Star.
London, England, 1818-08-13 00:00:00

TO TriEEDITOR. OP .T 111: STAR.

. . .
SIR--At thie leisure time of the year, you may
pethaps be able tOdevnte a part of your Paper to Fora
out to your Iteadcra the care and caution that shquld
be used by them in all cases where it is neceuary.fos
them to consult with Professional Men in the dlipAacal,
acquirement of their prOperty, and in the manage-
merit of their.aCairs. I shall, therefore, without tur-
ther ccAnnient, quota, on this subject, the preface to
AcpLard's Touchstone Veva:Mom Aqurances.—l am,
Sir, your obedient serraitt, 13EA-Atte.

" Calling to mind (says that great writer) that the common as-
surances and conveyancrs of the kingdom (whereupon Cie where
Estates, and consequently the liv..lihood_,s of very many depend.)
are matters of -creak inspertartrn, and that concern most isucc
and that ti...n.fure the !tail Laming thereof =hut needs .M wt
great and daily use. d^¢Lans,i4laing "104 the "ehiefociii;3
every win re by the rah adventures of mntiry ignorant re t. 7,,
that mad4li so touch in thew weighty inatte-v, there be infnave
.almr.st id' every r.4ty vet ccs.fitient„ Tr? u;.
tliarAttcrrl?;, (n.eilltet or a loaf
Scrieencr, that may perlia;ss have innurJawteolts in :heir 'noises,
but never read mere latr than s on the backride of T.irl .torw
an igaorrit Vicar, or It teeny he a bAse%ntitit, elf
weaver, that have no roue beoks of Loy lies their Lass". 49
than they have law in choir h,uuls„ awl yet as ::?•.• a;:ol ;sties
if pi' viU baiete eataselsek Hahne to jthlge of a ecnrey
and by the hides of. Law (of all which they are ignorant) %I
determine of the 54mi:hand goodness of a title or mate aln,. .:4‘
made, or to make a conveyance or transfer, the propcity•
things from manly man, u the most Learned and best Cg fade
for of them all; and therefore undertake with great r.onlideist'o,
and dispatch, witisoat aay scruple,"any hddness whatsocvcr tit
fired to thiir hands; whetein they deal with men in their meat. %
as many that arc called physicians (but is truth empiric') 4,;.1
with men la titer bodieS—(an er.2.,4aler Vie conativiff,o
dexterity tu,il
• is a wevler ; cacrpt that tali:4 be f.IQ,
tiles. richly it must be Urn with them, or they mud
by c4,l2Citi42, or eltiyilaattXot have It at ail. Let if they.eall
tea nee diey have good precedents, I wit; tell them that it &v.,'
eamesanetr must be as trefl al* k judge sf tkevaliZty !e:e
end priatiiiierralatoeshis deal, 41 Cantley (which a Mall ea. reeves
tio ...41.1•411 knowlestga of the rules of law, no more than a 1.7444 tan
can judge of eoloury, as to make; de"iiseise estate and con ve-•aira
by a good precedent ; for mire e* per cai"sas wipe, as the
sopber speaks. And as well, for aught I know, may a MAD be an
titysician by certain medicines only, that ueser read
grourds of physic, as such men be able conveyamers by
their precedents only, that never read so much at the maxims
of law, nuEsios idms rat in 01101:Nil, for niy part, A
most ingenuously yraess, that I. can scarce look into a tide or
middle with a conveyance of any weight, wherein I earmeit
make and move more doubts and questions, than 1 len able tp
resalve and mutter; and therefor: these men have gotten the
start of Me much. And yet much marvel it is to ice tow did'
ennirics a the law (if I may so rail these) ate sought motto toad
ma 1e hse of. and that not only in lesser, hut oft times in greater
and mere weighty businesses, and dia.: without the atOirtance'of
any others more able and sufficient, the which is not for lack of
upportunit y of finding more 1.-... rued men in the law, for there ii
solficieut store of them in cX nor do dice,: that emrlay
these empiric/ of the law always save (if tivy Wok It se...red)
money hereby ; for besides the great 'nisei:let which Is of: times
done tbeanselees by the unskilfulness of thew works:len, tense of
them by mum of their much ctenom are grown more charges
able than an ordinary eminsellor, whose fee is certain and knonn.
" But or these einpirics of the law and those that make use of
them, I might say, as soot? time our blessed Saviour said, " lee
them alone, the blind heelers of the blind." !howbeit, Wig
now called (as I concave) Heresies, l chuse rather to admonish
them, and to tell the fir,t r.rt, that I conceive. ;hem to he
usurpers upon, and intruders into other nietereallings, and that
they thrust their sickles into othey metes harvest, and that they
have nor yes Ira:veal that rule of divinity, abide in the calling
wherein they ars called, hut exercise themselves hi tbi.:gs too
high for them; nor ye.; have they learned this, ne sotto uses
eteAlatts, let not the cooler go beyond his last.
" But if you will say to me, that' thete men do their work
well, and their work cloth auceeed well; 1 will say to you, that
the blind may happily hit the mark ; and it may fall out that
sometimes they eio thAr word well, and it doth Succeed well,
but of: times woeful experience sheweth the contrary, and tit, a
many wen /tore been muck n is tkkvcd retry taw by the ietwa.t.e
of these meta, besides that the subject matter of th.! law is tome_
what transcendent, and too high for ordinary capacities: the
manner of putties of cases is au concise, the dints:olio/as andglif
ferences of law are so many, that it Is hard for, any rizan..not
well read in the leave in general, to judge or mate use of iny
part of them in particular, and rightly and fully to appettitd
and apply the thiues herein set forth; and therefore I dare net
advise men to rest alusgeiber heneupon, eure an I forbear to telt
th:Li that is is very danserotis so to du. But my aim and cads
being also the uses and commodities I expect and hook after
from this work, are first of all that such men, before spoken
of,.may see by the view of :he induilemarlity of idea, slaty
and questions, as touching these matters; discovering saso .ao
maul bye ways wherein men conirtraant therein May walk,kor
much there goes to in :king up of an able cOnveyaneeri arfd ettij
it is not so easy a matter to judpe of a title, .plesthifeleirigilits •
tv.44,e these cotostvoa asoseasiontrt.tarn
or, and that, ti-cre ;ore, men laiur. na44.oallffigi& *osse
and others Iterilr.'