It may have been chiefly owing to the early attention bestowed by Lord Mansfield upon these matters, that he acquired the art which has been so well described by Mr. Butler in a subsequent portion of his Sketch:

"He excelled in the statement of a case*. One of the first orators of the present age said of it, that it was of itself worth the argument of any other man.' He divested it of all unnecessary circumstances; brought together every circumstance of importance; and these he placed in so striking a point of view, and connected them by observations so powerful, but which appeared to arise so naturally from the facts themselves, that frequently the hearer was convinced before the argument was opened. When he came to the argument he showed equal ability-but it was a mode of argument almost peculiar to himself. His statement of the case predisposed the hearers to fall into the very train of thought he wished them to take

understood and remembered. 3rd. Aptness to speak; for a man may be possessed of a book case, and think he has it ad unguem throughout, and yet when he offer at it shall find himself at a loss, and his words will not be right and be proper, or perhaps too many, and his expression confused; when he has once talked his case over, and his company have tossed it a little to and fro, then he shall utter it more readily and with fewer words, and much more force. Lastly, the example of others, and learning from them many things which would not have been otherwise known. In fine, the advantages of a fit society are, to a student, superior to all others put together."-Study of the Laws, pp. 30, 31.

* See some excellent observations on this subject in the "Letters and Essays" of Mr. Sharp, just published.

when they should come to consider the argument. Through this he accompanied them, leading them insensibly to every observation favourable to the conclusion he wished them to draw, and diverting every objection to it, but all the while keeping himself concealed; so that the hearers thought they formed their opinions in consequence of the powers and workings of their own minds, when, in fact, it was the effect of the most subtle argumentation and the most refined dialectic*."

We cannot conclude this section better than in the words of those ancient worthies, Coke, Fulbeck and Phillips.

"The next thing to be observed by our student is conference about those things that he reads and writes. Reading without hearing is dark and irksome; hearing without reading is slippery and uncertain; neither of them yield seasonable fruit without conference.”— "Students," saith Mr. Fulbeck, "should not do amiss, if at certain times they meet amongst themselves, and do propose such things as they have heard or read, by that means to be assured of the opinion of others in those matters. By this means they may be brought better to understand those things-one, perhaps, seeing and giving a reason which the other is not aware of; and, if he misapprehend a point of law, the other may instruct him therein. Hereby are they likewise

* Hor. Subsec. pp. 207, 8.

brought more firmly to retain in memory the things that they have heard or read.

"Often conference, and private debating of points of law, is of great advantage; for thereby are the wit, the memory, and the tongue very much furthered and holpen, and a man is made more ready and bold for public matters; and the truth, which is the work of study, doth more easily appear. And when the mind by long reading is fraught with many thoughts, the wit and the understanding do clarifie and breake up in the communicating and discoursing with another, -he tosseth his thoughts more easily, and marshalleth them more orderly, he seeth how they look when they are turned into words. Finally, he waxeth wiser than himself, and getteth more by an hour's discourse than a day's reading.-It was well said by Themistocles to the King of Persia, that speech was like cloth of arras, opened and put abroad, whereby the imagery doth appear in figures; whereas in thoughts they be but as in a pack.—Nay, of such exceeding advantage it is, that a man (saith Lord Bacon) had better relate himself to a statue or picture, than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother; for he learneth of himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to light, and whetteth his wit as against a stone, which itself cuts not*."

*Stu. Leg. Ra. pp. 182—4.

SECTION VIII.

THE REPORTS-READING OF, AND EXERCISES UPON.

Whether a continuous perusal of the Reports should be attempted at all-and if so, whether the pupil should commence with the old ones, or read from the latest up to the old ones-is a question which need not long occupy our attention. There is such a prodigious amount of intricate and obsolete law in all the old reporters, including even Coke, Plowden, and Saunders, as renders it eminently unadvisable for the student to attempt a continuous perusal of them. It would be calculated only to bewilder, mislead, and distract him from those practical studies to which chamber tuition will incessantly call his attention. There is, besides, something proverbially repulsive in the form and structure of our early reports; which, to say nothing of their dreary black letter, Norman French, and Dog-Latin, are stuffed with all manner of obscure pedantries, scholastic as well as legal, involving the simplest points in endless circumlocutions and useless subtleties*. Perhaps, therefore, the student, if desirous of a systematic study of the reports,

66

Dr. Arbuthnot's celebrated and exquisite burlesque of an old report" (Stradling v. Stiles) will be found in the Appendix. Its humour is not greater than its fidelity.

cannot do better than adopt the suggestions of Mr. Raithby, and read from the latest reporters upwards.

"In reading the reports," he observes, "I cannot help thinking you will find it most convenient to begin with the latest, referring, as you read, to the earlier cases, as they are cited and commented upon in the judgments of the case you are reading, always making a note of reference from the earlier to the later cases.

"The first thing to attend to in this branch of your reading is, a comprehension of the facts of the case; and I think it may be stated, as a general rule, that any report that does not present a clear and succinct statement of the facts on which the point for decision arises, may be passed over; in the next place, read attentively the judgments of the court; and, lastly, such parts of the arguments of counsel, as are commented upon by the court, and no other, except in a few instances, perhaps, for the sake of elucidation; for you will soon find your reading so voluminous as to demand the greatest attention, not less to the expense of time than of money.

"You will never consider your reading of any particular case complete, until you have also read and understood, and noted in the proper place, not only that particular case, but the statutes and cases referred to by the court in the judgment; and I should think you would find it useful if, after having made yourself thoroughly acquainted with the facts of any given case, and before you proceeded to the judgment,