In due course I was articled to my worthy uncle, the Clerk of the
Peace, and, had I possessed my present experience, should have known
that it was a diplomatic move of the most profound policy to enable
me, if anything happened to him, to succeed to that important dignity.

Had I been ambitious of wealth, there were other offices which my
uncle held, to the great satisfaction of the county as well as his
own. These would naturally descend to me, and I should have been in a
position of great prominence in the county, with a very respectable
income.

But I hated the drudgery of an attorney's office. In six months I saw
enough of its documentary evidence to convince me that I hated it
from my heart, and that nothing on earth would induce me to become a
solicitor. I took good care, meek as I was, to show this determination
to my friends. It was my only chance of escape. But while remaining
there it was my duty to work, however hateful the task, and I did so.

Even this, to me, most odious business had its advantages in
after-life. I attended one morning with my uncle the Petty Sessions of
Hertford, where, no doubt, I was supposed to enlarge my knowledge
of sessions practice; it certainly did so, for I knew nothing, and
received a lesson, which is not only my earliest recollection, but my
first experience in _Advocacy_.

At this Hertford Petty Sessional Division the chairman was a somewhat
pompous clergyman, but very devoted to his duties. He was strict in
his application of the law when he knew it, but it was fortunate for
some delinquents, although unfortunate for others, that he did not
always possess sufficient knowledge to act independently of his