fe, of the conveyancer, the special pleader, the common-law and
equity barrister, in order to guide the choice of a young man, who
probably has hitherto a very confused notion of what, and how many
different things, may be implied in the vague expression of "going to the
bar." 2. A concise and elementary view of the several branches of the law
which fall to the especial study of these several departments of the
profession, as equity, the ecclesiastical and common law; and, 3. the
recommendation of a course of study, pointing out the best books on each
subject, and adding many useful hints to the young student on the
discipline of his mind, and the acquirement of general knowledge.

To us it seems that such a work must be of very great utility, and that
Mr Warren has given the most complete "beginning book" that was ever put
into the hands of a young person seeking, or entering, a profession. It is
not a publication which, as far as we know, replaces or competes with any
other, but fills up a vacancy, and supplies a want which must have often
been painfully felt. How can a young man, ambitious of entering the bar,
know the nature of that profession into which he is so anxious to enlist
himself? He goes into a court of justice, and sees men in their grotesque
but imposing costume haranguing the judge and the jury, and without
further thought he resolves that he too will be an orator and haranguer.
Or what is more frequently the case, he reads the published speeches of an
Erskine or a Curran, accompanied with memoirs of the men, and accounts of
their forensic triumphs, and he burns to achieve the like actions, and to
wield the same "resistless eloquence." But who is to tell him the nature
of that territory, and by what manner of journey it is to be traversed,
which lies between him and the gowned orator he is desirous of emulating?
He sees the great actor on the stage, or hears of the intoxicating
applause which he wins; but who is to conduct him behind the scenes, show
him the apprenticeship he has to pass through, the hazards of failure, the
impatience and tedium of unemployed energies--"the sad seclusion of
unfrequented chambers, or the sadder seclusion of crowded courts?"[14] How
invaluable, at such a time, would be some kind good-natured friend, who
had passed through the rough experience, who had sufficient remembrance of
his own early mistakes and difficulties to comprehend all his
bewilderment, and sufficient toleran