7(5 I N N S op 
liimfelf as a leading man In many of the political meafures 
of that day, and ftiared liberally with other of Henry’s 
favourites in the plunder of the religious houfes. 2. Wil¬ 
liam Fleetwood, ferjeant at law and recorder of London, 
an officer often noticed in the hiftory of Elizabeth’s reign, 
was another member who conferredjxlebrity on the place 
of his education. 3. Plowden, the celebrated author of 
the Reports, ftudied the elements of legal knowledge, 
in which he afterwards became fo eminent a proficient, at 
the Middle Temple, and held here the office of treafurer 
during the rebuilding of the great hall; in one of the 
windows of which, his arms, with the date 1576, Itill re¬ 
main. This gentleman was of an ancient family in 
Shropfliire, and a molt diftinguilhed lawyer and author. 
Camden fays of him, that in integrity he was fecond to 
none of his profeffion. He lies buried in the Temple 
church. On his tomb his figure is reprefented recumbent, 
and in his gown. 4. Sir Thomas Smith, educated at this 
inn, was born March the 28, 1512, and was appointed 
dean of Carlifle and provoft of Eton by Edward VI. He 
was afterwards fecretary of ftate to that monarch and to 
queen Elizabeth, was fent ambaffador to feveral foreign 
princes in both thefe reigns, and had a principal hand in 
fettling the public affairs, both in church and ftate. In 
1575 he procured an aft of parliament, that the third 
part of the rent upon college-leafes fhould be always re- 
ferved in corn, at the low price at it which then fold. He 
clearly faw that the collegiate bodies would reap great 
advantage from this aft, as there was the higheft proba¬ 
bility that the price of grain would be much advanced. 
He died 1576. 5. Judge Dodderidge, another member of 
this fociety, and reader, 45 Elizabeth, rofe to the honours 
of the bench from a very obfcure fituation, and was 
highly celebrated for his great legal knowledge. 6. Sir 
Francis Moore, reader of the Temple in the 5th of James 
I. was born at Ilfley, or Ildefley, near Wantage, in Berk- 
fl'.ire, and was a frequent fpeaker in parliament in this 
and the preceding reign. In 1614 he was made ferjeant 
at law; and in 1616 knighted by king James at Theobalds. 
He was a man of merit in his profeffion, and of a general 
good character. His “Reports,” in the reigns of Eliza¬ 
beth and James I. were publifhed in 1663, with His por¬ 
trait prefixed. His learned reading concerning the ttatute 
on charitable ufes, which he drew up himfelf, is printed 
with Duke’s book on that fubjeft. He died the 20th of 
November, 1621, aged 63. 7. Sir James Dyer was confti- 
tuted chief juftice of the King’s Bench in the reign of 
Elizabeth, on which he conferred great honour by his 
fuperior abilities. See vol. vi. p. 139. Among the great 
names of modern times, we may note the lord-chancel¬ 
lors Cowper and Yorke; the immortal Blackftor.e ; the 
late lord chief juftice Kenyon ; and the prefent great or¬ 
nament of the equity-court, lord-chancellor Eldon. 
Inns of Chancery belonging to the Temple. 
Clifford’s Inn, a member of the Inner Temple, is 
fituated on the north fide of Fleet-ftreet, adjoining St. Dun- 
ftan’s church, and is of very confiderable antiquity. It 
derives its name from the honourable family of the barons 
Clifford, anceftors of the earls of Cumberland, who had a 
refidence there many ages lince, which was called, ac¬ 
cording to the cuftom of the time, Clifford’s Inn. The 
firft of the family that appears to have poffeffed this refi¬ 
dence was Robert de Clifford, an officer of great power 
in the reign of Edward II. who received it by a grant 
from that monarch, dated February 24, in the third year of 
bis reign, in thefe words: “ The king granteth to Robert 
Clifford that meffuage, with the appurtenances, next the 
church of St. Dunftan’s in the Weft, in the fuburbs of 
London; which meffuage was fometimes Malculines de 
Herley, and came to the hands Edward I. by reafon of 
certain debts which the faid Malculines was bound, at the 
time of his death, to our faid father, from the time that 
be was efcheator on this fide Trent. Which houfe John 
COURT. 
earl of Richmond did hold at our pleafure, and is now In 
our poffeffion,” See. This grant was held by the fervice 
of one penny, to be paid into the king’s exchequer at 
Michaelmas. After the death of Robert de Clifford, Ifa- 
bel, his widow, let the fame meffuage, 18 Edward III. to 
the ftudents of the law, or apprenticiis de banco as they were 
then called, for iol. a-year. 
