The great lawyer lives a
life of toil and excitement.
Often does it seem to "break on the
fragments of a reviving dream." His nerves are worn by the troubles of
others; for the exercise of the profession, as has been said by a
brilliant lawyer, "involves intimate participation with the interests,
hopes, fears, passions, affections, and vicissitudes of many lives."
And yet merely as a lawyer, he seldom leaves any durable vestige of
his fame behind him hardly a fortune. But if his fame is transient
and mortal, there is some equivalent in the pleasure of triumph and
the consciousness of power. There is no man so powerful as the great
lawyer. The wealth and the character of his fellow men often depend
upon him. His clients are sometimes powerful corporations, or cities,
or states. Crowded courts listen to his eloquence year after year; and
no one has greater freedom of speech than he. The orator and
politician may be wafted into a conspicuous place for a brief period,
and fall again when popular favor has cooled; yet the lawyer is rising
still higher, nor can the rise and fall of parties shake him from his
high pedestal; for the tenure of his power is not limited. He is, too,
one of the most serviceable protectors of the liberties of his
country. It was as a lawyer that Otis thundered against writs of
assistance. The fearless zeal of Somers, in defence of the seven
bishops, fanned the torch of liberty at the beginning of the great
English revolution.
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