These remarks imply no reflection upon the profession in particular, but extend to human nature in general; for, whatever may be the occupations of individuals, opportunity and temptation will frequently have the effect of depraving the heart, and breaking down the barriers of morality. For that very reason, it is most necessary and important, that the protection which the law gives against its own evil consequences, should be well known. For other reasons, no less obvious, it is equally indispensable, that the limits of the power, which lawyers derive from the miserable state of the laws, should be well understood. Their duties, liabilities, and incapacities, constitute the rights and privileges of their clients; and the responsibility and risk of clients, on the other hand, often arise out of the rights and privileges which belong to their legal advisers. In the present state of the law, one of the best practical remedies for many of its worst evils, is a widelydiffused acquaintance with topics of that nature, in which there is much less difficulty and obscurity, than in many other branches of legal information.

The communication of such knowledge, so far as relates to "attornies, solicitors, and agents," is the object of the work before us. From that only, indeed, can it be readily obtained; for before its publication, there was no complete work upon that department of the law. In works on other subjects, parts of this were treated of incidentally, and from an immense variety of volumes, many points relating to it might be collected. But a person desirous of obtaining either a general knowledge of the law of attornies, or information on any particular point, could no where seek it with any confidence of success. Such a work as the present, had, therefore, been long a desideratum; and the public at large, no less than the legal profession, may well hail its appearance with pleasure. There is now a source from which they can learn what they want to know; and when it is considered, how constant is the intercourse between solicitors and their clients, how great is the extent of that intercourse, and how important, in general, are the matters to which it relates, we cannot imagine, that they who are most deeply concerned to know the legal' nature and consequences of such a connexion, will be content to remain ignorant, when the means of knowledge are within their reach.

It is, indeed, to those who are not in the profession, that our remarks are more especially addressed. To inform lawyers of the necessity of a work, the want of which, till this was published, they must have almost daily felt, would be insufferable impertinence. Let not our lay readers suppose, that they will find the subject dry and uninteresting. From its very

nature, it comes home to the business and bosoms of all. Every one will find something that concerns him; and many points, which may not be of immediate utility, will be found worthy of notice, as matters of curious speculation.

A work of this kind admits not well of illustration by extract, and we must therefore refer our readers to the author's pages, for proofs in detail of the interesting and important nature of the information he conveys, and of the ability which he has displayed in its communication. It may, however, be satisfactory, before we conclude, to give a brief statement of the leading topics which the author has elucidated.

He begins by explaining the nature, tracing the progress, and marking the limitations, of the profession of an attorney and solicitor, in the course of which are given many particulars, both curious and useful.

The qualifications of attornies and solicitors, their retainer and authority, next occupy attention. Information is here communicated of peculiar importance to those whose sons are being brought up to the profession; but the sections on the extent and determination of an attorney's authority, are of still more general importance.

The chapter on the duties of attornies and solicitors, to which the author next proceeds, treats, amongst their other duties, of those which they owe to their clients, and which those clients will do well to become acquainted with, in order that they may know when they are performed, and when neglected.

In the next chapter, which relates to the responsibility of attornies and solicitors to the summary jurisdiction ofthe courts, is contained a mass of the most valuable information to all who have any sort of legal business to transact. The sections on misconduct towards clients, on negligence and unskilfulness, on the payment of money, and the delivery of deeds and papers, on the delivery of bills of costs, on taxations, on bills and charges which are or are not taxable, on costs of taxation, and on proceedings upon summary applications, are, as the very titles of them shew, of the utmost importance in their nature; and the knowledge which clients may collect from them, would shew them how to obtain relief from misconduct and imposition.

The following chapter, on the liabilities of attornies and solicitors, is scarcely less important. The sections on actions at the suit of clients for damages on account of neglect, misconduct, and unskilfulness, on actions at the suit of third parties for misconduct, malpractice, and other causes, on the protection afforded by the opinions of barristers and special pleaders, on the statute of limitations as applicable to the

claims against attornies, on liability to bankruptcy, and on liability for the acts of clerks, communicate information, of which no person, who stands in the situation of a client, ought to be ignorant.

From the liabilities of attornies and solicitors, our author proceeds to their rights and privileges. As they involve the liabilities of the client, he is equally concerned in the subjects of these, as in those of the preceding chapters. Those sections which relate to the right of action and suit, to the general lien upon deeds, papers, and securities, to the lien upon funds in court, and other monies; to the lien upon judgments and awards, to partial and limited liens, to cases where no lien can be maintained, to set-off, and to privileges when sued, deserve great and general attention.

Those parts of the chapter on the disabilities of attornies and solicitors, which treat of uncertificated attornies, and those not in practice, of disabilities in suits, and of disabilities to make purchases, and receive gratuities from clients, contain many points of great practical utility.

The last chapter, relating to agents, chiefly concerns attornies; yet there are some points, even in that, which are important to clients also..

