A PLAN of this nature, if executed with care and ability, cannot fail of administring a most useful and rational entertainment to students of all ranks and professions; and yet it must be confessed that the study of the laws is not merely a matter of amusement: for as a very judicious writer[t] has observed upon a similar occasion, the learner "will be considerably disappointed if he looks for entertainment without the expence of attention." An attention, however, not greater than is usually bestowed in mastering the rudiments of other sciences, or sometimes in pursuing a favorite recreation or exercise. And this attention is not equally necessary to be exerted by every student upon every occasion. Some branches of the law, as the formal process of civil suits, and the subtile distinctions incident to landed property, which are the most difficult to be thoroughly understood, are the least worth the pains of understanding, except to such gentlemen as intend to pursue the profession. To others I may venture to apply, with a slight alteration, the words of sir John Fortescue[u], when first his royal pupil determines to engage in this study. "It will not be necessary for a gentleman, as such, to examine with a close application the critical niceties of the law. It will fully be sufficient, and he may well enough be denominated a lawyer, if under the instruction of a master he traces up the principles and grounds of the law, even to their original elements. Therefore in a very short period, and with very little labour, he may be sufficiently informed in the laws of his country, if he will but apply his mind in good earnest to receive and apprehend them. For, though such knowlege as is necessary for a judge is hardly to be acquired by the lucubrations of twenty years, yet with a genius of tolerable perspicacity, that knowlege which is fit for a person of birth or condition may be learned in a single year, without neglecting his other improvements." [Footnote t: Dr Taylor's preface to Elem. of civil law.] [Footnote u: _Tibi, princeps, necesse non erit mysteria legis Angliae longo disciplinatu rimare. Sufficiet tibi,--_et fatis _denominari legista mereberis, si legum principia & causas, usque ad elementa, discipuli more indagaveris.--Quare tu, princeps serenissime, parvo tempore, parva industria, sufficienter eris in legibus regni Angliae eruditus, dummodo ad ejus apprehensionem tu conferas animum tuum.--Nosco namque ingenii tui perspicacitatem, quo audacter pronuntio quod in legibus illis (licet earum peritia, qualis judicibus necessaria est, vix viginti annorum lucubrationibus acquiratur) tu doctrinam principi congruam in anno uno sufficienter nancisceris; nec interim militarem disciplinam, ad quam tam ardenter anhelas, negliges; sed ea, recreationis loco, etiam anno illo tu ad libitum perfrueris._ _c._ 8.]