These constituted at least two thirds of the whole number. Some of this cloud were pursuing the right course to get into business. They were constantly in court, whether they had any thing to do or not; they endeavoured to appear busy; and if they had offices, were always there when the court was not in session; avoided general literature, or parties of pleasure; and were by degrees getting the character of promising business men. If in the course of time they could get clients, and at the same time possessed bar talents, they would become advocates; if not, take in some one who happened to be better gifted. There were others, however, who thought they could break down all difficulties by a few brilliant displays of eloquence-but without success: the display was admired for the time, and that was all; no clientele followed. Some were young men of respectable families of the city, politely educated, placed in genteel apartments, but who could not submit to constant confinement, either in their offices or in the court house. Their profession was, in short, a name. The saying of my father, in one of his books, applies to them: it is as hard for a rich man's son to succeed in the law, as it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.'

There were many others who could not well be included in these divisions. One young lawyer of very moderate parts had got into a handsome practice by the aid of his father, who was a justice of the peace, and who sent him clients. Others, by constant attendance on the

courts, making acquaintance with bailiffs, chatting with jurors, witnesses or parties, and then following up the acquaintance, had contrived to collect a little string of clients, which, if properly nursed, might increase. A few, by pursuing a course not regarded as reputable, such as talking to suitors in court, affecting to take a personal interest in their affairs, making suggestions, and rendering themselves useful, contrived in the end to filch a client from some lawyer in practice. Others, by taking those clients who had been already picked to the bone, and using them as stool pigeons, contrived to draw a few into their nets. There were other moyens d'y parvenir, not disrepu table; such as an attendance on the criminal court, which sometimes enabled young lawyers who possessed a popular manner and address, to make themselves known. Some were patronised by particular portions of the population, such as the Scotch, Germans or Irish; and I knew a young lawyer of very common capacity, who contrived to get a decent living by becoming a Roman Catholic-of course, in consequence of a sincere conversion. The young lawyers who came from abroad and had no friends or relations to push them forward, were in a worse condition than the natives. A poor fellow,

Whalpit some place far abroad,
Where sailors gang to fish for cod,'

whom I shall not name, had a neat office, well furnished with desks, tables, chairs and book cases, which he contrived to procure on credit.

He told me, that his plan was to establish the relationship of debtor and creditor; that is, to become in debt to as many as he could, and by this means make it the interest of his creditors to patronise him and push him into practice, in order to secure the payment of their debts. He advised me to follow his example, but I thought it best to see the result of the experiment in his case. It was not long before he was patronised to a troublesome extent. He soon found it convenient to absent himself as much as possible from his office, except on Sunday; or, before venturing to it on week days, he made it a practice to look round the corner, to see that the coast was clear. One morning, happening to pass that way, I saw a little Frenchman thundering at the door, and as I stopped, he inquired of me in an angry tone, "Where is Mr'S?" "I suppose, at court," said I. "No, sair not at court, I can nevair find him." "I have no doubt," said I, "that Mr S would be very sorry to lose a client -a GOOD FEE is an acceptable thing, sir.' "Vat dat you say, sair-good client-GOOD FEE -foutre-no client-no fee, sair-Mr Sowe me monay-he muss pay me." Poor Swas soon after obliged to run, in order to save-not his life-but what is more valuable -the great boon for which Washington fought -his LIBERTY.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE AUTHOR GIVES UP ALL HOPE OF GETTING INTO PRACTICE-HE BECOMES A MAN OF FASHION AND OF PLEASURE.

THE reader may readily conceive that the difficulties which stood in the way of my profess ional success, were such as to discourage me. Yet, if I had set my heart on it, I should have persevered, and, by some road or other, have attained my object. But when I looked at the situation of the young lawyers in small practice, and who had fair prospects of getting into the higher rank of their profession at the age of thirty-five or forty, which to a young man of twenty-two appeared almost the end of life and its enjoyments, I could see but little to captivate my ambition or desires. To be chained to an office from morning till night, or to sit in court, without any thing to do for hours in succession, while case after case was called over, judgment taken, continued, or struck off, was insupportably irksome. I was learning nothing when causes were not tried, and when they were it was vexatious to be compelled to take no part in the war. I had a touch of the wilderness.

about me, and hated slavish confinement and routine. I was therefore not enamoured of the

practice in the city. The court of appeals and the court of chancery were held at Annapolis, so that the admiralty court was the only school where I could learn much, and this was a court occupied only by a few lawyers of the very first eminence. The county and criminal courts afforded me little novelty or instruction, and the display of talents did not come up to what I had witnessed at Pittsburgh and Carlisle.

My observations also led me to see that the professional men were only in moderate circumstances; at least it may be safely asserted, that no lawyer made any thing more than a very moderate independence by the fruits of his practice; and the few who succeeded thus far, did not accomplish it by the mere fees they received, but by investments in stocks, or in other dealings and speculations. The truth is, that after a life spent in a most laborious and vexatious pursuit, very few lawyers have been able to leave more than a very moderate support for their wives and children for a few years. the country, opportunities offer for speculations in land, and by investments in the new states, the rapid increase in value, sometimes lays the foundation of considerable fortune. The profession of the law in the United States may be the road to honour and preferment, but it is far from being the certain road to wealthit is oftener the road to ruin.'

In

Having made up my mind that professional success in Baltimore was neither practicable nor