From the syllabus we have now given, our readers may see, that Mr. Maugham has taken a masterly and comprehensive view of his subject. We shall only add, that the execution is worthy of the plan, and that we hope it will not be long before we shall have another opportunity of calling attention to the labours of an author, who has shewn himself qualified to shine, no less in the composition of useful and important legal treatises, than in the production of the lighter, but more elegant, works of polite literature.*

Voyage de Polyclète, ou Lettres Romaines. Abrégé de l'Ouvrage original de Monsieur le Baron de Théis, à l'Usage de la Jeunesse, par M. de Rouillon.-Londres: chez J. Souter, St. Paul's Church-yard; et Treuttel, Wurtz and Co. Soho Square: et à Norwich, chez S. Wilkin. 1825.

To make a good abridgment is undoubtedly a very difficult task. It is one which requires no ordinary penetration and judgment. Yet, strange as it may appear, every scribbler

We here allude to Mr. Maugham's Treatise on the Principles of the Usury Laws, and to his Outlines of Character.

thinks himself perfectly capacitated to perform it. And what is worse, he thinks every work will admit of shortening. Thus it is we find the press continually teeming with productions of this species, which, having fulfilled their grand object, by putting money into the publisher's pocket, are condemned to the dusty oblivion of the shelf, or some less noble fate. We have, therefore, narrowly watched these ephemera, in order to warn the public, lest the smoothness of an advertisement, the euphony of a name, or the hired flattery of a review, should deceive them.

The adventures of the son of Crantor have long honoured the name of the Baron de Théis, not only by the truth of their description of the Roman manners, customs, and institutions, but also by the elegance of style, the excellence of sentiment, and the perfection of morality, with which they are ornamented. It may be said, that the same information is contained in Aulus Gellius, in Paulus Manutius, in Sigonius, in Fenestella, in Kennet, or in Adams; but, though learned, it is by no means interesting. The travels of Polycletes are both learned and amusing: they preserve the latter quality, without detracting from the former. Such a work must be of peculiar advantage to youth engaged in the acquirement of classical knowledge, since the difficulties, which continually present themselves, are so apt to disgust them. Any book which would lessen the number of these difficulties, or reconcile their young minds to the labour of overcoming them, must be desirable. Unfortunately the size of the original work, in three volumes octavo, was rather too large to become a general school-book: but it was one which might well admit of abridgment; and thus the main assistance to be derived from it to the juvenile student could be secured. The book now before us is an abridgment in duodecimo. From a careful comparison of it with the original, whence the compilation is made, we are perfectly disposed to confirm the favourable opinion of the reviewers, when it first appeared in the year 1822. M. de Rouillon has preserved those letters, which contain the information most necessary to the student. In the work of the Baron de Théis, though important in every part, there are some letters which are not so immediately indispensable to youth as others; and, therefore, as this abridgment is intended for their use, the selection was judicious. It were useless to make extracts from a book, which is undoubtedly well known to our readers; and we shall, therefore, conclude by giving it the utmost praise which any book of this nature can ever deserve, namely, that the abridger has fulfilled his promises, and has afforded a valuable facility to youth in their classical researches.

Zoné, a Levantine Sketch; and other Poems. 12mo. pp. 110. -London, Knight and Lacey, 1825.

THE short preface, prefixed by the author to this poem, will best explain his object.

"The following Sketch was written to illustrate the union of sentiment and the controlling influence of virtuous refinement over ardent admiration. It is presumed that the allusion to the doctrine of Plato may not be deemed of too grave a character to be associated with the friendship of Alfieri and of Petrarch, and even with this simple tale; since the essence of the Athenian philosophy consists in the superiority of mental enjoyment over the pleasures of sense-effects which may be synonymous with the influence of reason and of instinct on humanity.

"The instances of Natural History are introduced as emblematical of that love with which creative power has endowed the universe: the perfections of woman completing the charm.

"These stanzas (for the deficiency of incident must vitiate the appellation of a story) are presented with all the tremulous diffidence which must ever attend the introduction, much more the intrusion, of a stranger on public notice, and, above all, of one who is conscious of his inability, either

"To point a moral, or adorn a tale.”

If the attempt be not eminently successful, it is perhaps as much so as was to be expected: it is, at least, not a failure. It is a subject not, indeed, the most easy to treat in an interesting manner. We opine that this is not the age of Platonic love: if it ever existed, save in the dreams of poets and anchorites, it is by-gone now. Who can look on woman, and yet be Plato? If Zoné possessed but half the charms which our author has bestowed on her, one look from her-one kiss, (and her lover Melander does venture to snatch that unplatonic felicity,) would be sufficient to unsettle the resolves of the hardest heart. Such love was surely not made for man ;-woman may do as she pleases; that is, if man will let her.

The poem is written in the Spenserian stanza, generally correct, and often harmonious. If some of the similes are a little strained and fanciful, others are natural and appropriate. The author, like most poets, is a great admirer of moonlight, and his descriptions of the queen of night are poetical and natural,-qualities, which, like the relations of man and wife, ought never to be sundered.

The second line in the following stanza is very good.