ever failed to pass some hours, after spending the evening
elsewhere. It is related of him, upon better authority than most of the
stories told to his discredit, that one night, or rather morning, Gurney
(the Baron), who had chambers in Essex Court under Porson's, was
awakened by a tremendous thump in the chamber above. Porson had just
come home dead drunk, and had fallen on the floor. Having extinguished
the candle in the fall, he presently staggered downstairs to re-light
it, and Gurney heard him dodging and poking with the candle at the
staircase lamp for about five minutes, and all the time very lustily
cursing the nature of things.

We read also of Porson's shutting himself up in these chambers for three
or four days together, admitting no visitor. One morning his friend
Rogers went to call, having ascertained from the barber's hard by that
Porson was at home, but had not been seen by any one for two days.
Rogers proceeded to his chambers, and knocked at the door more than
once; he would not open it, and Rogers came downstairs, but as he was
crossing the court Porson opened the window and stopped him. He was then
busy about the Grenville "Homer," for which he collated the Harleian MS.
of the "Odyssey," and received for his labour but L50 and a large-paper
copy. His chambers must have presented a strange scene, for he used
books most cruelly, whether they were his own or belonged to others. He
said that he possessed more _bad_ copies of _good_ books than any
private gentleman in England.

Rogers, when a Templar, occasionally had some visitors who absorbed more
of his time than was always agreeable; an instance of which he thus
relates: "When I lived in the Temple, Mackintosh and Richard Sharp used
to come to my chambers and stay there for hours, talking metaphysics.
One day they were so intent on their 'first cause,' 'spirit,' and
'matter,' that they were unconscious of my having left them, paid a
visit, and returned. I was a little angry at this; and to show my
indifference about them, I sat down and wrote letters, without taking
any notice of them. I never met a man with a fuller mind than
Mackintosh--such readiness on all subjects, such a talker."

Before any person can be admitted a member of the Temple, he must
furnish a statement in writing, describing his age, residence, and
condition in life, and adding a certificate of his respectability and
fitness, signed by himself and a bencher of the society, or two