A NOTION has long had possession of the public mind, that the study of the law cramps the genius, and contracts the understanding of those, who vigorously pursue it. It is thought, because the choicest flowers of literature and science cannot easily be brought to flourish upon its steep and rugged surface, that those, who dwell upon its rocky summit, can have no taste, no admiration for the beauteous cloathing of the plains. Fascinated themselves with their own magnificent flowers, those skilled in other sciences, see no beauty-no excellence in the sturdy trees, and modest flowerets, which spring spontaneously from every crevice in the legal rock; but

-dear to the heart of the free mountaineer, Is the air of his native crag;"

and to him brought up delighting in the science of the law, no other has equal charms.* What more delights the eye of the tourist, when travelling through a mountainous country, than those plots of verdant culture, the hand of the industrious labourer has spread on every ledge? Are they less ornamental-less beautiful than the verdure of the plains? Or do they not appear more so, from the exquisite relief given to their brightness by the rich brown tints of the superincumbent rock? Is skill-is genius less exemplified in the garden of the crag, than in that which flourishes in the valley? 'Tis true, its produce may not be so rich, nor its crops so heavy ; because the cultivator has neither space nor time to devote to its improvement; but is the amount of genius to be estimated by the success, which circumstances and situation afford, and not by its difficulties, and discouragements? Admitting, however, for argument's sake, that such is generally the case ;-is there another profession, another science, whose proficients, whose masters have displayed themselves more profoundly skilled in the deep recesses of general knowledge and of science, than the law? †

* Quod si leges prædictas, quas jam ignoras, intellexeris per doctrinam, cùm optimæ illæ sint, amabis eas; et quanto plus easdem mente retractaveris, delectabilius tu fruêris."-Fortescue de Laud. Leg. Ang. cap. v.

t "Mr. Fearne," says his friend Mr. Butler, "was profoundly versed in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Mechanics. He had obtained a patent for dying scarlet, and had solicited one for a preparation of porcelain." A friend of Mr. B.'s having communicated to an eminent gunsmith the project of a musket of greater power, and much less size, than that in ordinary use, the gunsmith pointed out its defects, and observed that, a "Mr. Fearne, an obscure law-man, in Breame's-buildings, Chancery-lane, had invented a musket, which, although defective, was much nearer to the attainment of the object." Now who is there that will not award to this "obscure law-man," one of the proudest niches in the temple of legal Fame? What lawyer is there, who does not acknowledge the profundity of his legal works? Again "the several books" says Osborn, "the incomparable Bacon was known to read, besides those relating to law, was objected to him, as an argument of his insufficiency to manage the place of Solicitor General." But, who shall say that Bacon was not a lawyer? Or, who shall say that Selden, the learned Selden, was not a lawyer? The page of history exhibits others, but what need have we of further examples amongst the dead, when the hand of fame points to a living man?

If then the little time, the small leisure, which an extensive practice of the law permits to its professors, has enabled them to attain such great results, can it with justice be said, that the profundity of their legal acquirements has fettered or impoverished their genius? No: the closeness of reasoning, -the depth of thought, required to constitute a perfect lawyer, trains their minds to that exactitude of thinking, that precision of acquirement, which enables them to comprehend, with one glance, the depths of learning, and to grasp, with a mighty hand, the universe of science. Can then a training, productive of such effects, be injurious to the genius, or fettering to the mind? No. It is its immensity, it is its power, which the eye, of man in his ordinary state, is unable from proximity to receive into its vision, or his mind fairly to comprehend, that has caused it to be neglected and despised; but to those, who are able to elevate their ideas above the common herd; looking down upon the concerns of mortals, as from a vast height; every art, every science, every species of knowledge shrinks into insignificance, when placed in competition with the science of the law. To the uninitiated, to those who cannot trace out a cause for the small fragment of effect their confined sphere leaves within their cognizance, the law appears a mass of involved and intricate rules; and many, too many of our practising lawyers rest satisfied with a superficial knowledge of that, which immediately affects them in practice; thinking that nothing more is requisite to constitute them great lawyers: but the Sexagenarian, who has passed the whole of his long life in the ardent pursuit of the science, invariably declares, and declares with truth, that the better acquainted he becomes with his profession, the more is he convinced, that the life of man, aye, or the lives of ten men assigned to one, and wholly devoted to its study, would not suffice to give an acquaintance with its infinity of parts, and their exquisite combinations. When, then, such a declaration comes from the sages of the law,-when the Ulpians of modern times admit this, how discouraging must appear its study to the young and inexperienced!

The errors of our predecessors, we conceive, have mainly arisen from the synthetical, the à priori method of their study. This is as though an artist should endeavour to sketch the form of a particular mountain, after ascertaining the precise quantity of its internal formations, without at all attending to the contour of its mass. The application of the law, as the figure of the mountain, is that which the public requires; not the mere knowledge of what it is compounded, or from whence derived: this, they leave to its practitioners, who, like the artist, cannot well depict the character of its rocks without some acquaintance with their nature and

"Sed quomodo justitiam diligere poteris, si non primó legum scientiam, quibus ipsa cognoscatur, utcunque apprehenderis? Dicit namque Philosophus, quòd nihil amatum nisi cognitum. Quare Fabius Orator ait, quod 'felices essent artes, si de illis soli artifices judicarent!' Ignotum verò non solum non amari, sed et sperni solet. Quo poeta quidam sic ait,

'Omnia quæ nescit, dicit spernenda colonus.'

