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sons of the élite of society; but much superior education can be obtained at the "working colleges." So long, however, as human nature is human nature there will be prejudices in favour of certain institutions; for though a London or a Durham man may be much abler than the Oxonian or the Cantab who may have obtained his degree by what in examination phraseology is called the "skin of his teeth," the latter will probably be considered the better man. Yet it is only right we should state, that, although this prejudice will never entirely die out, many of the more acute members of society are beginning to pronounce their opinions in favour of the man and his actions, and not of "trivial points." And they are justified in adopting this course,-especially when they see that "perseverance is the prime quality in every pursuit." We could give innumerable illustrations of what we write; one, however, must suffice. A story is told of a very eminent late chief justice, who, when just called to the bar, having probably little or no apparent prospects of gaining an affluent position, desired to pay his addresses to the daughter of a wealthy city merchant and shipowner. When the latter heard of it, he requested the young barrister to give him an explanation as to his ability to maintain his daughter in her accustomed sphere of life, especially as he intended to settle a large fortune upon her. The young barrister invited his-we think we are correct in stating-intended father-in-law to his chambers, where he proposed to render him a full explanation as to his position. The merchant went according to appointment. "Well," said he, "what do you propose to show me?" The other, with a wave of the hand, said, "These books are my fortune." "What," said the merchant, in astonishment, "they do not appear to be worth 201." "No doubt," replied the young barrister, “but by the grace of God, these books, and my head, I hope to amass as large a fortune as you possess." However, after some diplomacy, the marriage was solemnized. But alas! time changed their respective fortunes. The merchant lost ship after ship till he was reduced to almost a state of abject poverty, while his son-in-law won high honors and a large fortune. With a filial piety which deserves the highest commendation, the latter purchased a house for his father-in-law to live in, and allowed him 1,000l. a-year for life. When, at a subsequent date, they were discussing their wine after dinner, the Lord Chief Justice, for he had then attained that position, remarked-no doubt with a kindness which characterized his almost unparal leled conduct-"Now you see the triumph of perseverance and ability over wealth. While I enjoyed good health nothing could deprive me of my abilities, but your gold has been treacherous to you." Moral.-Wealth is not infallible. We may also relate the fact that Lord Kenyon accidentally became acquainted with Dunning at a tavern or coffee-house in the vicinity of Temple. Bar. Their common friend was Horne Tooke, and the trio were in the habit of dining together in an eating-house near Chancery Lane at the rate of 74d. per head. Dunning got the first start, and took a villa at Ealing, where Kenyon used to dine and sleep two or three times a-week, aud, in return for his friend's hospitality, assisted in answering the cases he brought down. How beautiful must this friendship have been! Better than much of the friendship that we see around us. Though these men might at the time have felt most acutely the pangs of semi-poverty, they were attending a most useful school. They were able, like the inimitable Charles Dickens, to read life in its true colors, and then, by means of their

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superior abilities, and, above all, their indomitable perseverance, they emerged from obscurity to benefit, not only themselves, but more particularly their fellow-creatures, whose powers and wants they had had ample opportunity of studying. Hence these men were acquiring a knowledge of life and mauners which are taught at no school. We frankly admit the difficulty that presents itself, to a person in a respectable sphere, in the way of learning the small matters of this life;-yet their importance cannot be too highly valued. Let the aspiring lawyer, however, attend a debating society where men of all grades flock; where he may be suddenly called upon to respond to the arguments of a man whom he has not known before. Let him not measure his talents with those whom he knows, for he would probably be able to anticipate to what extent he need exercise his powers.

No words can describe the pleasures that accrue to those who make good use of their time in storing their minds with a knowledge of those subjects for which they evince a taste. It is only reasonable that we should not expect every man to excel in the same course. Faraday says, "it is an extraordinary thing that a man, with a mind so wonderful that there is nothing to compare with it elsewhere in the known creation, should leave it to run wild in respect of its highest elements and qualities. He has a power of comparison and judgment, by which his final resolves, and all those acts of his material system which distinguish him from the brutes, are guided-shall he omit to educate and improve them when education can do much? Is it towards the very principles and privileges that distinguish him above other creatures he should feel indifference? Because the education is internal, it is not the less needful; nor is it more the duty of a man that he should cause his child to be taught than that he should teach himself. Indolence may tempt him to neglect the self-examination and experience which form his school, and weariness may induce the evasion of the necessary practices; but surely a thought of the prize should suffice to stimulate him to the requisite exertion, and to those who reflect upon the many hours and days devoted by a lover of sweet sounds, to gain a moderate facility upon a mere mechanical instrument, it.ought to bring a blush of shame, if they feel convicted of neglecting the beautiful living instrument wherein play all the powers of the mind."

