conversation with counsellors, attornies, clerks to attornies, and other sages of the law. The law is intended to take cognizance of all our actions; wherefore my pupil, who is fond of exerting his faculties in polite life, has already digested almost all the grand leading points of the law into a journal of his transactions; which I shall lay before my readers at large in my treatise, as the best method for a common-place book. Thus, for instance, having been frequently employed, after leaving the Shakspeare, in what is called beating the rounds, it has happened to him to be taken into custody by the magistrate of the night, and carried the next morning before a justice; by which means he has attained as full a knowledge of certain parts of the duty of a constable and justice of peace, as could be collected from Dalton, Blackerby, or Burn. Certain impertinences of his taylor and other tradesmen have given him a very clear notion of the laws of arrest, and been of as much service to him as the best treatises on bail and mainprize. Besides which, the several sums of money which he has taken up at different times, payable on his father's death, have opened to him some difficult points in conveyancing, by teaching him the nature of bonds, deeds, &c. and have at the same time shewn him what Lord Coke calis the amiable and admirable secrets of the common law,' by unravelling to him the intricate doctrines of reversion and remainder, as well as the general nature of estates. Thus he is continually improving; and whenever he shall happen to commit a rape or a genteel murder, it will serve him for matter of instruction, as well as any history of the pleas of the crown, and give him an insight into the nature of the practice and extent of the jurisdiction of our courts of justice. By this plan of-study no time is lost; so that, while other students are idling away their vacation in the country, my pupil is daily improving there. As he is a member of the association, he is very conversant in all the laws enacted for the preservation of the game; and he picks up all the learning of the circuit, by dancing at the balls at the assizes. As his father has a place, he is employed in canvassing for votes at the time of an election, which instructs him in all the points of law touching those matters. He was principally concerned in discovering the Customary Tenants: that new species of freeholders unknown to Littleton, Coke, and all the lawyers of antiquity; and he is so intimately acquainted with all the doctrine contained in the several clauses of the bribery act, that I propose publishing in the body of my treatise Les Readings del Mon Seignor Riot Sur L'Estatute de 2 Geo. II, &c. By this time, Mr. Town, you must perceive that the ground of my scheme is, in short, no more than this, viz. That the student should regard his life as a kind of commentary on the law, as it is recommended to the clergy to become examples of the doctrine they teach. Or, to bring my illustration more home to these gentlemen, let them learn the law by being occasionally interested in different parts of it; as they become in some measure doctors of physic from frequent need of it, and can cure themselves in certain cases, as well as Rock himself. Instead of poring over books, a gentleman need only observe how far the law and his actions tally with each other; and as it is said by Lord Coke, that the knowledge ' of the law is like a deep well, out of which each 'man draweth according to the strength of his under'standing,' so, in pursuance of my plan, the student will improve according to the eagerness with which he engages in his pleasures: and this, no doubt, was intended by Lord Coke, as it is the most obvious interpretation of his words, when he concludes the comparison by saying, that when the professor of 6 the law can dive into the depth, it is delightful, easy, and without any heavy burthen, so long as he keeps himself in his own proper element.' What plan, Mr. Town, can be more delightful, easy, and without any heavy burthen, than Institutes of this nature? I have indeed often looked with concern upon those unhappy gentlemen, who have impaired their health by the old method of study, and considered them as martyrs to huge volumes of reports and statutes at large: my pupils will be in no danger of these misfortunes. It is recorded of an eminent counsellor, of the North family, (who, being one of the ablest practitioners at the bar, was overloaded with business) that sometimes, chusing to retire a while from hurry and perplexity, he would say to his clerk, Tell the people I do not practice this term.' This proper relaxation I always recommend to my pupils, and have some reason to think they are prudent enough to embrace it; for, as I am acquainted with several students on the new plan, and do not remember to have seen them doing any business in the courts for some time, I suppose they had given notice to their clerks to tell the 'people they did not practice in those terms.' I am, SIR, your humble servant, W 6 IGNORAMUS. 0 2 No. CXXXIV. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19. Delicta majorum immeritus lues, HOR. The tott'ring tower and mould'ring walls repair, Quick to the needy curate bring relief, And deck the parish-church without a brief. MR. VILLAGE TO MR. TOWN. DEAR COUSIN, THE country at present, no less than the metropolis, abounding with politicians of every kind, I begun to despair of picking up any intelligence, that might possibly be entertaining to your readers. However, I have lately visited some of the most distant parts of the kingdom with a clergyman of my acquaintance. I shall not trouble you with an account of the improvements that have been made in the seats we saw according to the modern taste, but proceed to give you some reflections, which occurred to us on observing several countrychurches, and the behaviour of their congregations. The ruinous condition of some of those edifices gave me great offence; and I could not help wishing that the honest vicar, instead of indulging his genius for improvements, by enclosing his gooseberry bushes within a Chinese rail, and converting half an acre of his glebe-land into a bowling-green, would have applied part of his income to the more laudable purpose of sheltering his parishioners from the weather during their attendance on divine service. It is no uncommon thing to see the parsonage house well thatched, and in exceeding good repair, while the church perhaps has scarce any other roof than the ivy that grows over it. The noise of owls, bats, and magpies, makes the principal part of the church music in many of these ancient edifices; and the walls, like a large map, seem to be portioned out into capes, seas, and promontories, by the various colours by which the damps have stained them. Sometimes, the foundation being too weak to support the steeple any longer, it has been found expedient to pull down that part of the building, and to hang the bells under a wooden shed on the ground beside it. This is the case in a parish in Norfolk, through which I lately passed, and where the clerk and the sexton, like the two figures at St. Dunstan's, serve the bells in capacity of clappers, by striking them alternately with an hammer. In other churches I have observed, that nothing unseemly or ruinous is to be found, except in the clergyman, and the appendages of his person. The 'squire of the parish, or his ancestors perhaps, to testify their devotion, and leave a lasting monument of their magnificence, have adorned the altar-piece with the richest crimson velvet, embroidered with vine-leaves and ears of wheat; and have dressed up the pulpit with the same splendor and expence ; while the gentleman, who fills it, is exalted, in the midst of all this finery, with a surplice as dirty as a farmer's frock, and a periwig that seems to have transferred its faculty of curling to the band, which appears in full buckle beneath it. But if I was concerned to see several distressed pastors, as well as many of our country-churches in a tottering condition, I was more offended with the indecency of worship in others. I could wish that the clergy would inform their congregations, that there is no occasion to scream themselves hoarse in making the responses; that the town-crier |