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[326] are; but I cannot disguise the feeling akin to envy with which I regard the noble position of the English barrister, with the intervention of the attorney to protect him from the feelings and prejudices of his client, and with a code of professional morals which makes his daily duties a career of the most honorable employment. Grateful I am that I am an American; for I would not give up the priceless institutions of my country (abused and perverted as they are), the purity of morals in society, and the universal competence which prevails, in exchange for all that I have seen abroad; but still I see many things in other countries which I should be glad to have adopted among us. Let us then not sigh that we are not Europeans, but cling to our own institutions and model of society, and endeavor to engraft upon it all that is good and fitting in other countries. Such infamous professional sentiments as I have heard avowed by lawyers at our bar, and by a man like——, would bring a brand upon an English lawyer as bad as Cain's. I remember here, with a thrill of pleasure, the beautiful lessons on this subject contained in your Inaugural Discourse. I long for an opportunity of discussing this subject with you face to face, and pouring out to you the various results of my observation. In a hurried letter, written while my mind is distracted by various excitements, I cannot go into detail. All this I must reserve for the ‘thousand and one’ nights after my return, when I hope to fight all my battles o'er again; to conduct you to Westminster Hall; to point out its vast proportions, its heaven-aspiring roof, its deep echo, its prints of antiquity; to enter the different court-rooms, small in size but full of reminiscences, which open on one side of the great hall; to gaze on the impressive figures before us, in judicial robes and wigs, seeming rather the personation of the law than flesh and blood; or, perhaps, I may in my story marshal you to the Coronation, admire its gorgeousness, and dream again of feudal glories; or enter the salons of some of the fashionable and elevated, and see again the array of beauty and bravery. But I am dreaming. When will that future come? Believe I am more than happy at present; but I look forward with a thrill to the day that shall once more let me see my friends, and in the enjoyment of quiet and confiding friendship give me the truest happiness. Thanks for your letter (I have forgotten the date,—1848, I think) in which you have looked into the future. I have much to say on that subject. But how can I write it all?

Affectionate recollections to Dane Hall, and to Mrs. Greenleaf and all your family, and to yourself.


To George S. Hillard.

London, July 3, 1838.
my dear Hillard,—You love literature better than law, and I know will be better pleased to hear of the men who move in the quiet walks where haunt the poet, the author, and the artist, than of the gowned and wigged followers of the law. Of judges and lawyers I see enough daily; much, also,


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