(To be continued.)

CHAPTER III.

RHETORIC.

KNOWING there are few lawyers who do not take great interest in this branch of education, we published an article entitled "How to become an Orator" in the sixth number of this Magazine. The favor with which it was received and the unabated interest which this necessarily important subject causes, more particularly to the student who aims at attaining forensic distinction, induce us to refer to it again; for we feel that it will admit of additional remarks.

If it be true, as we are told, that eloquence at the bar has degenerated considerably even since the time of Erskine, it is time that our universities

and public schools should endeavour to cultivate an art which, there can be no doubt, tends to exalt a nation in the eyes of other countries. The orators of whom nations can boast appear as a rule more prominently in history than other men, for their ideas and rhetorical powers please not only the generation in which they live, but generation after generation who are proud to retain their speeches as models. We are told that Lord Denman studied the style of Demosthenes, and that Lord Brougham selected the speeches of many orators, both ancient and modern, for the purpose of acquiring a brilliant style. We know with what success their efforts were attended. A man may be distinguished for acumen and lucidity of style in the age in which he lives, but such qualifications might not afford any benefit to future generations -except, perhaps, if he embodies his opinions in a "great" work.

Some assert that oratory at the bar has not degenerated but that another style has succeeded that which prevailed thirty years ago. That may be so; but has that style changed to suit the present "masters" of the art? We are inclined to answer in the affirmative. Now in giving this opinion we wish it to be distinctly understood that we do not think the bar has degenerated in general learning and ability; on the contrary, barristers and even solicitors are more learned than they were thirty years ago, though few are distinguished for brilliant abilities - abilities which charm the outer world.

Is it that in prosecuting his studies the student destroys his brilliancy? We all know that very often special pleaders and equity draughtsmen have poor oratorical powers, and that their style of conversation is of a very ordinary nature; indeed, it appears to be an admitted fact that as a man stores his mind with dry subjects, the fluency of his language diminishes. Of course men who do not possess the "flowers of eloquence" select those branches of the profession most suited to their endowments. There are few qualifications which secure such genuine admiration as the power to speak fluently and eloquently. Due attention ought to be paid to the study of rhetoric as well as to other branches of education. The present style of conversation by no means develops one's powers in this respect. We say conversation, because before a man can become a great orator he must learn to speak fluently. As we have to give our attention to other matters, we conclude our article in this number with the opinion of the late Lord Lytton. He says, "Among the characteristics of English society there is one which cannot fail to be remarked as worthy of notice, and that is the 'curious felicity' which distinguishes the tone of conversation. In most countries people of the higher stations preserve, with a certain degree of jealousy, the habit of clear and easy elegance in conversation. In France, to talk the language well is still the indispensable accomplishment of s gentleman. Society preserves the happy diction and the graceful phrase which literature has stamped with its authority; and the court may be considered as the master of the ceremonies to the Muses; in fact to catch the expressions of the court is in France to acquire elegance of style. But in England people, even in the best and most fastidious society, are not remarkable for cultivating the more pure or brilliant order of conversation, as the evidence of ton and the attribute of rank. They reject, it is true, certain vulgarities of accent, provincial phrases, and glaring violations of grammar; but the regular and polished smoothness of conversation, the

unpedantic and transparent preciseness of meaning, the happy choice, unpremeditated because habitual, of the most graceful phrases and polished idioms which the language affords-these, the natural care and province of a lettered court, are utterly unheeded by the circles of the English aristocracy."

(To be continued.)

CHAPTER IV.

A SUMMARY OF THE LAW OF TORTS -A REVIEW.*

We have always thought that when a student commences to study a subject which admits of great elaboration he should, as a primary step, "avoid all matters of detail and confine himself to broad principles." Mr. Underhill has adopted this method, and we think has evinced much discretion in doing so, especially as "there is no English treatise on the law of torts, except that of Mr. Addison, which, however excellent as a digest and book of reference, is little fitted to students who desire to learn principles before entering into particulars."

