Previous to
this time he had entered himself as a student at the Inner Temple, having
already been enrolled as a student on the books of Lincoln's Inn. He seems
at this time to have been possessed of some small means but not sufficient
for his support, and he pursued his professional studies with such avidity
as temporarily to undermine his health. He paid a short visit to the
Continent, and returned to his native land with restored physical and
mental vigour. In due course he was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards
published a technical work on the law of descent, which attracted some
notice from the profession. He soon became known as an erudite and
painstaking lawyer, whose opinions were entitled to respect, and who was
very expert as a special pleader. At the Bar he was less successful,
owing to an almost painful fastidiousness in his choice of words, which
frequently produced an embarrassing hesitation of speech. He seems to have
been a personal friend of Colonel Simcoe, even before that gentleman's
appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and their intimacy
may possibly have had something to do with Mr.
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