८ of Mr Moncrieff. Already he is a great and profound lawyer, so far as knowledge is concerned, and the natural energy of his intellect will by every-day's practice increase its power of throwing new light upon what is known to himself and to others. Moreover, in these Scottish Courts, a very great proportion of the most important pleadings are carried on in writing,-a department in which Mr Moncrieff has few rivals at present, and in all probability will ere long have none. For it is not to be supposed, that either Mr Jeffrey or Mr Cockburn, or any other barrister who possesses the more popular and fascinating kinds of elocution, will ever chuse to interfere, to any considerable extent, with a style of practice so much more laborious. It is quite evident, that Mr Moncrieff is within sight of the very summit of his profession; and it does not seem as if there were any one lower down the hill, who might be likely, by any bold and sudden movement, to reach the post of honour before him. Another speaker of considerable note is Mr Murray, the same gentleman of whom I spoke as presiding at the Burns's Dinner last month. This barrister is in some respects so very near the point of excellence, that the first time one hears him, one cannot help wondering that he should not be more talked of than he is. Of all his brother advocates, with the single exception of Mr Cranstoun, he has the most courtly presence and demeanour. His features are good, although not striking; his smile has something very agreeable in it; and his gestures are as elegant as Mr Cranstoun's, and infinitely more easy. When he gets upon a sarcastic key, he keeps dallying with it in a very light, loving, and graceful manner, and is altogether very much calculated for de lighting any popular audience in an ordinary case. As pleasantry, however, is his chief forte, it cannot be expected that he should attain through that alone to the first-rate eminence of favour and reputation, so long as he has to enter the lists with the far more pure and classical wit of Mr Cranstoun, the more copious and brilliant wit of Mr Jeffrey, and the more effectual, irresistible, sheer humour of Mr Clerk or Mr Cockburn. As for pathos, I hope he will never attempt it; if he does adventure upon such an Icarian flight, it will certainly be, like his prototype, mox daturus nomina ponto. These are all that are ever in the present time talked of as great speakers at the Scottish Bar. At whatever corner of the Parliament-House you may happen to take your stand, you are almost sure to be within hearing of one or other of them, or within the rush of listeners setting in towards the quarter where one or other of them is expected shortly to make his appearance. There are several, however, who would very fain be supposed to belong to the same class with these, and some, no doubt, who may hereafter belong to it. Among the former, conspicuous and loud, I found my old acquaintance Mr J. P. Grant, for he has deserted Westminster-Hall, and resumed of late the advocate's gown he had worn here in the days of his youth; chiefly, I am told, with an eye to the new Jury Court in civil causes, where he expected his English practice would be of great service to him. I do not discover, however, that his return to the Edinburgh Bar has borne much resemblance either "To a re-appearing star, His extravagant vehemence of gesture, and his foaming cataract of words, seem to be regarded with rather a mortifying kind of indifference by the Juries; and as for the Judges, nothing can be less likely to prove effective in demolishing their quiet and resolute defensiveness, than that incessant crash of ill-directed artillery which is levelled against them by Mr Grant. He quite mis-calculates his elevation; there is a most mistaken curve in his parabolas; and the shot of this noisy engineer are all spent before they reach the point at which they are aimed. In short, Mr Grant is by no means listened to here in Edinburgh with the same attention which he is used to receive from the House of Commons; so that the rule about lawyers making bad speakers in Parliament may be considered as exactly contradicted in this instance. Not that Mr Grant is a good speaker even in Parliament, but there he certainly is a useful one, and apparently an acceptable one. It would be too much for poor human nature to meet with equal success in every thing. But although I am no admirer of Mr Grant's eloquence, I assure you I was very glad to meet once more with an old acquaintance, for whose character, as a gentleman, no one can have a higher respect, and for whose good company over a bottle of good claret, nobody can have a more sincere relish than myself. I spent a very pleasant evening with him yesterday at Mr J's, where we talked over a thousand old Temple stories, and were as happy as |