leiſure or reſolution ſufficient to enter upon a new ſcheme of ſtudy at a new place of inſtruction. Wherefore few gentlemen now reſort to the inns of court, but ſuch for whom the knowlege of practice is abſolutely neceſſary; ſuch, I mean, as are intended for the profeſſion: the reſt of our gentry, (not to ſay our nobility alſo) having uſually retired to their eſtates, or viſited foreign kingdoms, or entered upon public life, without any inſtruction in the laws of the land; and indeed with hardly any opportunity of gaining inſtruction, unleſs it can be afforded them in theſe ſeats of learning.
And that theſe are the proper places, for affording aſſiſtances of this kind to gentlemen of all ſtations and degrees, cannot (I think) with any colour of reaſon be denied. For not one of the objections, which are made to the inns of court and chancery, and which I have juſt enumerated, will hold with regard to the univerſities. Gentlemen may here aſſociate with gentlemen of their own rank and degree. Nor are their conduct and ſtudies left entirely to their own diſcretion; but regulated by a diſcipline ſo wiſe and exact, yet ſo liberal, ſo ſenſible and manly, that their conformity to it’s rules (which does at preſent ſo much honour to our youth) is not more the effect of conſtraint, than of their own inclinations and choice. Neither need they apprehend too long an avocation hereby from their private concerns and amuſements, or (what is a more noble object) the ſervice of their friends and their country. This ſtudy will go hand in hand with their other purſuits: it will obſtruct none of them; it will ornament and aſſiſt them all.
But if, upon the whole, there are any ſtill wedded to monaſtic prejudice, that can entertain a doubt how far this ſtudy is properly and regularly academical, ſuch perſons I am afraid either have not conſidered the conſtitution and deſign of an univerſity, or elſe think very meanly of it. It muſt be a deplorable narrowneſs of mind, that would confine theſe ſeats of inſtruction to the limited views of one or two learned profeſſions. To the praiſe
