not weigh a feather with an intelligent man, | aspiring junior will no longer prevail. The out of court, and still oftener give occasion to learning and authority of the judge, and the watery amplifications of ideas, which may be acuteness of established rivals, not only prefairly and fully expressed in a few words. It is vent the success of those experiments, which obvious, therefore, that the more an advocate's ignorance only can hazard, but generally stifle mind is furnished with topics rather than with them in the birth. The number and variety of opinions or thoughts, the more easy will he causes, and the business-like manner in which find the task of addressing a jury. A sense they are conducted, restrain the use of fine of truth is ever in his way. It breaks the fine, spun rhetoric to a few special occasions. A flimsy, gossamer tissue of his eloquence, which, man who would keep any large portion of but for this sturdy obstacle, might hang sus- general practice must have industry and retenpended on slender props to glitter in the view tive memory; clearness of mind enough to of fascinated juries. If he has been accustomed state facts with distinctness, and to arrange to recognise a proportion between words and them in lucid order; a knowledge of law suffithings, he will, with difficulty, screw himself cient for the discovery of any point in his own up to describe a petty affray in the style of favour, and for the supply of a ready evasion Gibbon, though to his client the battle of Holy- of any suggested by his opponent; quickwell-lane may seem more important than the ness and comprehension of intellect to see the fall of the Roman Empire. If he would en- whole case on both sides at one view; and rapture the audience when intrusted to open a complete self-possession and coolness, without criminal case of importance, he should begin which all other capacities' will be useless. with the first murder; pass a well-rounded These are essentials for Nisi Prius practice; eulogy on the social system; quote Blackstone, but does it give scope to no higher faculties? and the Precepts of Noah; and dilate on crime, Is there nothing in human intellect which may conscience, and the trial by jury; before he be allowed to adorn, to lighten, and to inspire begins to state the particular facts which he the dull mass of facts and reasonings? Was expects to prove. He disdains to do this-or Erskine no more than a distinct narrator, a the favourite topics never occur to his mind tolerable lawyer, and a powerful reasoner even to be rejected; and, instead of winning on opposing facts? Can no higher praise the admiration of a county, he only obtains a be given to Scarlett, who sways the Court conviction! In addition to an inward repug- of King's Bench like a monarch, and to nance to solemn fooling, men of sterling sense Brougham, whose eloquence sheds terror have also to overcome the dread of the criti- into the enemies of freedom throughout the cism of others whose opinion they value, be- world? We will answer these questions as fore they can descend to the blandishments of well as we are able. popular eloquence. It is seldom, therefore, that a young barrister can employ the most efficacious mode of delighting his audience, unless he is nearly on a par with them, and thinks, in honest stupidity, that he is pouring forth pathos and wisdom. There is, indeed, an excessive proneness to adopt the tone of the moment, an easiness of temperament, which sometimes may enable him to make a display in a trifling matter without conscious degradation; but he is ashamed of his own success when he grows cool, and was reduced by excessive sympathy to the level of his hearers only for the hour. Let no one, therefore, hastily conclude that the failure of a youth, to whom early opportunities are given, is a proof of essential inferiority to successful rivals. It may be, indeed, that he is below his business; for want of words does not necessarily imply plenitude of ideas, nor is abstinence from lofty prosings and stale jests conclusive evidence of wit and knowledge; but he is more probably superior to his vocation-too clear in his own perceptions to perplex others; too much accustomed to think to make a show without thought; and too deeply impressed with admiration of the venerable and the affecting readily to apply their attributes to the miserable facts he is retained to embellish.

Let us now take a glance at that higher sphere in which a barrister moves when he has overcome the difficulties of his profession, and has obtained a share of leading business in the superior courts. Here it must at once be conceded that considerable powers are necessary, and that the deficiencies which aided the

For the highest powers of the mind which can be developed in eloquence even a superior court rarely affords room. Some have ascribed their absence to a chilling spirit of criticism in the legal auditors; but it is really attributable to the want of fitness in the subjects, and in the occasions. The noble faculty of imagi nation may, indeed, sometimes be excited to produce sublime creations, in the fervour of a speech, as justly as in the rage or sorrow of a tragedy; but in both the passion must enkindle the imagination, not the imagination create the passion. The distinction of eloquence from other modes of prose composition is, that it is primarily inspired by passion, and that it is either solely addressed to the feelings, or sways the understanding through the medium of the affections. It is only true when it is proportioned to the subject out of which it arises, because otherwise the passion is but fantastical and belongs to the mock heroic. In its course, it may edge the most subtle reasonings, point the keenest satire, and excite the imagination to imbody truth in living images of grandeur and beauty; but its spring and instinct must be passion. Nor is this all; it must not only be proportioned to the feeling in its author's mind, but to the feeling and intellect of those to whom it is addressed. A man of ardent temperament may work himself into a state of excitation by contemplating things which are remote and visionary; he may learn to take an enthusiastic interest in the objects of his own solitary musings; but if he brings into

Now Lord Brougham.

