There are eight dinners in every year, at which
you wiU espy a few wigs scattered among the crowd
of gowns. These are call-days; that is to say, the
days on which Students who have completed their
term of probation, digested their thirty-six dinners,
and listened to lectures, are called to the Bar. To
entitle them to this dignity, they must be proposed
in Parliament by a Bencher — Parliament being the
ancient name by which the councils of the Bench
are designated. On this important day the fledghng
Barristers march into the hall, in procession with
the Benchers, arrayed in their bran-new gowns and
wigs, stand in awful rank before the dignitaries,
take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to the
Sovereign, and having received the congratulations
of their friends, retire to the tables and mess for the
last time with the Students, still wearing their pro-
fessional costume. On this occasion the new-made
Barrister supplies the wine of the mess he chances
to join; and it is usual for such as have a circle
offriends in the Society (and few are the un-
happy beings who have not succeeded in making an
extensive social circle in this most social of com-

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STUDENT LIFE IN THE TEMPLE. 229

munities), to give a handsome entertainment, to
which they are permitted to invite strangers, and
there is no limit to the supply of viands and
wines but the purse or the inclination of the
Barrister.