The work is divided into two parts. First, torts in general; secondly, rules relating to particular torts. Under the former head the author classifies wrongs purely ex delicto, quasi torts, the measure of damages in actions of tort, &c.; under the latter, defamation, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and malicious arrest, assault and battery, trespass to land and dispossession. Mr. Underhill clearly states the law under each section, and frequently cites cases in support of his remarks. We strongly recommend the manual to the notice of students of both branches of the profession.

CHAPTER V.

THE QUESTIONS ASKED AT THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION HELD ON THE 29th and 30th of october, 1873, with tHE ANSWERS.

I. English Composition.

Candidates were requested to write an essay or letter, not less than two pages in length, on one of the following subjects:

(1.) The seaside.

(2.) The uses of anger.

(3.) Wit. In what it consists and what end it serves.

(4.) "The age of chivalry is gone."

(5.) Sir Edwin Landseer.

(6.) "The child is father to the man."

(7.) Your own biography.

*A Summary of the Law of Torts, or Wrongs independent of Contracts. By Arthur Underhill, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq., Barrister at Law. London: Butterworths.

II. English Language.

1. Relate the events in History which have, directly or indirectly, affected the language of this country. Point out the elements which have thus entered into the composition of that language, and state approximately the proportions which they respectively assume.

(1.) The Celts and Cimbri, at a period before authentic history commences, overran and peopled Western Europe; and their language was the parent of the modern Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton.

(2.) At the beginning of the Christian Era, a large part of Britain was conquered by the Roman arms.

(3.) About 449 A.D. the first Saxon invasion took place, and by the middle of the ninth century a large part of England was under the dominion of the Angles and Saxons, who had by that time merged into one people.

(4.) Towards the end of the eighth century the Norsemen, who were partly Swedes and Danes, but chiefly Norwegians, made a complete conquest of all the district north of the Humber, and lying between the Irish and German Seas.

(5.) During the ninth and tenth centuries the Danes settled in considerable numbers on the east coast of England and Scotland, and from 1003 A.D. te 1041 A.D. Danish kings ruled over the whole of England.

(6.) In 1066, the Norman conquest took place. The different elements which have thus entered into the composition of the English language are:

(i) Words of Celtic origin.

(ii) Words derived from the Latin language.

(iii) Anglo-Saxon words.

(iv) Words derived from the Norse languages.

(v) Words derived from the Norman-French. Of these elements, AngloSaxon forms ths.; Latin and French 3ths.; and the remaining languages together compose th.

2. Classify the English alphabet according to the organs used in the articulation of the different sounds. What are the two essential features of a perfect alphabet, and what in respect to these are the defects of the English alphabet? What expedient do we use for remedying these defects?

Classification according to the organs of speech employed:

Labials (labia, the lips), P, B, F, V, M.

Dentals (dentes, the teeth), T, D, TH, S, Z, SH, CH.

Linguals (lingua, the tongue), L, N, R.
Palatals (palatum, the palate), G, R, J.

Gutturals (guttur, the throat), K, R, H.

In a perfect alphabet (1) each simple sound should have a corresponding letter to represent it; and (2) one sound should not be represented by more than one letter. In respect to these two features the English alphabet is inconsistent, uncertain, erroneous, deficient and redundant. The following are examples of the expedients employed to remedy the defects of the alphabet:

(1) A vowel is often suffixed to a word to lengthen the root vowel; as not, note; bit, bite.

(2) A consonant when not final is often doubled to show that the preceding vowel is short; as carry, folly.

(3) Final consonants are often doubled before a termination commencing with a vowel; as begin, beginning; run, running.

3. Enumerate the parts of speech. What were prepositions originally? How do they help to supplement the alleged deficiences in English grammar?

There are nine parts of speech:-Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection.

Prepositions were originally parts of nouns or verbs. They supply the place of case-endings, and mark the relation in which nouns stand to other words of the

sentence.

4. Specify the various ways of distinguishing the masculine and feminine in English. Discuss the origin of such forms as songstress, seamstress, &c. &c.

There are three methods of distinguishing the masculine and feminine genders:(1) By a wholly different word; as,-uncle, aunt; boy, girl. (2) By difference

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