not be drawn into a precedent. In point
of fact, Fortescue refers to value, not weight; but it appears to have
been customary to calculate the value of the rings by the worth of their
weight in gold.

The creation of Serjeants took place in the hall of the Serjeants' Inn,
of which the Lord Chief Justice for the time being was a member. The
newly called arrived in a black robe, attended by his clerk, who
brought with him on his arm a scarlet hood and a coif. The Chief
Justice, having solemnly addressed the Serjeants, began the ceremony of
investiture, first placing the coif on the head of each of them and
tying it under his chin; and then putting the hood upon his right side
and over his right shoulder. The Serjeant thereupon departed, and
doffing his black robe assumed a parti-coloured robe of black and murrey
(dark red) and hood of the same colours. Thus arrayed he proceeded to
Westminster, his man carrying before him the scarlet hood and cornered
cap upon it.

Cornered caps were worn by the judges and Serjeants when they attended
church in state. Down to the time of the Reformation it was the practice
for them to visit St. Thomas of Acons in Cheapside, and, having made
their offerings there, to go on to St. Paul's, where they offered at the
rood of the north door at St. Erkenwald's shrine. This custom was always
observed on the admission of new Serjeants, who set forth on this pious
errand after dining. At St. Paul's each of them was appointed to his
pillar in the nave of the cathedral by the steward and controller of the
feast. It was at the parvise, or porch, of old St. Paul's, or at their
allotted pillars, that Serjeants met their clients for consultation.
They assisted the rich _pur son donaut_ and the poor for nothing, and
there appears to have been no question of any intervention by attorneys.
In this connexion it may be worth while to cite the ancient oath which
was taken by members of the order:

"You shall swear well and truly to serve the King's people as one of the
serjeants-at-law; and you shall truly counsel them that you be retained
with after your cunning; and you shall not defer, or delay their causes
willingly, for covetousness of money, or other things that may turn you
to profit, and you shall give due attendance accordingly; so help you
God."

A few months before the Great Fire of London, in which old St. Paul's
was consumed with its parvise and pillars, Dugdale wrote: "At St.
Paul's each lawy