is bound to give it
honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the
judge. Consider, Sir; what is the purpose of courts of justice? It is,
that every man may have his cause fairly tried, by men appointed to try
causes. A lawyer is not to tell what he knows to be a lie: he is not to
produce what he knows to be a false deed; but he is not to usurp the
province of the jury and of the judge, and determine what shall be the
effect of evidence,--what shall be the result of legal argument. As it
rarely happens that a man is fit to plead his own cause, lawyers are a
class of the community, who, by study and experience, have acquired the
art and power of arranging evidence, and of applying to the points at
issue what the law has settled. A lawyer is to do for his client all
that his client might fairly do for himself, if he could. If, by a
superiority of attention, of knowledge, of skill, and a better method of
communication, he has the advantage of his adversary, it is an
advantage to which he is entitled. There must always be some advantage,
on one side or other; and it is better that advantage should be had by
talents than by chance. Lawyers were to undertake no causes till they
were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a
trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined it might be
found a very just claim[58].' This was sound practical doctrine, and
rationally repressed a too refined scrupulosity[59] of conscience.

Emigration was at this time a common topick of discourse[60]. Dr.
Johnson regretted it as hurtful to human happiness: 'For (said he) it
spreads mankind, which weakens the defence of a nation, and lessens the
comfort of living. Men, thinly scattered, make a shift, but a bad shift,
without many things. A smith is ten miles off: they'll do without a nail
or a staple. A taylor is far from them: they'll botch their own clothes.
It is being concentrated which produces high convenience[61].'

Sir William Forbes, Mr. Scott, and I, accompanied Mr. Johnson to the
chapel[62], founded by Lord Chief Baron Smith, for the Service of the
Church of England. The Reverend Mr. Carre, the senior clergyman,
preached from these words, 'Because the Lord reigneth, let the earth be
glad[63].' I was sorry to think Mr. Johnson did not attend to the
sermon, Mr. Carre's low voice not being strong enough to reach his
hearing. A selection of Mr. Carre's sermons has, since his death, been
p