airs of superiority assumed by his companions, divert him from his determination, thoroughly to master Hume and Hallam; when this is done, then-and not till then-it will be time enough to think of deepening and extending his researches into the history of his country. He is assured that many talk, and even write, flippantly and confidently about these subjects, who are, in reality, most shallow pretenders.

One further suggestion is offered to the student; and that is, that he should strive to acquire an accurate knowledge of the DATES of each monarch's accession and death, of the houses to which each belonged, and their immediate descent, as well as the leading events of each reign. "Dates," observes Sir Harris Nicolas, "are to history what the latitude and longitude are to navigation,-fixing the exact position of, and serving as unerring guides to, the object to which they are applied." Let him make

Chron. of Hist. pref. vi.—It is a remarkable and discreditable fact that, "every table of the regnal Tables of our Sovereigns before printed is erroneous,-not in one or two reigns only, but in every reign from the time of William the Conqueror to that of Edward IV. These errors have caused every document dated, and every event which took place, on any day in the regnal year included in the period in which these errors occur, to be assigned to one year of our Lord earlier than that to which they actually belong. That errors so destructive to truth, whence history, like philosophy, derives all its usefulness and importance, should have been so long allowed to pass without correction, must surprise those labouring in the exact sciences, whose tables include the smallest fractions of time, and wherein an error of a few seconds would be fatal to the calculations of the astronomer and mathematician."-Ibid. p. xiv.

a list of these, carry it about with him, and exercise himself frequently in repeating it, so that, at length he may be able to answer questions concerning them with prompt precision, without waiting for books, which may not at all times be at hand to corroborate his statements, or contradict those of his opponents. There is a large plate published by the late Messrs. Bowles and Carver, entitled " Engravings for teaching the Elements of English History and Chronology, after the manner of dissected maps for teaching geography," which may now be had for a mere trifle, and would be found very useful, if hung up in the student's room, and frequently referred to. 'The author has been thanked by several who have profited by even this simple suggestion.

Thus the student will not only have stored his mind, easily and early, with very valuable historical knowledge, but facilitated the acquisition and retention of law; at the same time that it has generatedwhere it did not already exist-a keen relish for historical investigation. He will be enabled to form such a ready and enlightened opinion upon the character, effects, and tendency of the innumerable political measures that may be discussed in his presence, as will speedily attract the attention of those whose interest it will be to promote him. Historical studies will have operated as a pleasant and powerful stimulus to the exertion of memory, observation, and reflection. To such an one our statute-book can

never become "a dead letter;" the parliamentary debates must be an unfailing source of interest and instruction.

"I might instance," says Lord Bolingbroke, "in other professions, the obligations men lie under of applying themselves to certain parts of history; and I can hardly forbear doing it in that of the law: in its nature the noblest and most beneficial to mankind, in its abuse and debasement the most sordid and pernicious. A lawyer, now, is nothing more -I speak of ninety-nine in a hundred at least,-to use Tully's words, "Nisi leguleius quidem cautus, et acutus præco actionum, cautor formularum, auceps syllabarum."-[De Orat. 55.-Pro Muroena, § 11]. But there have been lawyers who were orators, philososophers, historians; there have been Bacons and Clarendons. There will be none such any more, till in some better age true ambition or the love of fame prevails over avarice, and till men find leisure

* "I must laugh with you," says Bishop Warburton, in a letter to Hurd," as I have done with our friend Balguy, for one circumstance. His Lordship (Lord Bolingbroke) has abused the lawyers as heartily as he has done the clergy, only with this difference: he is angry with us for using metaphysics, and with them for not using it. I know why. He has lost many a cause in a court of justice, because the lawyer would not interpret his no facts into metaphysical ones; and been defeated in many an argument in conversation, because divines would not allow that true metaphysics ended in naturalism. I myself, who am but in my elements, a mere ens rationis, simply distilled, have dismounted him ere now."- Warburton's Letters to Hurd-Lett. XLI.

and encouragement to prepare themselves for the exercise of their profession, by climbing up to the 'vantage ground, as my Lord Bacon calls it, of science, instead of grovelling all their lives below in a mean but gainful application to all the little arts of chicane. Till this happens, the profession of the law will scarce deserve to be ranked among the learned professions; and whenever it happens, one of the 'vantage grounds to which men must climb, is metaphysical, and the other historical knowledge; they must pry into the secret recesses of the human heart, and become well acquainted with the whole moral world, that they may discern the whole abstract reason of all laws; and they must trace the laws of particular states, especially of their own, from the first rough sketches to the more perfect draughts; from the first causes or occasions that produced them, through all the effects, good and bad, that they produced *."

The author has not thought it necessary to introduce into the foregoing pages any allusion to the errors and misrepresentations alleged against Hume: that to such a charge he is occasionally liable, cannot be doubted; but they scarcely warrant one in disturbing the opinions of younger readers, who, if they will but master all that is accurate, in this admirable historian, can easily find opportunities of correcting what is erroneous. Professor Millar, M. Laing, Bishop Hurd, Dr. Birch, Dr. Towers, and Mr. Brodie, have all addressed themselves to the task of correcting Mr. Hume;' and a tolerably fair estimate of the last-mentioned writer's work will be found in the Edinburgh Review, No. 71, pages 92, 146-March, 1824.

* Study of History, p. 353, quarto edit.

CHAPTER VII.

DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS OF THE PROFESSIONEQUITY, CONVEYANCING, AND COMMON-LAW.

LET us suppose the reader, then, upon due deliberation, to have determined on adopting the legal profession. There yet remains a most important inquiry, namely, which of the three leading departments -Conveyancing, Equity, or Common Law, should be selected. Much observation and inquiry, as well as individual experience, have satisfied the author that this is a matter on which practical information has been long felt to be a desideratum. It will therefore be attempted, in this Chapter, to sketch out briefly, but faithfully, these three phases of the profession. They are perfectly distinct from one another; requiring each very different degrees of fitness and preparation *.

* It is amusing to see how confused a notion of the different branches of the possession is professed by even those who have affected an intimate knowledge of them. No less popular a writer,