In a popular assembly, mere voice often passes for
ability, and he who talks glibly takes rank before
him who discourses wisely. Not so is it in a Court
of Justice, nor in Parliament, nor, indeed, in any
gathering of men for the purpose of transacting
actual business. There they are always preferred
who speah to the point in the most sensible manner
— if with ease, and grace, and eloquence, so much
the better — they are added recommendations — but
always is substance preferred to sound, and ease,
grace and eloquence, without wisdom, are deemed
only impertinences and soon come to be disre-
garded.
The practical conclusion we would inculcate is,
that no prudent man should venture upon the pro-
fession of an Advocate, unless he can afford to
devote to the study of it his whole time, day and
night, for at least three or four years before he
enters upon practice; nothing less than such a
dedication of his hours to the actual pursuit suf-
ficing to qualify him to endure the ordeal we have
described, and upon the result of which his future

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34 THE ADVOCATE.
fortunes will depend. Nor should connection nor
friends be too much estimated in the calculation.
True it is that connections are of infinite advantage
to ability, but they will not support incapacity.
