Court were even more
displeased with the author who, in a dedicatory letter "to the right
Christian, Generous Young Gentlemen-Students of the four Innes of Court,
and especially those of Lincolne's Inne," urged them to "at last
falsifie that ignominious censure which some English writers in their
printed works have passed upon Innes of Court Students, of whom they
record:--That Innes of Court men were undone but for players, that they
are their chiefest guests and imployment, and the sole business that
makes them afternoon's men; that is one of the first things they learne
as soon as they are admitted, to see stage-playes, and take smoke at a
play-house, which they commonly make their studie; where they quickly
learne to follow all fashions, to drinke all healths, to wear favours
and good cloathes, to consort with ruffianly companions, to swear the
biggest oaths, to quarrel easily, fight desperately, quarrel
inordinately, to spend their patrimony ere it fall, to use gracefully
some gestures of apish compliment, to talk irreligiously, to dally with
a mistresse, and hunt after harlots, to prove altogether lawless in
steed of lawyers, and to forget that little learning, grace, and vertue
which they had before; so much that they grow at last past hopes of ever
doing good, either to the church, their country, their owne or others'
souls."

The storm of indignation which followed the appearance of the
'Histriomastix' was directed by the members of the Four Inns, who felt
themselves bound by honor no less than by interest, to disavow all
connexion with, or leaning towards, the unpopular author.

On the suggestion of Lincoln's Inn, the four societies combined their
forces, and at a cost of more than twenty thousand pounds, in addition
to sums spent by individuals, entertained the Court with that splendid
masque which Whitelock has described in his 'Memoirs' with elaborate
prolixity. The piece entitled 'The Triumph of Peace,' was written by
Shirley, and it was produced with a pomp and lavish expenditure that
were without precedent. The organization and guidance of the undertaking
were entrusted to a committee of eight barristers, two from each inn;
and this select body comprised men who were alike remarkable for
talents, accomplishments, and ambition, and some of whom were destined
to play strangely diverse parts in the drama of their epoch. It
comprised Edward Hyde, then in his twenty-sixth year; young Bulstrode
Whitelock, w