knowledge, whether of the law, or of any other kind, can be purchased merely by money; he has experienced, that it must be earned by labour-often by painful labour. It will therefore be unnecessary to exhort him to commence with alacrity, and continue with perseverance, a study, which, however dry and tiresome, is certainly essential to give value and effect to all his acquirements, necessary perhaps to secure his independence of fortune, and absolutely indispensable to his attaining honours or celebrity in his profession. Every man goes to the bar to make money or to acquire fame, from mixed motives, as Dr. Johnson would say, compounded of convenience and inclination. A youth, who feels that he has talents and knowledge, cannot want inclination to bring them into notice, or to make them useful to himself and to others: when he knows that the foundation, the broad base of general knowledge is laid in his mind, he will not leave the edifice unfinished, but he will persevere, and he will be encouraged by perceiving, that his labours diminish in difficulty every hour as he approaches towards the summit. If however in spite of all his philosophy, he should be seized with a fit of disgust or pusillanimity, let him read Gray's answer to the querulous letter, which is inserted in page 329 of this work. Long-winded, formal discourses upon their duties, or even their interests, are seldom listened to with patience by young people, or by any people; but short apposite remarks, which immediately apply to their own situations, which are made in a playful style, or with novelty or strength of expression, have often a powerful influence. To strengthen the effect of this letter from Gray, k * Gray's Memoirs and Letters edited by Mason, Vol. I, letter xxv, page 97. a few pages of Stewart's Elements' of the human Mind may be prescribed, in which he accounts satisfactorily for an observation that has often been made, that those men, who have risen to the greatest eminence in the profession of the law, have been in general such as had an aversion to the study, when first they applied to it. This disgust it seems is great in proportion to the philosophical genius and well regulated memory of the student; those, who have habits of generalization and abstraction, refer the particulars of knowledge, as fast as these are acquired, to some general principles, and separate all that is accidental from what is essential: but such habits of classification are continually thwarted, or apparently useless to the possessor. When first he begins to read law, an immense, unconnected, heterogeneous accumulation of precedents and authorities nearly overwhelm the student: reason herself seems mysterious and enigmatical, and the huge sphynx appears almost buried in a desert of sand. The discouragement felt by the young barrister at the first view of this immense multitude of particulars is increased by his inability to decide which are of most consequence, which he must treasure up, or which he may neglect; he grasps at all, and therefore can hold none; his memory, unassisted by its habitual methods, is confounded, and the whole man is thrown into despair. But the young lawyer should observe, that this confusion of intellect, and these difficulties, are incident to the commencement of the study of every new language or science. By degrees, as the terms and objects become familiar, this perplexity diminishes, for then the relation between ideas apparently unconnected is Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, page 470, 4to edition. discerned, and the dependance of particulars upon generals, of facts upon principles, of precepts upon reason, is perceived; gradually the philosophical student feels the advantage of his own habits of reasoning and classification applied to his new studies, and he reassumes his confidence in his usual methods of arrangement and powers of recollection. It cannot be denied, that the interval of perplexity and disgust, which is felt at the commencement of the study of the law, is likely to be longer and more painful than that which is experienced in the beginning of most other studies, because our laws have not yet been philosophically methodized. Though Blackstone has done much towards an arrangement of the principles and theory, yet the facts and precedents have not the advantage of scientific method. Bacon, who marked with unerring sagacity all the desiderata for the improvement of his profession, first suggested, that a dictionary of the terms of law, wherein should be comprised the exposition of the words of all ancient records and precedents, would be of great advantage to students. This has been since accomplished. Bacon also was the first who encouraged reporters, by prevailing on king James to give them a salary of one hundred pounds per annum, which at that time was no inconsiderable sum. Reporters have been of great use, and index-makers have made the treasures of reporters accessible. It is to be wished, that some persons of cultivated and enlarged minds, who have overcome the difficulties of legal studies, who have laid in a sufficient stock of practical and technical knowledge, and who have good sense enough to teach others how to acquire the same in the most rational and compendious manner, would devote their time and talents to the useful and honourable business of preparing young men for the bar. It may be said, that this is a futile wish, because such men would be eager to practise as lawyers, and would find it more profitable to take briefs than pupils. But this objection is not insuperable: all profits, whether in possession or in expectation, can be calculated, and an estimate can be made of the value both of time and talents. Suppose a man makes, or is likely to make, one thousand pounds per ann. at the bar; if he were to have ten pupils at one hundred pounds per annum, his income would be secure, and his labour less than in the courts. A hundred a year is named as a very moderate salary from each of his pupils"; larger sums are commonly given as a fee to a special pleader, for permitting a young man only to write in his office, and to learn technical forms under his direction or from his example. Our law tutors, m❝Still bent on adding to your store "The graces of a pleader's lore; we hope, would teach rather more of what is useful, and would deserve to be rewarded proportionably. By these means it would become lucrative and creditable for men of superior abilities and attainments, to devote themselves to this occupation. There are many, whose health cannot sustain the fatigue of the courts, who would be glad to retire to an honourable and less laborious use of their professional acquirements: but it is by no means essential to our purpose, that lawyers should relinquish their practice: the functions of law tutors and of practising barristers are not incompatible; it might be advantageous to their pupils, to see immediately practical examples of what they learn from day to day in theory. There is an attempt making now in London to accomplish what is here described; professional gentlemen fully adequate to the task give up a portion of their time. and attention to the instruction of pupils, whom they undertake to prepare for the bar; they alternately read with their pupils, and excite them to apply what they read to practical use. When any brief is laid before them, they show it to their pupils, and ask, What opinion they would give? What remedy the plaintiff has? How that remedy should be pursued? What precedents are in point, and what in opposition? How such a declaration is to be drawn? How the answer is to be put in? If the young men are ignorant in any of these particulars, they are referred to books for the knowledge that they want. Knowledge thus acquired at the moment it is wanted, and when there is also the stimulus of emulation to excite to study, will not be forgotten; nor will such labour disgust. Such lectures in law resemble clinical lectures, where the student is gradually introduced to real practice. |