"After this chariot came six more musicians on foot, and clothed in habits like the former; these were followed by the second chariot, as the lot fell, for the Middle Temple. This differed not in anything from the former but in colours only, which were of this chariot silver and blue; the chariot and horses were covered and decked with cloth of tissue of blue and silver. In this second chariot were the four grand Masquers of the Middle Temple, in the same habits as the other Masquers, and with the like attendance of torches and flambeaux with the former. After these followed the third and fourth chariots, and six musicians between each chariot, habited, on foot; clothes and horses as before. The chariots were all of the same make, and alike carved and painted, differing only in the colours. In the third chariot rode the grand Masquers of the Inner Temple; and in the fourth chariot went those of Lincoln's Inn, according to the lot drawn by each of them. The habits of the sixteen grand Masquers were all the same, their persons most handsome and lovely, the equipage so full of state and height of gallantry, that it never was outdone by one representation mentioned in our former stories.

"The march was slow, in regard of their great number, but more interrupted by the multitude of the spectators in the streets, besides the windows, and they all seemed loth to part with so glorious a spectacle. In the meantime, the Banqueting House at Whitehall was so crowded with fair ladies glit

tering with their rich clothes and richer jewels, and with lords and gentlemen of great quality, that there was scarce any room for the King and Queen to enter in.

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The gallery, behind the state, was reserved for the gentlemen of the four Inns of Court, who came to see the Masque. The King and Queen stood at a window to see the procession, and, being so delighted with the noble bravery of it, desired that it might turn about the tilt-yard, that their majesties might have a double view of it. The King and Queen, and all their noble train, being come in, the Masque began, and was incomparably performed in the dancing, speeches, music, and scenes. The dancing, figures, properties, the voices, instruments, songs, airs, composures, the words, and the actions, were all of them exact, and none failed in their parts of them, and the scenes were most curious and costly.

"The Queen did the honour to some of the Masquers to dance with them herself, and to judge them as good dancers as she ever saw, and the great ladies were very free and civil in dancing with all the Masquers, as they were taken by them. Thus they continued in their sports until it was almost morning, and then the King and Queen retiring to their chamber, the Masquers and Inns-of-Court gentlemen were brought to a stately banquet, and, after that was dispersed, every one departed to their own quarters." *

* See Pearce's "History of the Inns of Court," p. 102, &c.

This famous Masque, the expense of which is said to have been about 21,000l., is described by Garrard, in one of his letters to Lord Strafford, as "far exceeding, in bravery, any Masque that had formerly been presented by these Societies."—" In their company," he says, "there was one Mr. Read, of Gray's Inn, whom all the women, and some men, cried up for as handsome a man as the Duke of Buckingham. They were all well used at Court, by the King and Queen, and no disgust given them. Only this one accident fell. Mr. May, of Gray's Inn, a fine poet, he who translated Lucan, came athwart my Lord Chamberlain, in the Banqueting House, and he broke his staff over his shoulder, not knowing who he was. The King was present, who knew him, for he calls him his poet, and told the Chamberlain of it, who sent for him next morning, and fairly excused himself to him, and gave him fifty pounds, in pieces." The Lord Chamberlain, here referred to, was the stupid and choleric Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery,-the "memorable simpleton" of Horace Walpole, of whom Anthony Wood quaintly observes, that he broke many wiser heads than his own. accomplished gentleman, as well as according to Wood, had it not been for the Earl's high office, and the place they were in, "it might have been a question, whether the Earl would ever have struck again." Lord Clarendon says of this boisterous peer," There were few great persons in authority, who were not frequently

May was an

a poet, and

offended by him by sharp and scandalous discourses, and invectives against them, behind their backs; for which they found it best to receive satisfaction by submissions, and professions, and protestations, which was a coin he was plentifully supplied with." Early in life the Earl had been publicly horse-whipped on the race-course at Croydon, by Ramsey, a Scotch gentleman, afterwards created Earl of Holderness; and nearly forty years afterwards we find him using such insolent language to Lord Mowbray in the House of Lords, as to provoke the latter to throw an inkstand at his head. Both Lords were sent to the Tower, and the Earl was in consequence deprived by the King of his post of Lord Chamberlain.

To enter into a full detail of the many celebrated men who have pursued their studies in Gray's Inn, would occupy far more space than we can devote to the subject. We must content ourselves therefore with enumerating the names of a few of the most eminent, whether in politics, literature, or the law.

Of the lawyers of the olden time, the name which is perhaps the most familiar to us is that of Sir William Gascoigne, as eminent for his private virtues as for his integrity as a judge, and immortalized in the pages of Shakespeare in connexion with the frolics of Falstaff and Prince Henry. Every one remembers the fine scene in which the future victor of Agincourt, after his accession to the throne, first meets with the independent judge

who had been bold enough to commit him to

prison :

King Henry V. How might a prince of my great hopes forget So great indignities you laid upon me?

What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison

The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?
May this be washed in Lethe and forgotten?

Chief Justice. I then did use the person of your father ;
The image of his power lay then in me!
And in the administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of Law and Justice,
The image of the King whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench;
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person:
Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours,
Be now the father and propose a son:
Hear your own dignity so much profaned,

See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdained;

And then imagine me taking your part,
And, in your power, soft silencing your son:
After this cold considerence, sentence me;
And as you are a king, speak in your state,
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

King. You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well;
Therefore still bear the balance and the sword;
And I do wish your honours may increase,