such attempts a task of daily increasing difficulty. Legal office, of any kind, can now be rarely obtained, or at least kept, by any one who is not able to discharge its duties; and in order to do so, the candidate must

Doff his sparkling cloak, and fall to work,
With peasant heart and arm;

must forget for a while, grand connexions, fastidious tastes, and fashionable life, and enter himself in the number of those who constitute our third class. Nor let him fancy that in doing this, he is 'condescending to men of low estate.' No, indeed; he is entering a stern repubhe in coming to the bar. Nothing will suffer, in its perpetual collisions, but that preposterously short-sighted pride-that leprosy of exclusiveness' which blights like a disease some of the inferior and more recent members of the aristocracy, as the hem of a splendid garment is generally most liable to be tarnished and defiled! No magnificent airs of puppyism and presumption will be tolerated at the Bar; in vain are their half-closed eye and curled-up lip brought into play; they are laughed at, and their owner unceremoniously thrust aside! 'I confess I cannot honour blood without good quali-' ties; nor spare it with ill,' quoth the same stern old bishop already quoted. There is nothing that I more desire to be taught, than what is true nobility: what thanke is it to you that you are born well? If you could have lost this privilege of nature, I feare you had not been thus farre noble; that you may not plead desert, you had this before you were; long ere you could either know or prevent it; you are deceived if you think this any other than the body of gentility: the life and soule of it is, in noble and vertuous disposition, in gallantnesse of spirit without haughtinesse, without insolence, without scornful overlinesse: shortly, in generous qualities, carriage, actions. See your error, and know that this demeanor doth not answer an honest birth.'"

We had marked for extraction some very prudent advice to young barristers, on the propriety of bearing with good temper the petulance of clients, judges, and leading counsel. We had marked it principally, that we might take the opportunity of bearing testimony to the character of the Irish

bench and the Irish bar, the justice of which every junior Irish barrister will acknowledge with gratitude. To the young Irish barrister the prudent advice of Mr. Warren is unnecessary. It may be well for him to have the forbearance, but he will hardly ever be called on to put it in practice. In no respect, perhaps, is the Irish bar more favorably distinguished from the English than in the treatment which young men respectively experience. With some few honorable exceptions, the senior members of the English bar adopt harshness towards their juniors as their habitual practice, and seem to take a malignant pleasure in crushing, by the mere weight of professional standing, the, perhaps, far superior talents of a rival junior. In Westminster Hall the young man must be prepared to meet with the contemptuous sneer, the illnatured sarcasm, and the more undisguised, but, perhaps, not less cutting insult of professional rudeness. He will find in every brother barrister one who will crush him if he can, and he must rise in spite of those who have gone before him. In Ireland it is directly the rea young man may calculate upon every member of his profession as a friend; he will find those who are most distinguished, the most ready to assist and encourage his efforts; and we do not hesitate to say, that perhaps the characteristic trait of the demeanour of the Irish lawyer of eminence, whether on the bench or at the bar, is a kindness and forbearance towards his juniors. The following observations are very just :

verse:

Perhaps it may be safely said that of this division of students, those who have

distinguished themselves in mathematics are, cæteris paribus, best adapted for the law; but, in fact, all of them have undergone such systematic discipline, and evinced such a degree of intellectual superiority, as cannot fail of mastering every difficulty that the law can propose to them. Look at the Bench, and foremost ranks of the Bar, for numerous and splendid instances! How can it be otherwise, where the inclination equals the power? He that has been accustomed to wrestle with the difficulties of Newton and La Place, to wind his way through the mazes of algebraic calculation-to work out the profoundest problems of a rigid and infallible geome

