of amalgamation, we should bow with deference to its members; but we have reason to believe the scheme has, as yet, met with very little support. The question naturally arises, if there is to be a fusion of the two branches of the profession, that is to say, we are to have what is termed "counsellors" uniting in themselves the offices of barrister and attorney, which course of study ought to be selected for the instruction of the embryo "counsellor" -that pursued by the barrister or that pursued by the solicitor? Surely in the nineteenth century, when such powerful efforts are constantly being made everywhere for the advancement of education, the inferior course ought not to be favoured. Well, then, if the more advanced course of study be adopted, articled clerks would have even more cause for complaint than they have under the present arrangements. Not that the course for the Bar is by any means difficult, but it is certainly much in advance of that for the articled clerk. It must be remembered that when a man proposes to expose himself by continually appearing in public, his education ought to be of a high nature. A solicitor can now shield himself beneath the learning of his pleader or junior counsel; but had he to appear in public, he would it is probable not figure in such bright colours as he does during the progress of a cause.

There is another point which deserves our consideration, and that is, if there are, as we are told, about 12,000 attorneys and 4,700 barristers, who are as a rule men of superior ability and education, would they not take away a large portion of the business now in the hands of the attorneys, or would there not be such a division of labour as to injure both branches of the profession, not only in their legal status, but more particularly in a pecuniary point of view? It is certainly a weak argument that because nearly every attorney finds something to do, and that there are hundreds of briefless barristers, the attorneys are the more intelligent men. First of all we must bear in mind that there is business for only 400 or 500 barristers of ability, and, secondly, though most barristers are learned, some do not care to practise, and others were never destined by nature to become advocates or exponents of the intricacies of laws. If, however, men choose to cast themselves into the circle where the learned, the acute, and the eloquent congregate, they must be prepared to take their chance. As a proof that barristers are very literary, we may point out that the press is almost entirely in their hands.

Another point of contention is, that it is unjust to the attorney to be compelled to work up the case, arrange the evidence, prepare the brief, &c., and then be deprived of the right to lay the case before the jury. Our answer is, even assuming we put aside the inability of the majority of solicitors in a forensic point of view to conduct a cause in court for want of experience, we believe we are correct in stating that ninety-five attorneys out of a hundred would prefer employing counsel. We are fully aware that in the preliminary stages of a cause a deal is due to the energy and acuteness, and very often the legal knowledge, of the attorney; but everything depends upon the advice he receives from his pleader or junior counsel in the preparation of the pleadings. We say to those who advocate for the amalgamation, Why did you not go to the Bar in the first instance? Or, assuming you succeed in obtaining that for which you contend so strenuously, it could not come into operation for years, while you could be called to the Bar in three years from the time you enter an Inn of Court.

A barrister would no doubt derive a great deal of benefit from spending a portion of his time in a solicitor's office, for there he can see theory illustrated; but it does not follow that the solicitor would make the better barrister; indeed, we have known of many instances where solicitors had to recommence studying when they proposed to go to the Bar. By the way, we are told that Lord Campbell entertained such a high opinion of the advantages to be derived from being engaged in a solicitor's office, that he strongly recommends all young men about to go to the Bar to place themselves in an office for a year before they are called. We can quite understand that theory and practice combined make a man.

If all men were to become "counsellors," few would rise to the greatest eminence; for, being engaged in office work, they would not be able to spend as many years as barristers do now in acquiring a forensic knowledge. It is suggested that the "counsellors" should be allowed to enter into partnership, in order that one might conduct the preliminary stages of the suit and see the clients, while the other might attend the courts; but we do not hesitate to state that such a course would tend to lower the profession. It would likewise be no easy matter to select judges from so many thousands, and though some say that it is mere sentimentalism to argue that the client should not be associated with the advocate, we certainly think that the judges ought to be selected from men of a higher and more dignified grade. If solicitors wish for amalgamation, they must be fully prepared to draw their own pleadings, advise themselves on the evidence and the law of the case, and to perform many other duties which are now done by counsel. It would be infra dig. for advocates to employ one another, because barristers never do so now, except in a friendly way. We, therefore, feel bound to add, that solicitors ought not to be allowed to plead, unless they are prepared to place themselves on a footing with barristers in an educational point of view. A man seldom excels in two branches of a profession; and this remark applies not only to the legal but to the medical profession.

