BENCHERS OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF LINCOLN'S INN. TRINITY TERM, 1873. THE RT. IION. LORD ST LEONARDS. THE RT. HON. SIR RICHARD TORIN Kindersley. THE RT. HON. SIR WILLIAM GOODENOUGH HAYTER, BART. THE RT. HON. SIR JOHN STUART. THE HON. SIR JAMES BACON, Vice-Chancellor and Chief THE RT. HON. SPENCER HORATIO WALPOLE, M.P. THE RT. HON. Lord SelbornE, Lord Chancellor. JOHN WILLIAM WILLCOCK, Esq. WILLIAM THOMAS SHAVE DANIEL, ESQ. JOHN BAILY, Esq. BRENT SPENCER FOLLETT, Esq. WILLIAM BULKELEY GLASSE, ESQ., Treasurer. X BENCHERS OF LINCOLN'S INN. RICHARD DAVIS CRAIG, Esq. THE RT. HON. SIR WILLIAM MILBOURNE JAMES, Lord Justice. EDMUND BECKETT DENISON, ESQ. WILLIAM OVEREND, ESQ. THE RT. HON. LORD CAIRNS. ALLAN MACLEAN SKINNER, ESQ. EVELYN BAZALGETTE, ESQ. SIR FRANCIS HENRY GOLDSMID, BART., M.P. JOHN SHAPTER, ESQ. SIR TRAVERS TWISS, D. C. L. JOHN HINDE PALMER, ESQ., M.P. WILLIAM ANTHONY COLLINS, ESQ. SIR RICHARD BAGGALLAY, M.P. THOMAS WEATHERLEY PHIPSON, ESQ. ARTHUR HOBHOUSE, ESQ., Legal Member of the Council in India. THOMAS WEBSTER, ESQ. JOHN PETER DE GEX, ESQ. JOSHUA WILLIAMS, ESQ. SIR GEORGE JESSEL, Solicitor-General. JAMES DICKINSON, ESQ. RICHARD GARTH, ESQ. HARRIS PRENDERGAST, ESQ. CHARLES GREVILE PRIDEAUX, ESQ. BENJAMIN HARDY, ESQ. JOHN PEARSON, ESQ. HENRY COTTON, ESQ. EDWARD Kent Karslake, Esq. EDWARD EBENEZER KAY, ESQ. HENRY MATTHEWS, ESQ. CLEMENT TUDWAY SWANSTON, ESQ. SIR ROBERT STUART, Chief Justice N.W. Provinces, India. CHARLES PARKER BUTT, Esq. ARTHUR SHELLY EDDIS, Esq. DOUGLAS BROWN, ESQ. GEORGE OSBORNE MORGAN, Esq., M.P. EDWARD FRY, ESQ. THE HON. SIR JOHN WICKENS, Vice-Chancellor. THOMAS CHARLES RENSHAW, ESQ. LEOFRIC TEMPLE, ESQ. CHARLES WILLIAM WOOD, Esq. WILLIAM JOHN BOVILL, ESQ. THEODORE ASTON, ESQ. ALEXANDER EDWARD MILler, Esq. CHARLES ARTHUR RUSSELL, ESQ. FARRER HERSCHELL, ESQ. B CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. EFORE entering upon an inquiry into the history of Lincoln's Inn, the most ancient of the Inns of Court, it may not be improper to advert briefly to the origin and antiquity of the Laws of England; since it was for the accommodation of the students and professors of those laws that such inns or societies were first established. But the source of these laws, according to Sir Matthew Hale, is as undiscoverable as that of the Nile; and-like the traveller who, in tracing the course of that celebrated river, exulted in the pleasing delusion that he had "fathom'd with his lance The first small fountains of that mighty flood " * Above a century has elapsed since the exploration of the branches of this river by Bruce; but, notwithstanding all the researches of more recent travellers, crowned by the A |