services,
five shillings and sixpence a week, (that is, a shilling for every foot
and a penny for every odd inch), his last rise (I mean in money,) having
taken place about a month ago.

Horatio was a lad of as much spirit as any boy I ever saw. I do not
believe he had any liking for the profession, but had entered it simply
as his first step in life, utterly in the dark as to whither it would
lead him. It was, I believe, some disappointment to his father that on
no occasion when he interrogated him as to his "getting on," could he
elicit any more cheering reply than "very well." And yet Horatio, during
the time he had been with Mr. Prigg, had had opportunities of studying
character in its ever-varying phases as presented by Courts of Justice
and kindred places.

"Kindred places!" Yes, I mean "Judges' Chambers," where any boy may
speedily be impressed with the dignity and simplicity of the practice of
the Law, especially since the passing of the Judicature Act. To my lay
readers who may wish to know what "Judges' Chambers" means, I may observe
that it is a place where innumerable proceedings may be taken for
lengthening a case, embarrassing the clients, and spending money. It is,
to put it in another form, a sort of Grands Mulets in the Mont Blanc of
litigation, whence, if by the time you get there you are not thoroughly
"pumped out," you may go on farther and in due time reach the top,
whence, I am told, there is a most magnificent view.

But even the beauty of the proceedings at Judges' Chambers failed to
impress Horatio with the dignity of the profession. He lounged among the
crowds of chattering boys and youths who "cheeked" one another before
that august personage "the Master," declaring that "Master" couldn't do
this and "Master" couldn't do that; that the other side was too late or
too soon; that his particulars were too meagre or too full; or his
answers to interrogatories too evasive or not sufficiently diffuse, and
went on generally as if the whole object of the law were to raise as many
difficulties as possible in the way of its application. As if, in fact,
it had fenced itself in with such an undergrowth of brambles that no
amount of ability and perseverance could arrive at it.

From what I perceived of the character of Horatio, I should say that he
was a scoffer. He was a mild, good-tempered, well-behaved boy enough,
but ridiculed many proceedings which he ought to have reverenced. He was
a gr