CRITICISMS ON THE BAR. Thou see'st thou neither are mark'd out nor named, Now if thou stir'st at best thou shalt but make ON THE DECLINE OF ELOQUENCE AT THE ENGLISH BAR. IN commencing a series of critical articles upon the various qualifications of those who practise as Advocates in our Courts of Justice, it is far from my intention to controvert the general opinion, that within the last 20, or even within the last 10 years, the eloquence for which the English Bar was once so celebrated has greatly declined: on the contrary, B it is my wish in the outset to advert to a few of the causes which I think have led almost to its banishment. Men who possess many of the most important requisites of accomplished orators are not wanting, nor are the occasions few on which they might display their powers. Among the younger members of the profession there are several of distinguished talents in this kind; and from the seniors, bursts of energy and feeling are sometimes heard, and not unfrequently a very successful employment of the better, or, at least, the more useful parts eloquence. Compared however with a remoter period, the instances are rare, and serve principally to shew, that did Advocates yield more to their natural impulses, and less to the trammels by which circumstances have surrounded them, they might restore the Bar to something like the rank it formerly held in public estimation. Fathers of families, and particularly those tolerably advanced in life, are often heard to assert, that the only profession in this country, where talents can insure success, is the Law. |