sion, that professional instruction was acquired; strictly
speaking, the young man for six or seven years, instead of being a
student was an apprentice, that is to say a working novice under several
master-workmen, in their workshop, working along with them and learning
by doing, which is the best way of obtaining instruction. Struggling
with the difficulties of the work he at once became aware of his
incompetence;[6372] he became modest and was attentive; with his
masters, he kept silent, and listened, which is the only way to
understand. If he was intelligent he himself discovered what he lacked;
as he found this out he felt the need of supplying what he needed; he
sought, set his wits to work, and made choice of the various means;
freely and self-initiating he helped himself in his general or special
education. If he read books, it was not resignedly and for a recitation,
but with avidity and to comprehend them. If he followed lecture-courses
it was not because he was obliged to, but voluntarily, because he was
interested and because he profited by it.--Chancellor Pasquier was
magistrate at seventeen (in 1784), attended at the lycee the lectures of
Garat, La Harpe, Fourcroy and Duparcieux and, daily, at table or in the
evening, listened to his father and his friends discussing matters
which, in the morning, had been argued in the Palais de Justice or in
the Grand-Chambre. He imbibed a taste for his profession. Along with two
or three prominent advocates and other young magistrates like himself,
he inscribed his name for lectures at the house of the first president
of the first court of inquiry. Meanwhile, he went every evening into
society; he saw there with his own eyes the ways and interests of men
and women. On the other hand, at the Palais de Justice, a conseiller-
ecoutant he sat for five years, alongside of the conseiller-juges and
often, the reporter of a case, he gave his opinion. After such a
novitiate, he was competent to form a judgment in civil or criminal
cases with experience, competency and authority. From the age of
twenty-five, he was prepared for and capable of serious duties. He had
only to live and perfect himself to become an administrator, deputy or
minister, a dignitary as we see under the first Empire, under the
Restoration, under the July monarchy, that is to say the best informed,
well-balanced, judicious political character and, at length, the man of
highest consideration of his epoch.[6373]