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. It is asserted, that one-fifth of the causes
that come before our courts are decided upon mere matters of form,
without the slightest reference to their merits. Every student for the
bar must now place himself under some special pleader, and go through
all the complicated drudgery of the office of one of these underlings,
before he can hope to fill a higher walk; general principles, and
enlarged notions of law and justice, are smothered in laborious and
absurd technicalities; the enervated mind becomes shackled, until the
natural vigour of the intellect is so reduced, as to make its bondage
cease to seem burdensome. Dick, with a confidence in his own powers, has
avoided this degrading preparation; it is only two months since he was
first called to the bar, and with a knowledge of his father's influence
and property added to his own talents, he hopes to make a ~357~~stand
in court, previous to his being transplanted to the Commons House of
Parliament.

A tolerable correct estimate may be formed of the popularity of the
judges, by observing the varied bearings of respect evinced towards them
upon their entrance into court. Mr. Justice Best came first, bending
nearly double under a painful infirmity, and was received by a cold and
ceremonious rising of the bar. To him succeeded his brother Holroyd,
a learned but not a very brilliant lawyer, and another partial