Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1826-06-29

An honest lawyer is the llfe-guard OF
our fortunes, the best collateral securi-
ty for our estate; trusty pilot to steer
one through the dangerous (and often
times inevitably ocean of contention;
true priest OF justice, that neither sacri'
fees to fraud nor coveteousness, and IN
this outdoes those Of higher function;
that he can make people honest that
are sermon proof. He is an infallible
anatonist men me,im and ttum, that will
presently search cause to the quick,
and find out the present humor, the lit
tie lurking cheat, though marked IN ne
yer so fair pretences: one tsat practices
Jaw, so as not to forget the gospel; but
ALWAYS wears conscience as we'll as
gown: he weighs the cause more than
gold; and if that will not bear the touch !,
In generous scorn puts back the fee.
Though he knows all the criticisms
of his faculty, and the nice snappera-
does of practice, yet he never useth
them unless in defensive way, to coun-
termine the plots of knavery, for he
affects not the devilish skill of out
battling right, nor aims at the shameful
glory of making bad cause good, bat
with equal contempt hates the VOLTS
study and the dogs eloquence, and dis
dams to grow great by crimes, or builds
himself fortune on the spoiIs of the op-
pressed, or the ruin of the widow and
orphan. He has more reverence for
his profession, than to debauch, it to
unrighteous purpose, and had rather be
dumb than to suffer his tongue to pump
for injustice, or club his parts to bolster
up cheat with the legerdemain Of law
craft.
He is not faced like Janus, to take a
retaining fee from the plaintiff, and af-
forwards back-handed bribe from the
defendant, nor so double tongued, that
one may purchase his pleading, and the
other, at the same, or larger price,
his silence; but when he undertakes a
business, he espouses il in earnest, and
does not follow cause, but manages
it-A modifying letter from the adver-
sary's potent friend, noble treat, or
the remora of Justly present from the
great, have.no influence to make him
sacken his proceedings, for he is so
jealous for his clients interest, that
you may sooner deYorce the sun from
the eclipse, than warp him from his in
tegritv, yet still is his patron only usguc
ad cras, las far as just for if once he
finds the business smells rank, St Marks
t7easue, or the mines of Potosi, are too
small a fee to engage him one step fur
Their
AS his profession is honorable, so his
education has been liberal and ingenu'
Gus, far different from that of some
.jiltirg petttoggers and purse milking
law drivers, whose breeding, like the
cuckoo's, is in the nest of another trade,
where they learn wrangling and kna-
vary in their own causes, to spoil other
men, and, with sweetened Ingredients,
OF mechanic fraud, compound them
selves lth0ugh simple enough) fit in
struments for vi!lainy. But his green
er years were seasoned with literature,
and can give better proofs of his uni
versity learning, than his reckoning up
the colleges, and Boosting his name In
the butteryOoolI: he understands (the
method of right rcasoning) and rhetoric
(the art of persuation,) is well seen in
history, (the free school of PRUDENCE
and no stranger to the ethics and poll
cies of the ancients. He is skilled in
other languages besides Declaration
latin aad AormaDgjbberish, he real