"Pho, my dear Aubrey; nonsense! _They've_ enough of my time, surely, without grudging me half an hour's conversation with a friend--ah, ha!" They were both quickly seated--and within a minute or two's time the Attorney-General--_more suo_--had _got to business_--the business of the visit. Aubrey perceived the rapidity of the movement; but nothing could be _kinder_ than the manner of his companion, however distinct and decisive his intimation that time was very precious. He approved entirely of Mr. Aubrey's coming to the bar, and strongly recommended him not to lose one day in entering upon the serious practical study of it; informing him that, as an university man, within three years' time he would be eligible to be called to the bar. "I'll call you myself, Aubrey, if you will allow me," said he; but before that period had arrived, he had taken his seat upon the Woolsack, as Lord High Chancellor of England! "Undoubtedly," said he, among other things, when pressed by Aubrey about the difficulties to be encountered in adopting the legal profession--"the acquisition of the _technical_ knowledge will be for some little time rather troublesome; but a twelvemonth's steady study by a man who is in earnest, and accustomed to real _work_, will make a vast inroad on it. Everything you master, you see, helps to master so much more. Three years' serious application to the law, by a man like you, my dear Aubrey, will place you far a-head of the mob of men at the bar. Besides, 'tis not the study but the _practice_ of the law that teaches law most effectually.... Always have an eye to _principle_, referring _everything_ to it. Resolve thoroughly to understand the smallest details; and it will be a wonderful assistance in fixing them for practical use in your mind, to learn as much as you can, of the _reasons_ and _policy_ in which they originated. You'll find Reeves' History of the English Law of infinite service to you; I should study it in the evenings; 'tis full of interest and value in every point of view. I read every word of it, very carefully, soon after I left college; and, by the way, I'll tell you another book, by which I did the same--the State Trials: ay, you could hardly believe me, if I were to tell you how much I have read of them--speeches, examinations, cross-examination of witnesses, reply, and summing up. That's where I first learned how to examine and cross-examine a witness! Consider, the counsel employed were, you know, generally first-rate men, and exerted themselves, on such occasions, to the utmost, and the records of their procedure show you the best possible style of doing business. And there you also learn a great deal of _constitutional_ law.... You ask me how I get through so much? To be sure, one _has_ enough to do, and I'm afraid I neglect a good deal; but the great secret is--_attention_, and to _one thing_ at a time. The sun's rays scattered are comparatively powerless; condense