court the passionate dreams of his study, he will invite scorn and make failure certain. Not only is there rarely a subject which can worthily enkindle such passion as may excite imagination, but still more rarely an audience who can justify it by receiving it into their hearts. On some few occasions, as of great political trials, a burning indignation can be felt and reflected; the thoughts which the jury themselves swell with may be imaged in shapes of fire; and the orator may, while clothing mighty principles in noble yet familiar shapes, by a felicitous compromise, bring grandeur and beauty half way to the audience, and raise the audience to a station where they can feel their influence. But he must take care that he does not deceive himself by his own emotions; and mistake the inspiration of the study for that of the court. He is safe only while he is impelled by the feeling of those whom he addresses, and while he keeps fully within their view. In ordinary causes, imagination would not only be out of place, but it cannot enter; because its own essence is truth, and because it never has part in genuine eloquence unless inspired by adequate emotion. The flowers of oratory which are withheld by fear of contempt, or regarded as mere ornaments if produced, are not those which grow out of the subject, and are streaked and coloured by the feeling of the time; but gaudy exotics, leisurely gathered and stuck in out of season, and destitute of root. These fantastical decorations do not prove the existence of fervour or of imagination, but the want of both; and it is well if they are kept back by the good sense of the speaker, or his reasonable fears. But while a man, endowed with high faculties, cautiously abstains from displaying them on inadequate occasions, he will find them too often an impediment and a burden. He is in danger of timidity from a consciousness of power yet unascertained even by himself, and from an apprehension lest he should profane his long-cherished thoughts by a needless exposure. He is liable to be posed by the recurrence of some delicate association which he feels will not be understood, and modestly hesitates on the verge of the profound. He is, therefore, less fitted for ordinary business than another who can survey his own mental resources at a glance, as a well-ordered armoury, and select, without hesitation, the weapon best adapted for the struggle.

wife's crime and of his own disgrace? In the other cases, where the party has been injured, not only in feeling, but in property or proper ty's value, it is right that redress should be given; and that redress, even when sought in the form of damages, may be demanded in a tone of eloquent reprobation of villany; but the moment the advocate recounts the miseries of his client, in order to show how much money ought to be awarded, his task is degrading and irksome. He speaks of modesty destroyed, of love turned to bitterness, of youth blasted in its prime, and of age brought down by sorrow to the grave; and he asks for money! He hawks the wrongs of the inmost spirit, "as beggars do their sores," and unveils the sacred agonies of the heart, that the jury may estimate the value of their palpitations! It is in vain that he urges the specious plea, that no money can compensate the sufferer, to sustain the inference that the jury must give the whole sum laid in the declaration; for the inference does not follow. Money will not compensate, not because it is insufficient in degree but in kind; and, therefore, the consequence is not that great damages should be given, but that none should be claimed. When once money is connected with the idea of mental grief, by the advocate who represents the sufferer, all respect for both is gone. Subjects, therefore, of this kind are never susceptible in a court of law of the truest pathetic; and the topics to which they give occasion are somewhat musty.

If, however, the highest powers of the mind are rarely brought into action in a Court of Nisi Prius, its more ordinary faculties are required in full perfection, and readiness for use. To an uninitiated spectator, the course of a leader in considerable business seems little less than a miracle. He opens his brief with apparent unconcern; states complicated facts and dates with marvellous accuracy; conducts his cause with zeal and caution through all its dangers; replies on the instant, dexterously placing the adverse features of each side in the most favourable position for his client; and, having won or lost the verdict for which he has struggled, as if his fortune depended on the issue, dismisses it from his mind like one of the spectators. The next cause is called on; the jury are sworn; he unfolds another brief and another tale, and is instantly inspired with a new zeal, and possessed by a Pathos, much oftener than imagination, falls new set of feelings; and so he goes on till the within the province of the advocate. But the court rises, finding time in the intervals of art of exciting pity holds no elevated rank in actual exertion to read the newspaper, and the scale of intellectual power. As employed talk over all the scandal of the day! This is at the bar in actions for adultery, seduction, and curious work; it obviously requires all the breach of promise of marriage, ostensibly as a powers to which we have referred as essenmeans of effecting a transfer of money from tial, and the complete absorption of the mind the purse of the culprit to that of the sufferer, in each successive case. Besides these, there it sinks yet lower than its natural place, and are two qualities essential to splendid success robs the sorrows on which it expatiates of all—a pliable temperament, and that compound their dignity. The first of these actions is a quality, or result of several qualities, called disgrace to the English character; for the tact, in the management of a cause. plaintiff, who asks for money, has sustained To the first of these we have already alluded, no pecuniary loss; and what money does he deserve who seeks it as a compensation for domestic comfort, at the price of exposing to the greedy public all the shameful particulars of his

in its excessive degree, as supplying a young barrister with the capability of making a display on trivial occasions; but, when chastened by time, it is a most important means of suc

