rs,
took the degree of LL.B. in 1812, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's
Inn November 11, 1811. His father had just become Master in Chancery,
and was able to transfer some of his clients to the son. James the
younger thus gained some experience in colonial matters, and 'employed
himself in preparing a digest of the colonial laws in general.'[24] He
obtained leave from the third Earl Bathurst, then and for many years
afterwards the head of the Colonial Department, to examine the official
records for this purpose. In 1813 Lord Bathurst, who was in general
sympathy with the opinions of the Clapham sect, appointed James Stephen
Counsel to the Colonial Department. His duties were to report upon all
acts of colonial legislature. He received a fee of three guineas for
each act, and the office at first produced about 300_l._ a year. After a
time the post became more laborious. He was receiving 1,000_l._ a year
some ten years after his appointment, with, of course, a corresponding
increase of work.[25] The place was, however, compatible with the
pursuit of the profession, and my father in a few years was making
3,000_l._ a year, and was in a position which gave him as fair a
prospect of obtaining professional honours as was enjoyed by any man of
his standing. The earliest notice which I have found of him from an
outsider is a passage in Crabb Robinson's diaries.[26] Robinson met him
on July 10, 1811, and describes him as a 'pious sentimentalist and
moralist,' who spoke of his prospects 'with more indifference than was
perhaps right in a layman.' The notice is oddly characteristic. From
1814 my father was for nine years a member of the committee of the
Church Missionary Society, after which time his occupations made
attendance impossible. I have already indicated the family connection
with the Clapham sect, and my father's connection was now to be drawn
still closer. On December 22, 1814, he married Jane Catherine Venn,
second daughter of the Rev. John Venn, of Clapham.

IV. THE VENNS

My brother was of opinion that he inherited a greater share of the Venn
than of the Stephen characteristics. I certainly seem to trace in him a
marked infusion of the sturdy common sense of the Venns, which tempered
the irritable and nervous temperament common to many of the Stephens.
The Venns were of the very blue blood of the party. They traced their
descent through a long line of clergymen to the time of Elizabeth.[27]
The troubles of