profeffional maxims to erect the fuperftructure of legal fagacity on the foundation of philofophical knowledge — is the task of the accomplished lawyer; and any production which unfolds the beft means of acquiring fo enviable a distinction, must be confidered as worthy of great applaufe. We trust that the work before us will be found to be of this defcription: the author's abilities appear fully competent for his fubject; and he has treated it in a comprehenfive manner, omitting no opportunity of illuftration from the fources of general literature, and neglecting the difcuffion of no topic interefting by its practical importance to the youthful candidates for forenfic eminence.

The work confifts of a series of letters, addressed to a young friend; and, though it might perhaps have appeared with more dignity in another form, yet that of epiftolary correfpondence, by giving greater fcope to freedom of expoftulation, to the ule of the argumentum ad hominem, and to the adoption of a familiar livelinefs of ftyle, poffeffes advantages ftrikingly adapted to the purposes of didactic compofition.

The writer prepares the mind of his pupil for the study of our municipal inftitutions, by adverting to thofe mafterly fpecimens of literature and oratory which have been tranfmitted from the ancients.

What is there that is valuable in human life; what is there that is profound in the mental fcience; what is there that is beautiful and fublime in the imagination, that is not depictured and enriched in the writings of the antient claffics? The world untutored, yet teeming with the feeds of knowledge, lay before them; they were as gods living among men in the infancy of human understanding; what they uttered and what they acted, bore the first ftamp of the fuperiority of wifdom; fome of their works have reached us through fucceffive generations with an undiminished brillianey, and they will doubtlefs remain a monument of the power of human genius to the latest ages of men.

Whether, therefore, we contemplate the writings of the ancients as the genuine relics of antiquity, or whether we regard them as models of genius, of learning, and of taste, we cannot fail to derive a manly gratification and a real improvement from the perufal of them nor has it, I believe, ever yet been found that he, who being capable, from the force of education, of fuch a perufal, has yet remained unimpreffed by their beauties, has ever been worthy of the name of either a great or a good man. I would not hefitate to fay of fuch a perfon what our bard long before me has faid, perhaps, with much lefs juftice, of the man who is infenfible to the charms of mufic; "he is fit for treafons, ftratagems, and fpoils; let no fuch man be trufted." P. 93.

This is a juft and animated encomium on excellence that cannot be too much applauded or too ftrongly proposed for imitation; we have indeed obferved, in every part of this work, the warmeft exhortations to the ftudent to drink deep' of thofe claffic fountains which fo much invigorate the powers of imagination and of reason.

The following paffages are alfo deferving of approbation.

I would wish you to accuftom your ear to a familiarity with as many technical terms of art as poffible; there is a mode of doing this without deducting one moment from the time you mean to dedicate to your more important studies. While you are, to appearance, amufing yourself, or tranfacting fome common affair, you may be pursuing this neceffary study. For inftance; you are upon a vifit to fome friend who has workmen employed about his houfe or grounds; it will be no unnatural thing for your hoft now and then to view the progrefs of the improvements for which he is some time or other to pay, and, peradventure, you will be induced to accompany him. Now, as the conversation between your friend and his workmen will doubtlefs be to the bufinefs in hand, you will hear the various terms in which the carpenter, the bricklayer, the fmith, display the accidents of their particular occupations. Here is an opportunity of obtaining the information, you want, without being indebted to any man; for they from whom you obtain it, will be the last men in the world to fufpect that you are seeking for it. I have mentioned this merely for example, and to excite you to have your ears ever on the watch. Every street in the metropolis, and every road that leads into it, abounds with inftances from which knowledge of this nature may be daily drawn; nor need you be ashamed of this employment; it is related of one of the most accomplished men this country can beast, that at his table were frequently to be found the eminent in almost every branch of fcience, from the common mechanic to the moft profound logician. With each of thefe he was able to converfe familiarly in the technical terms appropriate to their refpective occupations: it would be an affront to your understanding if I were to ask you, whether you thought this to be a blemish in his character? P. 163.

I have already remarked, that the courts of juftice, in which you will by and by appear, are open to all conditions of men, but the majority of caufes that go there for decifion arise among the middle and inferior claffes of the community; and in your bufi-. nefs as junior, you will perceive your ground with a wonderful clearness if you have obtained the advantages I recommend. The witneffes are commonly artifans, mechanics, carmen and fo on. Thefe people have a language which they think peculiar to their own fphere, and they are very proud of it; their surprise, therefore, at finding a man in your fituation not wholly unacquainted

with their maxims and phrases, will prefently give way to that fort of confidence which generally fprings up between perfons who, according to common fpeech, are said to understand one another. Now, is not this the, very fentiment you wish to cherish ? What is your aim in examining a witnefs? Is it not to obtain the truth? And are not men ufually warmed to confeffion rather by confidence than by fear or averfion? The fact is, the honest witnefs is pleased to find a momentary freedom with you whom he has, moft probably, been taught to dread, and he opens his heart to you with all the unregulated ardour of a rude friendship it is not unlikely but an hour afterwards he may wish to recal what he has faid; your purpofe is, however, anfwered.' P. 165.

We request the student to attend to thefe obfervations on a talent of which the poffeffion is fo effential to the fuccefs of the advocate at common law.

The ftyle and arrangement of the eloquent barrister are thus characterised.

"How rare, but how pleafing a quality is that whereby an advocate is enabled to exprefs his thoughts, not only in words blainelefs in point of grammatical accuracy, but in combinations of those words that convey the idea in its undiminished strength and beauty! How admirable is that talent which connects and regulates and difpofes a number of ideas in fuch a manner, that their relations to each other are preserved in beautiful order of fucceffion, until, at length, their brilliancy and power, which were before diffipated or obfcured, are concentrated to one point! How ably does a speaker, thus happily endowed, conduct his hearers through every maze, marking each diftinction as it arifes, fo that the whole force of the mind is drawn forth at his will, till at length an irresistible ray of brightnefs beams forth, and conviction follows!

