but justice, the lady and queen of all moral virtues? and what are our professors of the law but her counsellors, her secretaries, her interpreters, her servants? Again, what is the king himself but the clear fountain of justice? and what are the professors of the law but conduit pipes deriving and conveying the streams of his justice unto all the subjects of his several kingdoms? So as if justice be rightly resembled to the sun in the firmament, in that she spreadeth her light and virtue unto all creatures; how can she but communicate part of her goodness and glory unto that science that is her handmaid, and waits upon her? And if kings be God's scholars (as Homer writeth), and that the rules of justice be their principal lesson, and if God do honour kings with his own name, Dixi quod Di estis (as a more divine poet than Homer singeth), specially for that they sit upon God's own seat when they minister justice unto the people, do not kings again highly honour those persons, whose subordinate ministry and service they use in performing that principal part of their kingly office?

"Undoubtedly, touching the advancement of such persons, Solomon the king speaketh that they shall stand before kings; and God will set them, saith David, with princes, even with the princes of his people.

"Neither is the profession ennobled in regard of the dignity of her employment only, but she is to be honoured so much the more for the necessity and continual use of her service in the common weal. For, if we must honour the physician, propter necessitatem, as the wise man prescribeth, much more must we honour for the same cause the professors and ministers of the law. For neither do all men at any time, nor any one man at all times, stand in need of the physician; for they that are in health (which are the greatest num

CH. I.]

ITS EULOGY IN FRANCE.

9

ber of men) non egent medico, saith the great Physician of our souls, and our only Advocate which is in heaven. But all men, at all times and in all places, do stand in need of justice, and of law, which is the rule of justice, and of the interpreters and ministers of the law, which give life and motion unto justice."

But in no country has the office of an advocate been made the theme of eulogy so often as in France. Those who followed that profession there in former times, seem to have been impressed with a deep conviction of the importance of its duties, and of the arduous nature of its manifold requirements. But they delighted to picture the ideal of the character which rose above the temptations that beset the path of the lawyer, and to dwell upon the bright reward, not merely of riches and honour, but of inward satisfaction, awaiting those who embarked in that career in a right spirit, and pursued it with success. Thus Terrasson, himself a distinguished lawyer, who flourished at the beginning of the last century, after speaking of the extent of the acquirements which it is necessary for the advocate to possess1, -"that infinite variety of knowledge for which he has occasion; that immense number of volumes which he is obliged not only to read, but meditate upon and fathom their depths; that multitude of laws which ought to be the object of his memory, and still more of his discernment and his reflections; that crowd of commentators whose scattered rays of interpretation he ought to collect," adds words of encouragement to the student, who might be terrified at the difficulties before him. "At the sight of a labour so extensive the youthful orator, affrighted, is almost tempted to shrink back and retrace his steps; but let his courage withstand the

1 Discours sur la Profession d'Avocat.

first alarm. If he is astonished at the vastness of his duties, let him fix his attention upon the rewards which inseparably attend the fulfilment of them. The activity of continued occupation has for him the sweetness of repose, and in that profession every pain gives birth to a corresponding pleasure. The first recompence which he will reap consists in the daily augmentation of his treasures. With his memory enriched by facts, his imagination gratified by the view of different characters, his reason enlightened by the firm and unvarying principles of natural equity, which adapts itself to all the wants of mankind, as diversified in its means as it is uniform in its principles; the whole man, in short, within him wrought by study to the highest point of intellectual perfection, he will feel the trouble less than he will enjoy the fruit of his labours; and as he advances step by step, and constantly acquires more facility in retaining, arranging, and comprehending the subject of his studies, he will at last derive enjoyment from that which at first occasioned him alarm."

And if we consider the momentous questions which are confided to his skill, involving all that is dear to man, and remember that when life or property is at stake, or the poisoned shaft of calumny is quivering in the heart, his office it is to stand forth and shield the person, or vindicate the character, of those who are assailed, and who fly to him for protection or redress, we shall be more disposed to acquiesce in the justice of such descriptions. And it is well to erect a lofty standard. There is little danger lest men should take an exaggerated view of the qualifications which are demanded by their profession. Vanity and self-confidence are easily content with slight proficiency, and are unwilling to believe that they may not "rush in," however fearful

CH. I.]

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OFFICE.

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genius may be "to tread." But without an adequate conception of the requirements of his office it is utterly impossible that the advocate can perform the duties which, by its very tenure, he stands pledged to society to fulfil. How can he hope to thread the mazes of intricate argument, if his mind is not disciplined by the habit of accurate reasoning? or to advise safely in some perilous emergency, if he has not thoroughly digested and made himself master of legal principles? or to plead successfully in behalf of the life or liberty of a fellow creature, if he has taken no pains to acquire grace or fluency as a speaker?

Great indeed is the responsibility which is incurred by him to whom are confided the weighty interests at stake in a court of justice. Who can set limits to their magnitude, or exaggerate the importance of his duties, who declares himself ready to undertake their defence? When a prisoner stands at the bar on trial for his life, and the moment has arrived when the advocate must rise, and, in the face of dark suspicions, and strong presumptions, and direct evidence of guilt, although in reality all these may be fallacious, persuade a jury of his countrymen, sworn solemnly to make a true deliverance, that the accused is innocent, or that, at all events, he cannot safely be convicted; amidst the breathless stillness of the audience, when every heart beats quickly, and one throbs with agonized and sickening fear, what mimic representation of passion on the stage can equal that drama of reality?

It is no doubt difficult to sustain this feeling, and to regard the profession in the point of view presented by the writers who have been quoted. For it cannot be denied that the cases in which an advocate is engaged in the ordinary exercise of his calling, are very fre

W

quently devoid of interest, and nothing seems better calculated to damp enthusiasm and deaden ambition, than the daily routine of practice in the courts. With a system so full of technicalities as the English law, where precedents govern with an iron sway, and the citation. of them constitutes by far the greatest part of every legal argument; and in an age when, in order to avoid the reproach of being declamatory, we hardly venture to adorn our speeches with any of the flowers of rhetoric, much of the panegyric that has been lavished by writers in former times, upon the eloquence of advocates and the dignity of their office, may appear unmeaning or extravagant. Perhaps, however, none are more conscious of the contrast between the ideal and the reality of that profession, than the majority of those who are its members. "Few men," says Gibbon, "without the spur of necessity, have resolution to force their way through the thorns and thickets of that gloomy labyrinth." He who does determine to succeed, has "the mettle of his pasture" tried in a manner and degree which they only who have descended into the arena, where the " garland is to be won not without dust and heat," can understand and appreciate. The kind of struggle in which he has to engage, is very different from what his imagination pictures to him beforehand. He enters upon his career, we will suppose, with a high and generous spirit, having girded up his loins to run the arduous race, and looking forward to the prizes of honour and distinction, which glitter in the distance, as the reward of his ambition. He thinks of the great names which shed an undying lustre over the profession of the law. He remembers that of this profession was Bacon, the high priest of Nature, who had taken all

1

1 Memoirs of his life.