Et non coloni solum vox hæc est, sed et doctorum, peritissimorum quoque virorum.”Fortescue de Laud. Leg. Ang. cap. v. This having been the case in the time of Henry the Sixth, let us now hope that the spread of science and intelligence will, ere long, dissipate the prejudices, which ignorance and bigotry have so laboriously congregated together. non habet inimicum, nisi ignorantem."

"Ars

formations; and the more they are skilled in such knowledge, the more likely are they with common pictorial talent, truly and characteristically to delineate its appearance. The course of study, formerly prescribed, was from the musty records of antiquity, to trace out the rules and principles of modern practice. In this way the early years of the student were wasted, and the ardour of his pursuit abated, in searching for the reasons and sifting out the causes of obsolete laws and rules of practice, which, though very useful to the legal sage, are but of trifling value to the youthful practitioner, who, having thus laid in a confused mass of antiquarian lore, and clogged up the proper streams of his research, was usually sent forth at the close of his studentship, the learned historian of our law, rather than its adroit and skilful practitioner.

Far be it from us to despise the synthetical mode of research, in every case that may arise; far be it from us to assume, that in no shape, or under no circumstances, is it useful in the acquirement of legal, or other learning : we admit its beneficial effects, nay, its absolute necessity, in a particular mode of application, to the acquirement of portions of the legal science; but we do contend, from our own small experience, as well as upon the authority of names of no ordinary celebrity, that its undeviating application to study is detrimental, on account of the expenditure of that time, which, in another mode, would have been productive of effects, so much superior : and though Lord Coke has somewhere said, it is absolutely necessary for the student "to have consideration of our old bookes, lawes, and records, which are full of venerable dignitie and antiquitie," in order to enable him "to see the secrets of the law; " and Roger North asserts that, " Antiquity is the foundation; for he, that knows the elder, can distinguish what is new;' it is, nevertheless, according to our view of the case, of infinitely more importance, that knowing the new, he should be able to distinguish the more ancient. The analytical mode of study then, is, the only one which can compass this great end, with the smallest waste of means.

We boast not our erudition, we parade not our proficiency; but for the time we have been studying, we have progressed to our own satisfaction, and that of friends competent to judge upon the subject. The course we have pursued, then, though differing from that which has been so long in use, cannot be wholly wrong, since we have felt, by its means, an advancement greater than we have perceived during the same period of time, in those of our friends, who have been pursuing the old and beaten track. Our method has been this :-after a competent share, we hope, of the usual scholastic and academical learning, and a tolerable acquaintance with the outlines of English history, from the earliest period downwards, together with a slight knowledge of the history and causes of the changes. in the different branches of our law, we betook ourselves to a digest of all the cases forming the law as it at present stands, and that, and a collection of maxims, we made the text books for our research. There we obtained a general outline, and idea of the law, as administered in our courts; and, then, as fancy or inclination prompted, or the nature of our practical pursuits directed, we from time to time made excursions into the vista of bygone ages, called to our aid a knowledge of the mind and passions of man, and developed the origin and principles of the various alterations our code has undergone. In this way, by diving deep into history, we have dis

covered, what we conceive to be, numerous errors, upon subjects of great importance, in many of our text writers. We purpose, therefore, as occasion offers, to unlock the garners of our research, and to lay before our legal readers, the produce of our labours; leaving them to decide upon our correctness, from the evidence, and the arguments we shall adduce.

Such is an outline of the analytical mode of study, forming the ground work upon which, from precedents and practice, combined with general knowledge and acquirement, we hope in after years, to build the fabric of professional fame; but in putting forward our own as a case of successful application, as far as it goes, of the analytical mode of study, we are actuated by no boastful feelings of triumph-no undue emotions of vanity; for we feel conscious of possessing talents far inferior to most of those, who are striving with us in the same career, and who, doubtless, surpass us in the solidity of their attainments. We give it, only because it is the one with which we are best acquainted, hoping that it will serve as an example, as a hint, to those of our fellow-students, who may have been toiling in the old and wonted track, that it is possible they may find the path to legal acquirement, far easier and more accessible than they had previously imagined. Our object is not vainly and presumptuously to elevate ourselves, but to draw aside the veil, to dissipate the mist, which has so long darkened and obscured the paths of science and of learning. If, however, we are wrong in the mode we have pursued; if, through incompetence, we fail to procure the desired effect, it will be one consolation to us to know, that we fail, honestly endeavouring to attain an honest object.

The science of the law owes not its developement to an acquaintance with history alone; almost every other species of knowledge is interwoven with it; because it embraces every thing, and affects man in almost every situation in which he can be placed. An acquaintance, then, of some sort, with the whole round of the sciences, is essential to the Lawyer, who wishes to attain a higher reputation than that of a mere astute practitioner. The laws, customs, and history of foreigners, especially of those from whose countries our own has been peopled, must attract a portion of his attention. This should form a part of the general reading of the student, and be his resource when tired (as who at times shall not be?)

“We see the pageants in Cheapside, the lions and the elephants, but we do not see the men that carry them; we see the judges look big, look like lions, but we do not see who moves them." Selden's Table-talk, p. 72.