In concluding this subject, we beg to say most emphatically that we have volunteered our opinion from a conscientious conviction that the scheme of amalgamation would tend to lessen the disinterestedness and success of both branches of the profession. If it should be thought that our remarks are occasionally somewhat disrespectful, we must ask to be excused on the ground that, in order to consider the matter properly, we have had to deal with facts and circumstances in the light that we view them.

CHAPTER III.

SPECIAL PREPARATION FOR EXAMINATIONS.

WE have hitherto refrained from offering any remarks on this subject lest some persons might imagine we are unable to speak with disinterestedness; but, on consideration, we believe if our remarks are reasonable, our readers would be the first to acquit us of entertaining a biased opinion.

Our experience induces us to believe that there is but one grand way of attaining an object, and that the public are the best judges of that way. Some persons, however, contend that vox populi is at times rather unreasonable, but we certainly have no reason to think so. The most learned lawyer in time ascends the woolsack, the most pious and learned divine governs the Church, the most able and skilful statesman leads the ministry, the most successful, but perhaps not always the most learned, advocate leads the Bar, and though appointments are occasionally made for political reasons, still most of those holding power invariably possess extraordinary talent.

Now the reader who bears in mind the title of this article, will begin to ask himself what these remarks can have to do with special preparation for an Examination. We will tell him. We contend that the public have the power of making or destroying a man as well as any particular system, and if through their patronage certain men are raised to high positions, so also have they the power to sanction special preparation for Examinations, as indeed they do if we may refer to the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and London, and, indeed, all the educational establishments in the United Kingdom, nay in Europe.

Following up our remark that there is but one grand way of attaining an object, we think this applies equally to Examinations, for as a rule the prepared men win nearly all the honors to be obtained at the universities and public schools. It must be admitted that there is an art in preparing specially for an Examination, in just the same way as there is a special art in laying a doubtful case before a jury or in performing a critical operation, though with regard to the latter especially art often succumbs to nature. Let us only bear in mind Napoleon III.! Although we say that there is a special art in preparing candidates for Examination, a deal undoubtedly depends upon the energy and capacity of a student, still much also depends upon the measures that he adopts for the purpose of securing a knowledge of any subject. The student has one of two ends in view; he wishes to study for the purpose either of simply passing an Examination or securing general knowledge. An opinion prevails in some quarters that the student who manages to pass an Examination by means of his general knowledge must be very fairly educated, while the one who is specially prepared probably knows only those points which occur in the Examination papers. It is a fact that of fifty pupils who are not specially prepared twenty-five are rejected the first time, while nearly all those who are specially prepared pass at their first attempt. Those of the unprepared students who pass are perhaps exceedingly well educated or are fortunate enough to meet with those questions which they know, while their fellow students are not so fortunate; but the specially prepared students are of course strong on all points and have an excellent chance of passing their examinations.

We have now to consider, apart from the result of the examination, whether the unprepared candidate knows as much as the prepared. Notwithstanding that our opinion will be received with caution, we give the palm to the latter, and we will endeavour to show why we do so. We deem it necessary to say here that we denounce what is commonly called "coaching," for it is, strictly speaking, a system pursued only by medical tutors. We do not, of course, refer to gentlemen of eminence, but the various branches of medicine, as far as we are aware, admit of great condensation.

A student may say, "What do I care if the system is denounced, so long as I can pass my examination." But, we reply, "You cannot pass your examination." "It is a delusion, and even those few who do succeed are ever after a misery to themselves." We can quite understand a student saying, "Though I do not wish to enter very minutely into every subject, I wish to study in such a manner as will enable me to reap a deal of valuable knowledge while I am ensuring my success." But if the "coach," so the master of the extreme art is styled, resorts to a series of tricks, and succeeds in passing some of his pupils, it does not follow that his system is effectual, or that the information, or rather the tricks which they learn, will be of any benefit to them in after-life!

