple in 1526 ; he was chofen (fpeaker of the parliament and 
l'erjeant at law in 1531, and in 1532 was railed to the 
chanicellorlhip. The firft religious houfe that was dif- 
folved (the priory of the Holy Trinity at Aldgate) was 
bellowed on him, where he continued to live till his de- 
ceafe in 1543. lie kept up the dignity of the chancel¬ 
lorship with great ftate. Stowe mentions his gentlemen 
riding before him, on ordinary occalions, “in coats guard¬ 
ed with velvet and chains of gold ; his yeomen after him 
in the fame livery not guarded.” He lies buried at the 
church of Saffron Walden, in Effex. 2. John Wiiyd- 
den, treafurer of this fociety, was created ferjeant at law 
in 1546, king’s, ferjeant in the 5th of Edward VI. and in 
ill of Mary was promoted to the common pleas. He is 
remarked as being the firft judge who rode to court on 
3 horfeback; 
