compelled him to apply himself diligently to study,* lived a far different life. No expensive pastimes helped to wile away his time; the doors of the Globe and of the Red Bull were shut against him. In some obscure apartment, some moiety of a petit chamber,† which he seldom quitted, (being a great believer in the old adage, Keep your shop and your shop will keep you,)‡ he applied himself diligently to his laborious task. Being first admitted a member of one of the Inns of Chancery, he was a constant attendant on all the mootings, and having thus grown to ripeness,§ he was in due time admitted a member of one of the greater Inns of Court. He now pursued his studies with still greater application. His grand project was to master the Year-Books, of which he was sure to dispatch the greatest part;|| and "There be some also, which by their friends, be coarcted to apply to the study of the law only, and for lack of plenteous exhibition, be let of their liberty, wherefore they cannot resort unto pastime." Elyott's Governor, p. 46. Jefferies" removed without the advantages of a classical education, to the Inner Temple, where he be came a very assiduous student of the municipal laws of England, though in an obscure and mean apartment.” Lives of the Chancellors, v. i. p. 179. Life of North, v. i. p. 15. § Fortescue de Laudibus, c. 50. Life of North, v. i. p. Life of North, v. i. p. 27. 31. to these he added the other old reporters, for he thought that a lawyer could not be well grounded without a knowledge of these sages of the law. With these he intermixed a portion of institutionary reading, and after a fulness of the reports in a morning, about noon would take a repast in Staunford, Crompton, or the Lord Coke's Pleas of the Crown and Jurisdiction of Courts, Manwood on the Forest Law, or Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium,* or occasionally, by way of relaxation, he would turn over the pages of some antiquarian volume, as Britton or Bracton, Fleta or Fortescue, Hengham or the Old Tenures, the Narrationes Nova, the Old Natura Brevium, or the Diversity of Courts.† He made a copious common-place book, to which he could easily turn for the name and place of a case, for he did not endeavour (like old Sergeant Waller, who was called Index) to carry both in his head. Not conceiving that the Lord Coke had allowed a sufficient portion of the day for study,§ and persuaded that if he should follow the advice of Sir Heneage * Life of North v. i. p. 24. Ibid, p. 22. + Ibid. § Sex horas somno, totidem des legibus æquis; Quatuor orabis, des epulisque duas ; Co. Litt. 64. b. Finch, he should be ruined ;* he commonly studied some sixteen hours a day.† Though, when the Courts were sitting, he attended them with regularity, and never failed to have his note-book and pen and ink ready; and in the evening, he posted his gatherings into a fair book. Lastly, he regularly read Littleton every Christmas.§ Though he well knew that "Lady Common Law must lie alone," yet he did not issue an interdict against every kind of recreation. His amusements, however, were all of a grave and sober cast. He was much attached to music, more especially as he could enjoy it in his own chamber, and his great delight was to play upon his base, or lyra viol, which he used to touch lutefashion upon his knees, or he would purchase an old virginal to play upon.** By way of ensuring entertainment at home, he would, perhaps, keep a monkey or a parrot.++ Above all things he eschew "Sir Heneage Finch used to say, 'Study all morning and talk all afternoon." North's Discourse on the Study of the Law, p. 8. "He studied many years at the rate of sixteen hours a day." Burnet's Life of Hale, p. 6. Life of North, v. i. p. 31. Life of North, v. i. p. 15. § Ibid. ** Ibid. Preface to Roper's Sir Thomas More "kept an ape, a fox, a ferret, a weasel, and other beasts more rare." Life of More, Singer's Edition, p, xi. ed stage-plays; instead of which, he would recreate himself after commons in an evening with a walk under the cloisters, in company with some discreet fellow-student, where he would put cases, for he thought no man could be a good lawyer who was not a good put-case.† Upon occasion he would mingle some lay-studies, in eodem subjecto, with the body of the common law, such as natural philosophy, or the mathematics. He never went to public feasts, nor gave entertainments; § and even if his purse flowed sufficiently, a petit-supper and a bottle with a friend always pleased him best. Neither the dancing nor the fencing schools were frequented by him ;** and his dress was never gay, and in the height of the mode, like other Inns of Court gentlemen,†† who indulged in airs of dressing; but plain, sometimes even to negligence.‡‡ At length, after some eight years probation, (for he thought prepropera praxis a crying evil,) "He resolved, upon his coming to London, where he knew the opportunities of such sights would be more frequent and inviting, never to see a play again, to which he constantly adhered." Life of Hale, p. 4. + Life of North, vol. i. p. 19. Roger North's Discourse, p. 9. Life of Hale p. 13. § Life of Hale, p. 15. ** Ibul. p. 16. Life of North, vol. i. p. 46. ቀቀ Ibid. p. 44. Life of Hale, p. 10. Ante. vol. i. p. 125. and having well performed all his exercises, he was called to the bar, ex debito justitiæ, and not ex gratiá;* nor did he seek, by any indirect means, to get a bar-gown on his back. He did not obtrude himself upon attorneys; but diligently attended the court, and took notes, and if chance, or a friend, brought a motion, of course it was welcome. He made not a Trojan-siege of a suit, but sought to bring it to a set-battle in a speedy trial, and he accounted the very pleading of a poor widow's honest cause sufficient fee, as conceiving himself then the King of Heaven's advocate, bound ex officio to prosecute it. In court he never shewed himself a brabbling and tumultuous lawyer ;** nor, on the other hand, was he to be daunted with threatenings.†† Knowing that the way to the heights of knowledge, is through humility's gate,‡‡ he avoided over-much boldness and confidence, following in his speaking the philosopher's rule, sit oratio pressa, non audax.§§ "He was not called to the bar ex gratia, or for favour, as when the person is not of standing, or hath not performed his exercises." Life of North, v. vi. p. 48. + Jefferies," by some means or other, got a bar-gown on his back." Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i. p. 179. Life of North, v. i. p. 49. § ++ Life of Hale, p. 17. $ Phillips's Directions, p. 21. Fuller's Holy State, p. 52. **Moor's Rep. p. 827. Fulbeck's Preparative. |