consistere," and the powers of your mind are certainly equal to every part of the study, nay, even to the subtleties of it; but you must not expect that refinements, not drawn from the natural reason of man, should remain imprinted on your mind in the same large, legible characters, as the precepts of morality. Nobody expects that a young man, who has not been in some precedent practice and habits, should " emane" a lawyer in the first instance: great allowances are made by the bar, and the bench, and an audience; and even ignorance escapes under the veil of a presumed modesty, which goodnature throws over every man (that is not a coxcomb) in his noviciate. You complain of an "inedia verborum"-the best receipt for that complaint is reading English books of the most classical kind, and a total abstinence from all the languages, except when you turn them into English, or rather paraphrase them. I have often known too much Latin and Greek, or French, almost extinguish the "flumen" and "copia dicendi" in English; but habituating yourself to correct modes of thinking, will generally produce clear and luminous modes of expression: if the spring be clear, the stream will be so too, if other languages do not check or disturb it, or if too great an anxiety for a choice diction do not interrupt it. Put-case clubs, and seizing all opportunities of speaking upon all subjects you understand, will unlock the storehouse of words, coin your ideas, and give that currency and profluence which you at present want. The advice given to St. Paul should be ever in your thoughts: Μὴ φοβᾶ, ἀλλὰ λαλεῖ, καὶ μὴ σιωπήσης. There are two things you must inviolably adhere to in any plan of study: 1st. Not going out in a morning, except from inevitable necessity. 2dly. Not keeping your chamber door open, which is worse than going out; because it exposes you to the idleness and impertinence of all who do, and does not even leave you to the choice of your own company. Six hours in the morning appropriated to law, with a voluntary played upon it by me in an evening, or before dinner for one hour, would impregnate your mind so thoroughly, that it would keep the odour as long as you chose to practise it, either esoterically or exoterically; for I know from experience, that the doses I took of Lord Coke, about forty years ago, operate to this day. The song in Comus to Virtue, is equally ap plicable to law: Who wins her height must patient climb; The steps are peril, toil, and care. Sir Eardley had himself attained to great proficiency in the law, though his own inclinations, which he sacrificed to filial obedience, had always tended to the clerical profession. His judicial knowledge and spotless integrity of character, were the chief cause of his promotion to the high office which he filled in the civil establishment of his country; for his spirit was unambitious, and he rather avoided than sought public elevation. In the evening of the day Sir Eardley kissed his Majesty's hand on being appointed Lord Chief Justice, one of his sons, a youth of seventeen, attended him to his bedside. "Now," said he, "my son, I will tell you a secret worth your knowing and remembering; the elevation I have met with in life, particularly this last instance of it, has not been owing to any superior merit or abilities, but to my humility, to my not having set up myself above others, and to an uniform endeavour to pass through life void of offence towards God and man." The lesson of humility was constantly inculcated amongst his other precepts by this meek yet noble-minded man, with the same view as that taken by the sacred writer: "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." To one of his Sons. London, 1768. you I am sorry for your own sake to hear find a want of that moderation and constancy of mind, which alone enable a man to go through life with credit and comfort. I am very sensible that parts and spirits, and natural abilities, and that elevation of soul which unites humility and super-eminent greatness of soul together, are in the power of no man. They are" particula divinæ auræ," perhaps infused by God when he first animates the clay, and their effulgent brightness is visible to every discerning eye, whether it irradiate a prince or a beggar; but moderation is a virtue in every body's reach, and a very loose philosophical regimen is sure of bringing a cure along with it. I wish you would more particularly disclose in what instance you feel the want of it, and I will assume the office of physician for the soul, and prescribe some of that medicine which I took from Plato when I was at the university. Constancy, in my dictionary, is steadiness and perseverance in a resolution once rightly taken. What can be the difficulty of whipping all seducing, straggling thoughts out of the mind, intruding upon a man's own happiness? For if the resolution be rightly taken, your own felicity is the object of it; if it be not rightly taken, the sooner it is broken the better: but remember, that to be humble is to be great; to be contented is to be wise; and to subdue the passions is to be good; and that habit is the best and surest friend to forward you towards the attainment of those great blessings. Read Longinus again in Greek, in Latin, French, and English; rouse up all your faculties, and let your soul out to strive for the prize in the |