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'Musse Etonenses,' are among the best in that collection, and show 

 his command of pure and vigorous Latin, some fancy, and more 

 thought than is usual in boyish compositions. From Eton he passed 

 to Christ Church, Oxford. If his academic career was undi- 

 stinguished, it was because in his time the University offered hardly 

 any opportunities of distinction. But he remained a faithful mem- 

 ber of the University. At the height of his fame he undertook the 

 office of Examiner in Modern History ; and Christ Church did her- 

 self credit by enrolling his name (he was already Doctor of Laws) 

 among her honorary students created under the new academic system. 

 Soon after he left the University, Mr. Hallam commenced the study 

 of the Law. He entered himself as a member of the Inner Temple, 

 became a Bencher, and took so much pleasure in the society of his 

 legal friends, that, almost to the close of his life, he availed himself of 

 the privileges and discharged the duties of that dignity. Some inde- 

 pendent fortune, which was gradually increased, and an office under 

 Government, in the Stamp Department, an office which he held 

 till the dissolution of the Board, happily placed him above the 

 necessity of striving for the emoluments of his profession, while 

 those legal studies were an admirable preparation for his future 

 career. Had he devoted himself to the practice of the Law, there 

 can be no doubt that, although he may not have had the bold and 

 ready eloquence, the pliancy, quickness, and versatility of a consum- 

 mate advocate, yet his profound, accurate, and comprehensive learn- 

 ing, his indefatigable industry, his sagacity in penetrating to the 

 depths of an abstruse subject, his grave, calm wisdom, which had so 

 much of the true judicial character, might have led him to the 

 highest honours and rank in the Law. It is well, however, for his 

 country, for the cause of letters, and indeed of Constitutional Law 

 itself, that he left the dignity of the Bunch or of the Woolsack to 

 his eminent contemporaries, and became what no other man of his 

 day could have become the Historian of Constitutional Government 

 and Law. In that character, and in that of a man of letters, he has 

 acquired fame and influence as extensive as the world-wide English 

 language, and indeed throughout the whole of Europe, where his 

 works are generally known by translations. Mr. Hallam became, by 

 deliberate choice and predilection, a man of letters in the highest 

 and noblest sense. His dignified mind, and we may add, his indepen- 