Well, we promised to prove that the specially prepared student, if tested, knows more than the unprepared. The system pursued by a skilful and conscientious tutor is between the two extremes-that pursued by the coach and that pursued by the schoolmaster, against whom we have no reason to urge anything. Now if a tutor is enabled to reduce the salient features of a subject into a narrow nucleus, omitting all superfluous matter, surely that must be of much more benefit to the student than his reading through a thick volume. A skilful instructor will first of all endeavour to create a foundation, in order that the superstructure may be more easily completed. Indeed, a large number of students of more than average ability would know very little if a system of pruning were not adopted. Some questions are so general in their character that it is necessary before a student can answer them that he should read a whole volume in order that he may arrive at a satisfactory conclusion; but if his tutor places the answers before him in a page or half a page, divested of unnecessary verbiage, that must be of more benefit to him, especially when we bear in mind he has 1,000 similar points to remember, and that while collecting the facts on one point he is very likely to confuse it with another. Then special tuition is an excellent system if pursued in the way we suggest, and in support of our argument we call attention to the fact that there has perhaps never been a senior wrangler, or double first-class man at Oxford, who has not been specially prepared. From the most difficult to the easiest examination special tuition is recognized, for the schoolboy finds the Oxford or Cambridge local examination as difficult, if not more so, than the senior wrangler finds his.

It is surprising how year after year schoolboys "drudge" along without reaping any benefit, beyond learning, as a necessary consequence, merely to read and write; and we do not hesitate to say that even at the public schools it is the rule rather than the exception that the pupils know very little or nothing of some of the most essential subjects of education, which enable them to become useful and intelligent members of society. We are writing from actual experience, not acquired while being associated with those who held inferior positions in their schools, but with some who were classed among the best of the scholars. We can declare that we have heard men who had been for more than three or four years at a public school place Charles I. in the Plantagenet period, and assert that Cape Wrath was in France! The fact is that at public, as well as at many large private schools, either the most essential subjects are wholly neglected, or attention is devoted to a few of the sharpest students, for be it remembered that the success of a school depends upon its honor lists. When a parent has sent to him a list of successes achieved by a few pupils of a school he naturally thinks there is

a chance for his son to follow in the footsteps of the successful, forgetting that perhaps only six or seven out of as many hundreds have gained distinction! Though talent is rare, it is not quite so rare as that. Some parents have complained when they placed their sons under our tuition, that, though they had been a number of years at this or that large school, they had signally failed in all that they had endeavoured to perform. These youths had been to a great extent neglected. Because they did not possess sufficient talent to cope with their more fortunate fellow-students no measures were adopted to meet their requirements. "Everything depends upon early instruction," as we heard an experienced and clever schoolmaster once remark when he was informed that one of his former pupils, many of whom had gained distinction at the universities, had just been made a senior wrangler. Of course, when a student is not endowed with a certain amount of natural ability, no man can make him clever, but a great deal may be done in almost every instance.

We frequently hear youths just from school remark, "I have read only two reigns this term, and I know very little more about them than I did at the beginning of the term." The master goes into minute details, which tend rather to confuse than enlighten his pupils. Some schoolmasters will read the life of a king, extending over seven or eight pages, whereas such a sketch as the following would convey to puerile minds almost the same information: :

Character of Richard I.

Richard's character was strongly marked, presenting much to admire, and much to condemn. He was brave, frank, liberal, and often generous; at the same time he was haughty, violent, unjust, and sanguinary. His talents were considerable, both in the cabinet and the field; neither was he deficient in the art of poetry, as some of his compositions preserved among those of the Troubadours, bear witness. Great care must, however, be taken not to curtail facts too much, for when a subject is made interesting by the introduction of certain points, it will be remembered more easily. When facts are very brief, the student must learn them by heart-a system which ought to be avoided, unless he wishes to strengthen his memory. As a general rule, then, when students pass their examinations from school they are more fortunate than welleducated, for it not unfrequently happens that we hear students remark, "that they managed to answer the questions on English History, because they had been preparing the reigns on which the questions were founded, during the previous term, though had the examiners asked other questions, they would have shown great ignorance!"

Students ought to undergo test examinations at stated periods, for, when they have an opportunity of comparing their progress with one another, a feeling of emulation is aroused-the value of which cannot be over estimated. We know this from actual experience, for in order to raise our pupils to the required standard of proficiency we hold periodical test examinations, more difficult questions being set each time. Now in schools no such system is resorted to, except perhaps at the end of a term; but in order to keep pupils up to the mark, frequent examinations should be held. With these remarks, we must close this article, promising those of our readers who take an interest in such matters, to again refer to it at no distant period.