stand forth like a true man--obey the stern order of a PANDE
MANUM, and endure my pawmies without wincing, like one that is
determined not to be the better for them. In a word, before I
knew thee, I knew nothing.

At college it was the same. When I was incorrigibly idle, your
example and encouragement roused me to mental exertion, and
showed me the way to intellectual enjoyment. You made me an
historian, a metaphysician (INVITA MINERVA)--nay, by Heaven! you
had almost made an advocate of me, as well as of yourself. Yes,
rather than part with you, Alan, I attended a weary season at the
Scotch Law Class; a wearier at the Civil; and with what excellent
advantage, my notebook, filled with caricatures of the professors
and my fellow students, is it not yet extant to testify?

Thus far have I held on with thee untired;

and, to say truth, purely and solely that I might travel the same
road with thee. But it will not do, Alan. By my faith, man, I
could as soon think of being one of those ingenious traders who
cheat little Master Jackies on the outside of the partition with
tops, balls, bats, and battledores, as a member of the long-robed
fraternity within, who impose on grown country gentlemen with
bouncing brocards of law. [The Hall of the Parliament House of
Edinburgh was, in former days, divided into two unequal portions
by a partition, the inner side of which was consecrated to the
use of the Courts of Justice and the gentlemen of the law; while
the outer division was occupied by the stalls of stationers,
toymen, and the like, as in a modern bazaar. From the old play
of THE PLAIN DEALER, it seems such was formerly the case with