"I have received my _maiden brief_"
writes the young counsel, "and shall be happy if you will be present at
my first attempt, when, like a true _amicus curio_, the presence of an
old school-fellow will inspire confidence, and point out what may strike
him as defective in my style." "We will all go," said Transit; "Echo
will be amused by the oratory of the bar, and I shall employ my pencil
to advantage in taking notes, not of _short hand_, but of _long heads_,
and still _longer faces_." The confusion created by the building of
the new courts at Westminster has literally choked up, for a time, that
noble specimen of Gothic architecture--the ancient hall; the King's
Bench sittings are therefore temporarily held in the Sessions House,
a small, but ~356~~rather compact octangular building, on the right of
Parliament-street. Hither we hasted, at nine o'clock in the morning,
to take a view of the court, judges, and counsel, and congratulate
our friend Gradus on his _entree_. It has been said, that the only
profession in this country where talents can insure success, is the
law. If by this is meant talents of a popular kind, the power of giving
effect to comprehensive views of justice and the bonds of society, a
command of language, and a faculty of bringing to bear upon one point
all the resources of intellect and knowledge, they are mistaken; they
speak from former experience, and not from present observation: they
are thinking of the days of a Mingay or an Erskine, not of those of a
Marryat or a Scarlett; of the time when juries were wrought upon by
the united influence of zeal and talent, not when they are governed by
_precedents and practice_; when men were allowed to feel a little, as
well as think a great deal; when the now common phrase of possessing the
_ear of the court_ was not understood, and the tactician and the bully
were unknown to the bar.
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