Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 1

[335] and authors, and M. P.'s. There we stayed till long after midnight, and— shall I say with Sir John?—‘heard the chimes of midnight in this same inn,’—though it was Clifford's Inn and not the Temple, which was the scene of Falstaff's and Shallow's mysteries. Hayward is a fellow of a good deal of talent and variety. He is well known as the translator of ‘Faustus,’ and as one of the constant contributors to the ‘Quarterly Review,’ in which he wrote the articles on ‘Gastronomy’ and ‘Etiquette.’ I have talked with him very freely about his journal, and hope before I leave England to do something in a quiet way that shall secure a place in it for American law. He has acknowledged to me that ‘the Americans are ahead of the English in the science of the law.’ He speaks well of you, but evidently has only glanced at your works. It seems that his friend Lewis, who is the author of some of the best articles in his journal, as that on Presumptive Evidence,¹ had undertaken to review your works, but has since gone to the Continent.

And thus I have rambled over sheets of paper! Do you, my dear judge, follow me in all these wanderings? . . . Then think of my invading the quiet seclusion of the Temple; looking in upon my friends in King's Bench Walk; smiling with poetical reminiscences as I look at the ‘No. 5’ where Murray once lived; passing by Plowden Buildings, diving into the retirement of Elm Court to see Talfourd, or into the deeper retirement of Pump Court where is Wilkinson, or prematurely waking up my friend Brown from his morning slumbers, at two o'clock in the afternoon, in Crown-Office Row.

You may gather from my letters that I have seen much of the profession, and also of others. Indeed, English lawyers have told me that there are many of their own bar who are not so well acquainted with it already as I am. And if I am able to visit all the circuits, as I intend, I think I shall have a knowledge and experience of the English bar such as, perhaps, no foreigner has ever before had the opportunity of obtaining. I shall be glad to tell you further that since I have been here I have followed a rigid rule with regard to my conduct: I have not asked an introduction to any person; nor a single ticket, privilege, or any thing of the kind from any one; I have not called upon anybody (with one exception) until I had been first called upon or invited. The exception was Mr. Manning,² of the Temple; the author of the ‘Digest,’ and the translator of the newly found ‘Year-Book.’ I met him at Baron Parke's. He is a bachelor of about fifty, of moderate business, of very little conversation, who lives a year without seeing a soul that takes any interest in his black-letter pursuits. I took the liberty, on the strength of meeting him at Baron Parke's, to call upon him; and was received most cordially.

Your friend, Stuart Wortley, has called upon me several times and has introduced