journalist, house builder, surgeon's assistant and clerk in the Interior Department. Those who profess to know, declare that Whitman was a poet, and so he may prop erly may be included in this list. Richard Henry Dana, who wrote that very popular book, "Two Years before the Mast," studied law under Judge Story, and was admitted to practice. Charles Dudley Warner was on a time also of the profession. Thomas Nelson Page practiced at the bar, and so did John Hay. General Lew Wal lace was studying law at the opening of the Mexican War. • He went, returned, com pleted his studies, and practiced in Indiana, until he again went forth as a soldier in the rebellion of '61. Again he returned to his profession, but indulged during his spare time in literary pursuits, out of which indul gence came " The Fair God," and later the more famous "Ben Hur." Henry Jamts entered the Harvard Law School in 1862, and presumably continued his studies in the profession until 1865, in which year we find him entering the field of literature. John Fiske, the historian, is another of our authors who studied law at Harvard. Of our critics, Hamilton Wright Mabie was called to the bar, and practiced for some time. Coming now to the younger school of English writers, we find that Anthony Hope Hawkins, after leaving Oxford, went to Lon don and read law at Lincoln's Inn and the Middle Temple. He was called to the bar in 1887. His first brief was for the defense of a lot of ruffians who were charged with assaulting a policeman. He was very ner vous and his clients were all convicted. Briefs coming slowly, he took to literature to eke out his small income. Stanley Weyman, who has been called the " Dumas of the hour," was admitted to the bar in 1881, and practiced his profession for ten years- His first brief was in a case about a tailor's bill. Charles Dickens, Junior, was on the opposite side, and Weyman lost. During his decade of practice he had been
flirting with literature, and finally she wooed him from the law altogether. H. Rider Haggard was called to the bar some fifteen years ago. He commenced his career at the Probate and Divorce Court, and wrote "King Solomon's Mines" in the leisure evenings of his first term. He awoke one morning to find himself famous, not as a barrister, but as a novelist. Quiller Couch, who despite some very fine work seems somehow only to have half arrived, intending to study for the law, but made such a suc cess with his first book that he gave up the idea altogether. George Meredith was trained for the profession, but he preferred to become a poet, in which capacity he made his entrance into literature. Robert Louis Stevenson's father intended that his son should follow the family profession of civil engineering; but Robert had not the taste for this and he made known to his father that he had already chosen a life work and would be a writer. The old man was pained and anx ious. He could not see success in litera ture, and he told his son that at any rate he should have a profession to fall back upon. in the event of his own choice proving an unfortunate one. And so it was that Stevenson was introduced to law. A bio grapher says: "His position in the office was neither that of a clerk nor of an appren tice, but merely of a person gaining some knowledge of the business. He never re ceived any salary, and, as is usual with aspirants for the bar, his position was in no way subject to the ordinary office discipline." Our author was but an indifferent law student. One of his co-workers says he remembers that Stevenson made no less than five errors on two short pages of one deed that he drew up. His thoughts were on other things. In spite of this lack of interest, however, he passed examination with credit, and was called to the bar. He gave away the few briefs he got, and was soon im mersed in his clear literature.
