CHAPTER XV

HARE AND LAMB COURT

MIDDLE TEMPLE

IN THE left of the hooded doorway, as seen in my sketch, are the chambers in which Thackeray studied law with Taprell - a profession to which he never took kindly. In a letter to his mother - he was then in his twenty-first year — he sketched himself in a blue coat on a high stool, with a queer client in the shape of an old gentleman with an umbrella, standing on one side, and a very small clerk in a green coat on the other, trying to get at his master with five folios by a stepladder.

In another epistle he writes:

"May 22, 1832.

The sun won't shine into

Taprell's chambers, and the high stools don't blossom and bring forth buds. I do so long for fresh air, and fresh butter I would say only it isn't romantic. Yesterday I took a long walk to Kensington Gardens, and had a pleasant stroll on the green banks of the Serpentine. I wonder people don't frequent them more: they are far superior to any of the walks in Paris that are so much admired and talked of."

It is from these same chambers at No. 1 Hare Court,

that Thackeray, giving up for the time both Taprell's and the law, "strode away for a twelve hours' stretch over the moors of Cornwall to plunge headlong into the feverish delights of platform and canvassing — perhaps the keenest form of interest and excitement that can occupy the human brain. It is impossible once to indulge in it, and, for whatever reason, to give it up, without feeling a blank in the activities of life which is very difficult to fill. One can imagine how Thackeray threw himself into the battle.

But alas for Taprell's! alas for the monthly income! and alas for the woolsack!"

Of this escapade he writes to his mother on June 25, 1832, the letter being dated at Cornwall:

"Are you surprised, dear Mother, at the direction? Certainly not more prepared for it than I was myself, but you must know that on Tuesday in last week I went to breakfast with Charles Buller, and he received a letter from his constituents at Liskeard requesting him immediately to come down; he was too ill, but instead deputed Arthur Buller and myself so off we set that same night by the mail, arrived at Plymouth the next day, and at Liskeard the day after, where we wrote addresses, canvassed farmers, and dined with attorneys.

"I have been lying awake this morning meditating on the wise and proper manner I shall employ my fortune in when I come of age, which, if I live so long, will take place in three weeks. First, I do not intend to quit my little chambers in the Temple, then I will take a regular monthly income which I will never exceed. God bless you, dear Mother; write directly and give your orders.