gnized throughout the English-speaking world.

The general rule, as to qualification, in all the Inns of Court, is, that
a person, in order to entitle himself to be called to the bar, must be
twenty-one years of age, have kept _twelve terms_, and have been for five,
or three years, at least, a member of the society. The keeping of terms
includes dining a certain number of times in the hall, and hence the
pleasantry of _eating the way to the bar_; the preparatory studies being
now private. Of the great business of refection, the engraving herewith
shows the most dignified scene--the Benchers' Dinner; the benchers, or
"antients," as they were formerly called, being the governors of the inn,
at the Temple called the Parliament. The Middle Temple hall surpasses the
halls of the other societies in size and splendour. Begun in 1562, and
finished about ten years afterward, it is 100 feet long, 40 feet wide, and
upwards of 60 feet in height. The roof and panels are finely decorated,
and the screen at the lower end is beautifully carved. There are a few
good pictures: amongst others, one of Charles I. on horseback, by
Vandyke; also portraits of Charles II., Queen Anne, George I., and George
II.

Lincoln's Inn was once the property of Henry De Lacy, Earl of Lincoln. It
became an Inn of Court in 1310. The New Hall and Library, a handsome
structure after the Tudor style, was opened in 1845. The Chapel was built
in 1621-23, by Inigo Jones, who laid out the large garden in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, close by, in 1620. Lord William Russell was beheaded here in 1683.
In Lincoln's Inn are the Chancery and Equity Courts. Lincoln's Inn vied
with the Temple in the masques and revels of the time of James I.

Gray's Inn, nearly opposite the north end of Chancery Lane, once belonged
to the Lords Gray of Wilton. Most of its buildings--except its hall, with
its black oak roof--are of comparatively modern date. In Gray's Inn lived
the great Lord Bacon, a tree planted by whom, in the quaint old garden of
the Inn, could, in Dickens' time, yet be seen--propped up by iron stays.
To-day a diligent search and inquiry does not indicate its whereabouts,
which is another manifestation of the rapidity of the age in which we
live.

The nine Inns of Chancery allied with the four Inns of Court, the Inner
and Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn, are Clifford's Inn,
Clement's Inn, Lyons' Inn, New Inn, Furnival's Inn, Thavie's Inn,
Sergeant's Inn, Staple