e will take a walk through the temple,
and then to dinner with what appetite we may--so come along. You have
heard of the Temple, situated close to the Bar, which takes its name.
It is principally occupied by Lawyers, and Law-officers, a useful and
important body of men, whose lives are devoted to the study and
practice of the law of the land, to keep peace and harmony among the
~245~~individuals of society, though there are, unfortunately, too many
pretenders to legal knowledge, who prey upon the ignorant and live by
litigation{1}--such as persons who have

1 In a recent meeting at the Egyptian Hall, a celebrated
Irish Barrister is reported to have said, that 'blasphemy
was the only trade that prospered.' The assertion, like many
others in the same speech, was certainly a bold one, and one
which the gentleman would have found some difficulty in
establishing. If, however, the learned gentleman had
substituted the word law for blasphemy, he would have been
much nearer the truth.

Of all the evils with which this country is afflicted, that
of an excessive passion for law is the greatest. The sum
paid annually in taxes is nothing to that which is spent in
litigation. Go into our courts of justice, and you will
often see sixty or seventy lawyers at a time; follow them
home, and you will find that they are residing in the
fashionable parts of the town, and living in the most
expensive manner. Look at the lists of the two houses of
parliament, and you will find lawyers predominate in the
House of Commons; and, in the upper house, more peers who
owe their origin to the law, than have sprung from the army
and navy united. There is scarcely a street of any
respectability without an attorney, not to mention the
numbers that are congregated in the inns of court. In London
alone, we are told, there are nearly three thousand
certificated attornies, and in the country they are numerous
in proportion.

While on the subject of lawyers, we shall add a few
unconnected anecdotes, which will exhibit the difference
between times past and present.

In the Rolls of Parliament for the year 1445, there is a
petition from two counties in England, stating that the
number of attornies had lately increased from sixteen to
twenty-four, whereby the peace of those counties had been