try'-cannot be baffled by any of the subtleties and complexities of law. Logic so practical and masterly as his, what difSculties can withstand? What multiplicity distract? If the bow has not been over-bent, the mind and body paralyzed by excessive exertion, men such as these commence their legal career under the happiest auspices; and but few are the considerations of which those of them need be reminded, who select the common law Bar. They will soon discover that a vigorous and well-trained intellect is not alone a passport to success. Those qualities and accomplishments, which, during a long and exclusive devotion to the mathematics, have been too much disregarded, must now be assiduously attended to. Business habits must be acquired promptitude and decision-the 'consulto' and 'mature facto' of Sallust. The young lawyer must hasten out of the silent, distant regions of abstract speculation, where his faculties have been rapt in Elysium,' and learn to think amid the hubbub of the world, on the spur of the moment, with out being obliged to retreat into the study before his thoughts can be collected. * 'Tis useless to tell an attorney, in eager accents of admiration, that Mr. Such-anone was senior wrangler, and first Smith's prizeman; nay, even that he is an admirable lawyer; if the unhappy individual is, nevertheless, a dumb dog that cannot bark' is unable to address a judge or jury without confusion, hesitation, stuttering; at once irritating the court, wearying the jury, disgusting the client, and filling his less generous rivals, not with manly sympathy, but secret exultation. The Cardinal hath a world of wisdom within him, Senor, truly, and with his pen would set the world by the ears: but as for speech, there we heed him not; he is a very poor thing, being in a manner tongue-tied.+' Men of the description now under consideration, forming sometimes an overweening estimate of their pretensions, of their powers and attainments, are too apt to look with contempt upon means which conduct their inferiors to rapid success. What cares a consummate geometrician, a brilliant clas sical scholar, about manner? Exactly as little, perhaps, as clients, as a jury care about, or will tolerate him. *** Let us

lastly remark, that the student who has but just quitted the scenes of academic distinction, is too apt to be unduly elated. It will require, perhaps, no inconsiderable effort, before the swell of excitement and exultation can be made to subside, before the facile princeps of his day can get himself into that calm, working trim which is essential to the advantageous commencement of his professional career."

We feel particular pleasure in extracting the following passage, in which there is equal wisdom and piety :

resolve to abstain from his professional or Then, again, let the student firmly other labours on the sabbath day. We urge not this topic on any religious grounds; those he will find elsewhere

than in such a work as this; but

purely on those of prudence and expediency. Let him shut up all his books, and put away his papers, on the Saturday night, resolving not to look upon, not to think of them (except in rare cases,) until the following Monday. His mind must have an interval of rst; and this day is set apart for such a purpose amongst others, and higher with infinite wisdom and goodness, God forbid that the student should be expected to convert this day of rest' into one of religious labourgloom, and uneasiness. The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath;' but can there be a more just and noble exercise than that of, at least once a day, attending in the house of the God that made him, and will hereafter judge him-ridding himself of the distinctions, purifying himself from the pollutions of worldly thoughts, and cherishing those of devout hope and thankfulness? ample necessary? Amongst a ‘cloud of witnesses' may be cited the illustrious Lord Hale, who was so regular in the duties of religion,' says Burnet, that for six-and-thirty years' time he never once failed going to church on the Lord's day!" "

Is ex

We have already expressed our regret at the brevity of the notice which we can bestow upon this volume. The views of the author are, throughout it, large, liberal, and comprehensive. Its perusal cannot fail to be useful to the

+ Don Lopez, a Comedy.

young man preparing himself for any department of public life. There are two faults which we cannot help noticing; one is the multitude of quotations with which the pages are frequently encumbered, two thirds of which at least are unnecessary; the other is a fault which, perhaps, in following out his plan, it was not easy for the author to avoid. He is far too minute and particular in many of his directions with regard to preparatory study. In fact, the fault is, that his precepts assume the appearance of direction and not of advice. Uniformity of mental discipline is absurd-the choice of books, &c., must, in a great degree, be left to each individual's own mind-and the part of an adviser would be to suggest general hints that might assist-not to deliver positive precepts that might control the judgment. To this objection the entire chapter on the formation of a legal character is open. It lays down rules when it ought only to suggest hints. The student who is not competent to guide himself in the minutiae of study will never have brains enough to profit by the course prescribed for him by another. Besides the differences of taste and capability-nay, the very diversities of the deficiencies, which men may find in themselves, render the application of any uniform rule an impossibility. The truth, perhaps, is, that rules to become great, are as useless as they are generally disregarded. Something must, after all, be left to the unaided judgment, and that something is just the most important part. Genius will invent the rules for its own guidance, and no rules will to dulness supply its place.

Of that which we may call the more strictly professional part of this book it is perhaps sufficient to say-that it manifests an intimate acquaintance with the principles of law-and we have sufficient authority for vouching that the student may depend upon the correctness of the legal information.

Everything which can be necessary to guide the young beginner is here supplied. In no profession, perhaps, has the loss of such guidance been more felt. In Ireland, especially, where the facilities of instruction are very few-and where the young student is altogether thrown upon the acciVOL. VI.

dental advice which may as probably lead him astray as the contraryin Ireland there is no provision whatever made for legal educationunless, indeed, we except the privilege afforded to law students of access to a library at King's Inns, and the lectures delivered in the University by the professor of Feudal Law. We cannot help saying that in this want the interests of the profession, and consequently of the public, are very much neglected. This, however, is a subject too important to be accidentally discussed. We shall probably take an early opportunity of devoting a separate paper to the state of the Irish Inns of Court, and of the Law School of the University. At present, however, it is more pertinent to our purpose to acknowledge the obligations under which Mr. Warren has placed the law students of both countries by the useful and valuable information with which he has supplied them.

