the style of most indexes runs.

When this man

ner of writing is comprehensive, or pregnant, it is called abridgment, of which there are divers large ones of the common law in print, as Fitzherbert, Brook, &c. and are like those the civilians call summists, which, with them, are not allowed as authority. Certainly it is an error for a student to peruse such; it being like reading over a dictionary, which never teacheth a language. And, for that reason, Coke's comment upon Littleton ought not to be read by students, to whom it is, at least, unprofitable; for it is but a commonplace, and much more obscure than the bare text without it. And, to say truth, that text needs it not; for it is so plain of itself that a comment, properly so called, doth but obscure it.* In the disposition of the titles, he chose rather to take many than few, and thereby to become forced (as some have done) to make out the rest by subdivisions; for it is easier to consult with many generals, to which the alphabet leans, than few with many subdivisions; the latter requires an exact skill in the

In his "Discourse on the Study of the Laws," (p. 22.) North has observed that the Commentary of Sir Edward Coke "is the confusion of a student, and breeds more disorder in his brains than any other book can, that is not a mere index and abridgment." The practice of placing this inestimable work in the hands of the student, as an elementary treatise, is now deservedly discontinued.

method, which, though well understood, is often forgot:* And therein Mr. Keeble's table to his statute-book is faulty; for if one would look for the title Executors, he must go to title Administrators, because the author thought fit to make that the general title for all, or most, testamentary matters. Were it not better to make executors, probate, devastavit, &c. titles express? He made divers essays towards a commonplace, which did not succeed: but it purchased experience, at the expense of so much paper, before his method and way of writing was settled and obvious to him; and then he made a very good one, such as may be styled an abridgment, which now remains with the Right Honourable the Lord Guilford. He used to say that no writing, though in a commonplace, however improper, was of any ill consequence; for, by making searches difficult, the very going to several titles, for the same inquiry, refreshed the memory of other things: and it was not at all amiss that commonplace sentences, as some may touch divers matters, should be wrote under as many titles. He used to say that the advantage of his commonplace was not, as a parson's

The correctness and good sense of these observations have been acknowledged by a late writer, who has availed himself of the hints here thrown out in the arrangement of his valuable and useful volumes.-(See Starkie's Treatise on Evidence, vol. i. p. 13, note.)

concordance, to help him to cases, but, when he remembered he had read of a case, to help him to find it; and then his little note, there, brought into his mind the agitation of the matter at large in the book; and, for this reason, the commonplace book is of little use to any but to him that made it. For the law is inculcated by reading the long arguments to be found in the books, where reasons are given pro and con, and not by any extracts, however curiously made. And the great art of commonplacing lying in the judicious, but very contracted, note of the matter, a stranger may pass it by, and not know whether it concerns his inquiry or not.

ney General

favour.

His admission into the conversation of Mr. Mr. AttorAttorney-General Palmer (whereof the happy con- Palmer's sequences are noted afterwards) proved of great use to him in the direction of his reading. For Mr. Attorney (whose good nature and affability was such, that a young gentleman might demand any thing of him that tended to the advancement of his studies; and he would answer fully and friendly to it) was a very great book lawyer, and yet never made any commonplace; which is a rare instance, and a sign of a great and distinct memory but yet not so great as some have had, who have been so full of titles of books and folios that their understanding was kept truly under, and they knew nothing else. For this reason old

Choice of books.

Serjeant Waller was called Index; and people went for his opinion, only to bring away a list of quotations to assist other counsel that understood better. I doubt not but his lordship was encouraged by Mr. Attorney to commonplace so much as he did, whereof the want might be sensible to himself that had not done so, but, too late perhaps, wished he had done it. And the course and method of study, which his lordship used and recommended to his friends, was derived from the same fountain. And of that, as far as I have observed from his lordship's discourse, was to use a variety, and not to plod on in the same tract too long.

There are of law-books institutions of various sorts, and reports of cases (now) almost innumerable: the latter bear most the controversial law, and are read as authority such as may be quoted: and I may say the gross of law lecture lies in them. But to spend weeks and months wholly in them, is like horses in a string before a loaden waggon. They are indeed a careful sort of reading, and chiefly require commonplacing, and that makes the work go on slowly. His lordship therefore used to intermix some institutionary reading with them, as, after a fulness of the reports in a

When North wrote, the number of reports certainly did not amount to fifty volumes; at present they are upwards of four hundred.

morning, about noon to take a repast in Stamford, Crompton, or the Lord Coke's Pleas of the Crown, and Jurisdiction of Courts, Manwood of the Forest Law, Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium; and also to look over some of the antiquarian books, as Britton, Bracton, Fleta, Fortescue, Hengham, the old tenures, narrationes nova, the old natura brevium, and the diversity of courts. These, at times, for change and refreshment, being books all fit to be known. And those, that, as to authority, are obsoleted, go rounder off-hand, because they require little commonplacing, and that only as to matter very singular and remarkable, and such as the student fancies he shall desire afterwards to recover. And, besides all this, the day afforded him room for a little history, especially of England, modern books, and controversy in print. But now, as to the English history, I may add a modern improvement, viz. the two volumes of Dr. Brady's are added to the store, and compiled so religiously upon the very text, letters and syllables of the authorities, especially those upon record, that the work may justly pass for an antiquarian law-book. In this manner he ordered his own studies, but with excursions into humanity and arts, beyond what may be suitable to the genius of every young student in the law.

And he was most sensible of the benefit of dis- Employcourse, which I mentioned before; for I have discourse.

ment of