Angular Physalis. _Physalis Alkakengi._
Dedicated to _St. Bertille_.
~November 6.~
_St. Leonard_, 6th Cent. _St. Winoc_, Abbot, 8th Cent. _St. Iltutus_,
6th Cent.
~Michaelmas Term begins.~
Now _Monsieur_ TERM will come to town,
The lawyer putteth on his gown;
Revenge doth run post-swift on legs,
And’s sweet as muscadine and eggs;
And this makes many go to law
For that which is not worth a straw,
But only they their mind will have,
No reason hear, nor council crave.
_Poor Robin’s Almanac_, 1757.
_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book._
Sir,
_October, 1825._
Presuming the object you have in view in your _Every-Day Book_ is to
convey useful and pleasing information with the utmost correctness, and,
if possible, without contradiction, I beg leave to say, your statement
in page 100, “that in each term there is one day whereon the courts do
not transact business, namely, on Candlemas-day in Hilary Term,
Ascension-day in Easter Term, Midsummer-day in Trinity Term, and
All-Saints’-day in Michaelmas Term,” is not quite correct with respect
to the two last days; for in last term (Trinity) Midsummer-day was
subsequent to the last day, which was on the 22d of June. And if
Midsummer-day falls on the morrow of Corpus Christi, as it did in 1614,
1698, 1709, and 1791, Trinity full Term then commences, and the courts
sit on that day; otherwise, if it occurs in the term it is a _dies non_.
In 1702, 1713, 1724, 1795, and 1801, when Midsummer-day fell upon what
was regularly the last day of term, the courts did not then sit,
regarding it as a Sunday, and the term was prolonged to the 25th. (See
Blackstone’s Commentaries, vol. iii. page 278.) With respect to
All-Saints’-day, (1st of November,) it does not now occur in Michaelmas
Term, for by the statute 24th Geo. II. c. 48, (1752,) the Essoin day of
that term is on the morrow of All-Souls, 3d of November, consequently
Michaelmas Term does not actually commence before the 6th of November.
With respect to the grand days of the inns of court, I find by “The
Student’s Guide to Lincoln’s Inn,” the two first days you mention are
correct with respect to that society; but in Trinity Term the grand day
is uncertain, unless Midsummer-day is in the term, then that is
generally the grand day. In Michaelmas Term, grand day is on the second
Thursday in the term.
In page 156, you state, “It is of ancient custom on the first day of
term for the judges to breakfast with the lord chancellor in _Lincoln’s
Inn Hall_.” Till within these few years, and only on the present lord
chancellor removing from Bedford-square, the judges, together with the
master of the rolls and his officers, the vice-chancellor, the masters
in chancery, the king’s serjeants and counsel, with the different
officers of the court of chancery, always assembled _at the chancellor’s
house_ to breakfast, and from thence, following the chancellor _in his
state carriage_, to Westminster. But on the removal of lord Eldon to
Hamilton-place, his lordship desired to meet the gentlemen of the courts
of law and equity in Lincoln’s Inn Hall; and from that time, the judges,
&c. have met in Lincoln’s Inn. This place is better adapted to the
convenience of the profession than one more distant.
The above observations, if worth notice, may be used on the first day of
next term, the 6th of November; but as the 6th is on a Sunday, term will
not actually begin until the 7th.