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sanctifies the means." If it be true, as he has said, who, more than any mere man, before or since his day, understood the depths of human character, that one even may,

"By telling of it,

Make such a sinner of his memory;

To credit his own lie: "

we should be careful never to speak or act, without regard to the morale of our words or actions. A habit may and will grow to be a second nature.

"That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat

Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this:

That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on."

There is no class of men among whom moral delinquency is more marked and disgraceful than among lawyers. Among merchants, so many honest men become involved through misfortune, that the rogue may hope to take shelter in the crowd, and be screened from observation. Not so the lawyer. If he continues to seek business, he must find his em

HIGH POSITION OF THE PROFESSION. 171

ployment in lower and still lower grades; and will soon come to verify and illustrate the remark of Lord Bolingbroke, that "the profession of the law, in its nature the noblest and most beneficial to mankind, is in its abuse and abasement the most sordid and pernicious."

While such are the depths to which a lawyer may sink, look, on the other hand, at the noble eminence of honor, usefulness, and virtue, to which he may rise. Where is the profession, which, in this world, holds out brighter rewards? Genius, indeed, will leave its mark in whatever sphere it may move. But learning, industry, and integrity, stand nowhere on safer or higher ground, than in the walks of the law. In all free countries it is the avenue not only to wealth, but to political influence and distinction. In England, a large proportion of the House of Peers owe their seats and dignities, as well as their possessions, either to their own professional success, or to that of some one of their ancestors. In this country,

1

1 In Foss's Grandeur of the Law, eighty-three existing peerages are stated to have sprung from the law. That was in 1843.

all our Presidents but four have been educated to the Bar. Of the men who have distinguished themselves in the cabinet, in the halls of legislation, and in foreign diplomacy, how large is the proportion of lawyers! How powerful has always been the profession in guiding the popular mind, in forming that greatest of all counterchecks to bad laws and bad administration,-public opinion! It is the school of eloquence-that, which more than all else besides, has swayed, still sways, and always will sway, the destinies of free peoples. Let a man, to the possession of this noble faculty, add the high character of purity and justice, integrity and honor, and where are to be found the limits of his moral power over his fellow-citizens? It is well to read carefully and frequently the biographies of eminent lawyers. It is good to rise from the perusal of the studies and labors, the trials and

1 Non mirum, si ob hanc facultatem homines sæpe etiam non nobiles consulatum consecuti sunt: præsertim cum hæc eadem res plurimas gratias, firmissimas amicitias, maxima studia pariat. Cic. pro Muræna.

conflicts, the difficulties and triumphs, of such men, in the actual battle of life, with the secret feeling of dissatisfaction with ourselves. Such

a sadness in the bosom of a young student is like the tears of Thucydides, when he heard Herodotus read his history at the Olympic Games, and receive the plaudits of assembled Greece. It is the natural prelude to severer self-denial, to more assiduous study, to more self-sustaining confidence. Some one has recommended that Middleton's Life of Cicero should be perused at frequent intervals, as the vivid picture of a truly great mind, in the midst of the most stirring scenes, ever intent upon its own cultivation and advancement, as its only true glory; and that in effect sketched by his own master hand.1 The autobiography

1 Vivit, vivetque per omnium sæculorum memoriam. Dumque hoc vel forte, vel providentia, vel utcunque constitutum rerum naturæ corpus, quod ille pæne solus Romanorum animo vidit, ingenio complexus est, eloquentia illuminavit, manebit incolume: comitem ævi sui laudem Ciceronis trahet; omnisque posteritas illius in te scripta mirabitur, tuum in eum factum exsecrabitur; citiusque in mundo genus hominum, quam cadet. Vell. Paterc. L. 2.

of Edward Gibbon will rouse an ambitious student like the sound of a trumpet. But of English biographies there is no one, it occurs to me, better adapted to the purpose mentioned than the Life of Sir William Jones, by Lord Teignmouth. It exhibits the wonders which unremitted study, upheld by the pure and noble ambition of doing good, can accomplish in the space of a short life. He was a man of the most varied knowledge. An extensive and indeed extraordinary acquaintance with ancient and modern languages was, perhaps, his chief accomplishment. Although he engaged very late in life in the study of the law, such was his industry and success that he soon occupied the highest judicial station in British India; and the profession is indebted to his pen for one of the most beautiful of the elementary treatises which adorn the lawyer's library. "In his early days," says his biographer, "he seems to have entered upon his career of study with this maxim strongly impressed upon his mind, that whatever had been attained, was attainable by him; and it

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