This appears to have been written some months after
the vacation spent at the Hills.
’Oh! thoughtless mortals, ever blind
to fate,
Too soon dejected, and too soon elate.’
“You remember, I am sure, my dear father, how
angry we were some time ago with that man, whose name
I never would tell you, the man whom Rosamond called
Counsellor Nameless, who snatched a good
point from me in arguing Mr. Hauton’s cause.
This very circumstance has been the means of introducing
me to the notice of three men, all eminent in their
profession, and each with the same inclination to
serve me, according to their respective powers—a
solicitor, a barrister, and a judge. Solicitor
Babington (by-the-by, pray tell Rosamond in answer
to her question whether there is an honest attorney,
that there are no such things as attorneys
now in England—they are all turned into
solicitors and agents, just as every shop is
become a warehouse, and every service
a situation), Babington the solicitor employed
against us in that suit a man who knows, without practising
them, all the tricks of the trade, and who is a thoroughly
honest man. He saw the trick that was played by
Nameless, and took occasion afterwards to recommend
me to several of his own clients. Upon the strength
of this point briefs appeared on my table day
after day—two guineas, three guineas, five
guineas! comfortable sight! But far more comfortable,
more gratifying, the kindness of Counsellor Friend:
a more benevolent man never existed. I am sure
the profession of the law has not contracted his heart,
and yet you never saw or can conceive a man more intent
upon his business. I believe he eats, drinks,
and sleeps upon law: he has the reputation, in
consequence, of being one of the soundest of our lawyers—the
best opinion in England. He seems to make the
cause of every client his own, and is as anxious as
if his private property depended on the fate of each
suit. He sets me a fine example of labour, perseverance,
professional enthusiasm and rectitude. He is one
of the very best friends a young lawyer like me could
have; he puts me in the way I should go, and keeps
me in it by showing that it is not a matter of chance,
but of certainty, that this is the right road to fortune
and to fame.
“Mr. Friend has sometimes a way of paying a
compliment as if he were making a reproach, and of
doing a favour as a matter of course. Just now
I met him, and apropos to some observations I happened
to make on a cause in which he is engaged, he said
to me, as if he were half angry, though I knew he
was thoroughly pleased, ’Quick parts! Yes,
so I see you have: but take care—in
your profession ’tis often “Most haste,
worst speed;” not but what there are happy exceptions,
examples of lawyers, who have combined judgment with
wit, industry with genius, and law with eloquence.
But these instances are rare, very rare; for the rarity
of the case, worth studying. Therefore dine with
me to-morrow, and I will introduce you to one of these
exceptions.’