The

In every sense of the word this is well adapted to be a popular work. The eloquence of the composition, and brilliancy of the style, are among the least of its merits. Accuracy and extensiveness of information-drawn from the sources of varied reading-are happily combined with soundness of judgment and discrimination. author, in a word, is one who, along with natural genius, possesses a mind well stored with knowledge, and who adds to these rare qualities, what is a still rarer and more valuable endowment, COMMON SENSE. And we feel convinced, that even in the few quotations we have been able to present to our readers, they have been able to see enough of unaffected good feeling to satisfy them that his heart is in the right place.

Were it not, indeed, that the expense of printing sometimes makes such fancies dangerous delusions, it might be cruel to make the attempt. His book has, however, come fairly before us, and we will acquit our conscience of any participation in Mr. Heraud's mania, by telling him the simple truth, the responsibility must rest with those whose humbug has originated his mental aberration.

Before we proceed to examine Mr. Heraud's claim to be the successor of Milton, as they are substantiated in the volume before us, we wish to lay down one or two preliminary propositions which we intend to assume as axioms-first, that the use of obsolete and ugly words does not, of itself, constitute poetry; and secondly, that every thing that is unintelligible, is not necessarily sublime.

Let any reader of ordinary intelligence peruse any page of Mr. Heraud's book, (and God knows we bear too sincere an affection to all our readers to condemn any one of them to more,) and we will venture to say, that with the help of these two simple propositions he will be able to strip off Mr. Heraud's pretensions to poetry or sublimity just as effectually as we could. Mr. Heraud has calculated very largely upon the tendency of men to admire every thing that they could not understand, and to this feeling a large portion of his poetry (we use the term for the sake of courtesy) is addressed.

It is but candid here in the very outset to state our opinion that Mr. Heraud might, we believe, have done much better; amid all the pomposity and laboured nonsense of the Descent into Hell, there is occasionally a passage of superior truth and power.

In

fact, we sometimes are tempted into the belief that if Mr. Heraud could cease to imagine himself Milton, he might, peradventure, be a poet. If he would no longer confound what is unintelligible with what is grand, and if he could divest himself of a little of his attachment to muddy metaphysics, created by an utter confounding of all the systems of philosophy that ever were invented, he might write very respectable, if not superior verses.

The poem is very judiciously prefaced by an analysis of its plan, and we really must avail ourselves of the

author's considerate provision, and refer to this for the explanation of a plan which certainly never would have been discovered from the poem itself. It certainly appeared to us the strangest jumble of unconnected dark sayings that we have ever met with. The author, however, very kindly rectifies our mistake, and proves to us that it is

"A mighty maze, but not without a plan."

The object of this poem is to explain (!!) the doctrine contained in that article of the Apostles' Creed, in which it is stated that our Saviour descended into hell. Mr. Heraud professes, by a poem in the terza rima of Dante, to explain this mysterious doctrine, and to correct the mistakes of all the

theologians that have ever written upon the subject-what his own views upon the subject are, it is not very easy to divine. Of the mode by which he undertakes to explain them, the introductory analysis must speak for itself :

pro

"The Poem opens with a logue, describing Paradise, and the two divisions of Hades, in the course of which the subject is proposed, and concluding with a reference to the Heavenly Jerusa lem-the Holy City.

"I. West of the Holy City, over which Hell and Satan are represented as hovering, an innumerable company of saints are assembled in acts of prayer and praise on a mountain, called "the Mountain of Seth." Moses, David, Eschylus, Plato, Socrates, Hesiod, Cyrus, with the Son of Sirach, successively take part in the hymns which compose the Canto. After which the Chorus, consisting of the angelic guardians of heaven, earth, and hades, celebrate the Birth and Death of Man, the Generation of the Messiah, the Creation of Angels, and the Being and Power of God."

Did ever such imaginations enter into the head of any sane man? Hell hovering over Heaven!! and to the westward of Heaven!!! (for Mr. Heraud understands the points of the celestial compass), a mountain called the Mountain of Seth-why or for what reason we are not told; on this mountain stands a motley group-Moses, David, Eschylus, Plato, Socrates, Hesiod, Cyrus, with the son of Sirach!! who all turn choir boys for Mr. He