_ Clifford’s Inn fell into the king’s hands, after this pe¬ 
riod, by means with which we are unacquainted ; but re¬ 
turned again to the Cliffords. Since that time, firft by 
leafe, and afterwards by a grant in feefarm to Nicholas 
Sulyard, efq. principal of this houfe, and a bencher of 
Lincoln’s Inn, in the reign of Henry VI. Nicholas Guy- 
bon, Robert Clinche, and others, the then feniors of it, 
and, in confideration of 600I. and the rent of 4I. per annum, 
it has continued to be a manfion for lawyers till the pre¬ 
fent time. 
This fociety was governed by a principal and twelve ru¬ 
lers. The gentlemen were to be in commons a fortnight 
in every term ; and thofe that were not paid about 4s. a- 
week, but not always certain. They fold their chambers for 
one life, and formerly had mootings. Their armorial en- 
figns are, Chequy or and azure, a fefs gules, within a 
border of the third. 
In Maitland’s London, Clifford’s Inn is faid to be “ of 
late years much enlarged in new buildings. In the gar¬ 
den, an airy place and neatly kept, the gardens being en- 
clofed with a palifado paling, and adorned with rows of 
lime-trees, are fet grafs-plats, which have a pleafant ap¬ 
pearance, interfefted by gravel-walks.” The gardens do 
not altogether at prefent anfwer the above defeription, 
being rather neglefted, and feveral of the houfes in the inn 
want rebuilding ; but it neverthelefs is a tolerably plea¬ 
fant retirement. It confifts, like Clement’s Inn, of three 
fmall courts or fquares, two of which are feparated by 
the hall, the paflage of which forms a thoroughfare into 
the two inner courts. It has the conveniency of three 
-doors, or entrances; the one into Serjeants’ Inn in Chan¬ 
cery-lane, another into Fetter-lane, and a third into Fleet- 
ftreet. 
The hall is a moderate-fized room, and modem, though 
built in imitation of the Gothic ftyle. It contains no¬ 
thing worthy of remark, except an old-fafhioned cheft, 
in which are kept the original inftitutions of this fociety, 
and which are of a nature very fimilar to thofe of the 
other inns. In this hall fir Matthew Hale and the prin¬ 
cipal judges fat after the great fire of London, to fettle the 
various differences that occurred between landlord and 
tenant, and to afeertain the feveral divifions of property j 
which difficult and important bufinefs was performed by 
them fo much to the fatisfaftion of the city, that the 
mayor and commonalty, in gratitude for fo fignal a fer¬ 
vice, ordered their portraits to be painted, and hung in 
Guildhall, where they ftill remain. In this moment¬ 
ous employment it is but juftice to the memory of judge 
Hale to fay, that he was the firft that offered his fervice 
to the city ; and this meafure certainly obviated numer¬ 
ous difficulties that would otherwife have occurred con¬ 
cerning the rebuilding of it; infomuch, fays the author 
of his life, “ that the fudden and quiet building of the 
city, which is juftly to be reckoned among the wonders 
of the age, is in no fmall meafure due to the great care 
which he and fir Orlando Bridgeman, then lord chief juf¬ 
tice of the common pleas, ufed, and to the judgment they 
fltowed in that affair,” &c. 
Lyqn’s Inn is fituate between Holywell-ftreet and 
Wych-ftreet, and is, like the former, an appendage of the 
Inner Temple. It is known to be a place of confiderable 
antiquity from the old books of the fteward’s accounts, 
which contain entries made in the time of king Henry V. 
How long before that period it was an inn of chancery is 
uncertain. Its government was formerly veiled in a 
treafurer and twelve ancients. The gentlemen of the 
houfe were in commons three weeks in Michaelmas term, 
in 