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facilities of raising them to his own level. In anxiety in the crisis of a cause, but instantly this purpose he was aided by his connection decides among complicated difficulties, and is with a noble family, by a musical voice, and almost always right. He can bridge over a by an eloquent eye, which enticed men to for- nonsuit with insignificant facts, and tread upon give, and even to admire his natural polish the gulf steadily but warily to its end. What and refined allusions. But his moral qualities Johnson said of Burke's manner of treating a tended even more to win them. Who could subject is true of his management of a cause, resist a disposition overflowing with kindness, "he winds himself into it like a great serpent." animal spirits as elastic as those of a school- He does not take a single view of it, nor deboy, and a love of gayety and pleasure which sert it when it begins to fail, but throws himshone out amidst the most anxious labours? self into all its windings, and struggles in it His very weaknesses became instruments of while it has life. There is a lucid arrangefascination. His egotism, his vanity, his per- ment, and sometimes a light vein of pleasantry sonal frailties, were all genial, and gave him and feeling in his opening speeches; but his an irresistible claim to sympathy. His warm- greatest visible triumph is in his replies. These est colours were drawn, not from the fancy, do not consist of a mere series of ingenious but the affections. If he touched on the ro- remarks on conflicting evidence; still less of a mantic, it was on the little chapter of romance tiresome examination of the testimony of each which belongs to the most hurried and feverish witness singly; but are as finely arranged on life. The unlettered clown, and the assiduous the instant, and thrown into as noble and detradesman, understood him, when he revived cisive masses, as if they had been prepared in some bright recollection of childhood, or the study. By a vigorous grasp of thought, he brought back on the heart the enjoyments of forms a plan and an outline, which he first disold friendship, or touched the chord of domes- tinctly marks, and then proceeds to fill up with tic love and sorrow. He wielded with skill masterly touches. When a case has been and power the weapons which precedent sup- spread over half a day, and apparently shattered plied, but he rarely sought for others. When by the speech and witnesses of his adversary, he defended the rights of the subject, it was he will gather it up, condense, concentrate, and not by abstract disquisition, but by freshening render it conclusive. He imparts a weight up anew the venerable customs and immuni- and solidity to all that he touches. Vague ties which he found sanctioned by courts and suspicions become certainties, as he exhibits parliaments, and infusing into them new en- them; and circumstances light, valueless, and ergy. He entrenched himself within the forms unconnected till then, are united together, and of pleading, even when he ventured to glance come down in wedges which drive conviction into literature and history. These forms he into the mind. Of this extraordinary power, rendered dignified as a fence against oppres- his reply on the first trial of "The King v. sion, and cast on them sometimes the playful Collins," where he gained the verdict against hues of his fancy. His powers were not only evidence and justice, was a wonderful speciadapted to his sphere, but directed by admi- men. If such a speech is not an effort of genius, rable discretion and taste. In small causes heit is so much more complete than many works was never betrayed into exaggeration,, but con- which have a portion of that higher faculty, trived to give an interest to their details, and that we almost hesitate to place it below them. to conduct them at once with dexterity and Mr. Scarlett, in the debate on the motion relagrace. His jests told for arguments; his di-tive to the Chancellor's attack on Mr. Abergressions only threw the jury off their guard, that he might strike a decisive blow; his audacity was always wise. His firmness was no less under right direction than his weaknesses. He withstood the bench, and rendered the bar immortal service; not so much by the courage of the resistance, as by the happy selection of its time, and the exact propriety of its manner. He was, in short, the most consummate advocate of whom we have any trace; he left his profession higher than he found it; and yet, beyond its pale, he was only an incomparable companion, a lively pamphleteer, and a weak and superficial debater!

crombie, showed that he has felt it necessary to bend his mind considerably to the routine of his practice. He was then surprised into his own original nature; and forgetting the measured compass of his long adopted voice and manner, spoke out in a broad northern dialect, and told daring truths which astonished the house. It is not thus, however, that he wins verdicts and compels the court to grant "rules to show cause!"

Mr. Brougham may, at first, appear to form an exception to the doctrines we have endea voured to establish; but, on attentive consideration, will be found their most striking ex Mr. Scarlett, the present leader of the Court ample. True it is, that this extraordinary man, of King's Bench, has less brilliancy than his who, without high birth, splendid fortune, or predecessor, but is not perhaps essentially in- aristocratic connection, has, by mere intellecferior to him in the management of causes. tual power, become the parliamentary leader He studiously disclaims imagination; he rarely of the whigs of England, is at last beginning addresses the passions; but he now and then to succeed in the profession he has condegives indications which prove that he has scended to follow. But, stupendous as his disciplined a mind of considerable elegance abilities, and various as his acquisitions are, and strength to Nisi Prius uses. In the fine he does not possess that one presiding faculty tact of which we have already spoken-the in--imagination, which, as it concentrates all tuitive power of common sense sharpened others, chiefly renders them unavailing for inwithin a peculiar circle-he has no superior, ferior uses. Mr. Brougham's powers are not thus and perhaps no equal. He never betrays united and rendered unwieldy and prodigious,