"Master Treasurer, my Lords, and Gentlemen,--I beg to tender to you and to my brother Benchers my sincere thanks for the kind, hearty, and cordial manner in which you have received this toast. I cannot feel that I am quite a stranger among you, although it is now nearly thirteen years since I had the honour of being enrolled as a member of this Inn. My relations with you are, unfortunately, of an almost entirely honorary character, but I can assure you that I consider it a very high honour to be connected with this Inn. It is, I am sure, a good thing for the profession at large and for the public in general that I have never been called to the Bar, for I must say that I could never have been a brilliant ornament of it. I can assure you that I esteem most highly the honour of dining with you and my brother Benchers this evening, and with those distinguished men whom I see around me right and left. I entirely agree with every word that has fallen from the lips of our Master Treasurer, and I sincerely hope that this gathering may tend to much good and to bring forward those important results in legal education which you, Sir, have advocated so admirably. I thank you for the kind way in which you have received me, and I can only assure you that it has afforded me the greatest pleasure and satisfaction to meet you here this evening in this ancient Hall, where, I am told, Queen Elizabeth once danced with Chancellor Hatton. I am afraid that now-a-days the duties of the Chancellor are more arduous than they were then, and that they do not allow him much time to acquire the art of dancing. I cannot help thus reminding you of one of the great historical events which this Hall has witnessed, and I thank you once more for the great honour you have done me in proposing my health and for the cordial reception you have given me." "The Queen" and "The Prince of Wales" were the only two toasts given at the banquet. The Treasurer and Benchers of the Inner Temple, on the 18th of May, 1870, had entertained with much splendour His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, His Royal Highness the Prince Christian, the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chief Justice of England, the Judges in Equity and at Common Law, the Queen's Counsel, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and a very distinguished company, to celebrate the inauguration of the new Hall, which had been formally opened by Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise a few days before.