A multitude of words will not of themselves effect this; it must be the confequence of an artful and a happy difpofition of the reflection and the judgment of the fpeaker. Does a man rife to ftate a cafe? Let him not confound with that statement flying aud half-formed deductions. Does he intend to make observations upon this cafe? Let him not form another cafe from his own fancy or inclinations. Is it his intention to explain? Let him use the plain and nervous language of explanation; let him not mingle with it, by fits and ftarts, the terms of expoftulation or intreaty. In fhort, he must be able, not only to affign to ideas and expreffions their proper place, but their proper force alfo; fo that they whom he addreffes may not be haraffed with an endless confusion of misapplied terms and inadequate ideas.

• Every man, in ftating the circumftances of a cafe whereon. he is presently to argue, must remember that he is telling a tale with which he is no way related but as the organ or medium

whereby it is made known; nor ought he to confider the tafk as a humiliating one. The moft animated and fublime of ancient orators was no less remarkable for the clearness and fimplicity of his statements than for the ftrength of his reasoning, and the brilliancy and power of his declamation: the advocate will not, therefore, defpife the plain and fimple character of a relator of facts. But this character is prefently changed for one of a more interesting nature; he comes forward ready to review the circumstances which he has been ftating, to comment upon them, and to shew them in their true colours: he is to reafon upon them with coolnefs and difcrimination, and to draw from them fuch consequences as may best fuit the purpose of his argument: and here it is that he is to be particularly clear, not confounding facts of one defcription with thofe of another, but affigning to each its proper place, and affifting, with all his art, truth in its natural operation.' P. 234.

Lord Bolingbroke, who, whatever may be his philofophical demerits, is a competent authority on the fubje&t of the present work, pronounces an intimate acquaintance with hiftory indifpenfably neceffary in a profound lawyer. The importance of this fpecies of knowledge to the ftudent is alfo enforced by our author; and its effects on the juridical character are truely defcribed.

• In an appeal to fober sense and to experience, the advantages that arise, in this refpect, to the advocate from the study of history will presently be found to be of great value; they form a most forcible contraft with the disadvantages that frequently refult from an ignorance of that science. How often would it have proved a moft tedious and almost insupportable task to thofe, whofe high office it is to hear and determine upon the arguments of counsel, had they who have filled the character of an advocate at the English bar been generally unverfed in the events recorded in history! How confined would, to this moment, have been the legal notions of our courts! How fpiritless, and, perhaps, unjust their interpretations of the law, had they who prefide in thofe auguft tribunals derived their principles of truth, in the adminiftration of civil and criminal justice, from the letter of the law alone! On the other hand, what grand and ftriking difplays of the reasoning powers! what extensiveness of remark! what acumen of comparison! what a. various energy of combination mark the argument of that advocate whose mind has been illuminated by a contemplation of the hidden causes from which, as we have already remarked, laws in particular, among all other human fubjects, derive their true cha❤ racter and complete force.' P. 335.

Those who have attentively inveftigated the hiftory of the human mind, may have difcovered that habit frequently pre

vents the expanfion of genius, or that, if not fo potently mifchievous, yet, like the fnail crawling on the beautiful ftatue, it defiles the excellence which it cannot obliterate. Any advice, calculated to guard the ftudent against the approach of this infidious adverfary, fhould be gratefully received. Our author has performed the falutary tafk; and, from his various remarks on the fubject, we offer two extracts, one as correctly difcriminating the nature of habit, the other as a judicious amplification of the precept of Horace, Nil admirari.

Habit is of a dark and fubtle nature; it filently fpreads its influence over the mind, which it weakens by degrees, until at length it is, in fome cafes, and these too of no rare description, totally corrupted and debafed; it ufually comes in a pleafing form, that at once engages the imagination and lays the understanding asleep; by the gentleness of its operations it aroufes no fear; by the smoothness of its voice it lulls every fufpicion. When by these means it has fecured its conqueft, it fo artfully entwines itself with the fyftem of our nature, that we fondly imagine it to be a part of ourfelves, nor do we cease to cherish it, until we fall the miserable facrifice of its power.' P. 388.

You perceive in the manners of an eminent advocate fomething that charms you; he has a peculiarity in his action which you think delightful; you are determined to make it your own, and that fo thoroughly that every. minutia is copied with the moft anxious exactness. Another poffeffes great rapidity of transition from one part of his subject to another; you are instantly struck with admiration at the bold yet not ungrateful confusion it produces; and you are refolved not to be happy until you have made fo tranfcendent a power your own. A third difplays a glow of imagination, a brilliancy of figure that enchant you; immediately do you relinquish every other purfuit, every other study, to enrich your speeches with figures, and to increase the ardour of your imagination. A fourth declaims with an unequalled elegance of phrafeology; from the moment you hear him, the choice of words, the fmoothing of your expreffion, the rounding of your periods become your niceft care. A fifth has a particular method of stating his facts, or of drawing his conclufions; you conceive you have never yet heard any method fo desirable; you discard, without ceremony, your own mode; you are in love with the plain ftyle; your figures are forgotton; and you pursue, with all the eagerness of a new enthusiasm, this fresh object of your des fires.

Now by thus addicting yourself to imitation, your own powers are infenfibly weakened. But mark another confequence; as it increases with you into habit, every new manner brings with it a fuperior charm, till at length you are whirled away by a con fufion of ideas that totally prevents you from acquiring or efta