round him many of the high and
generous spirits of the time. The _Critic_ is distinguished by a more
than usual proportion of thought, and by very little of the small
superficial cant of criticism.

It will excite some surprise that Mr Cox has found time, amidst his
numberless duties, to prepare a professional work of considerable
magnitude, and of solid merit and utility. Such, we take leave to say,
is the _Advocate_, of which the first volume is now before us.[2] It
is a book which, though intended primarily for young legal aspirants,
will also instruct, and indeed entertain the public. It is more than
this for those who can pursue the spirit of a work through its
details, and see the character of an individual or a class rising
palpably out of reasonings, maxims, and material circumstances. Such
readers will give a hero to the pages before us, and follow him in his
career with more than the interest that waits upon romance. They will
observe, in the first place, his natural advantages: 'Has he a healthy
frame, capable of enduring long-continued exertion of mind and body,
the confinement of the study, the excitement of practice, the crowded
court by day, the vigil of thought by night? Can he subsist with a
sleep of five hours? Can he, without dyspepsy, endure irregular
meals--hasty eatings and long fastings? If he be not blessed by nature
with the vigorous constitution that will bear all this, and more, let
him not dream of adventuring into the arena of advocacy.' Good lungs
and a strong voice are indispensable: strong rather than
agreeable--let him even scream or squeak, as some of his brethren do,
but scream or squeak with _power_. His mental qualifications are--keen
and rapid perception, sound judgment, power of concentration, and that
imagination which paints in words. Of these, the first is the
cornerstone of the mental character of the advocate. Of the moral
qualities, courage and self-confidence must be combined with caution,
and the whole elevated by honesty and truthfulness of nature. At this
point the philosophical reader will perhaps demur, and inquire whether
those clients who are in the wrong find any difficulty in obtaining
the most talented defenders--for a con-si-der-ation. But we will
postpone that issue.

In addition to his natural qualifications, the advocate must possess
what is called a small pecuniary independence: 'The practical
conclusion we would deduce from the review we have taken of the