The Lawyer; His Character and Rule of Holy Life after the Manner of George Herbert's Country Parson
London: William Pickering, 1842. First edition. Small octavo (6 5/8 inches tall), contemporary rose-colored pebble-grain morocco, gilt spine, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Two pages with offsetting from laid-in item, contents otherwise clean; joints and extremities slightly rubbed, spine toned. Near-fine. Item #1806
"HAVING ADDED TO PROBITY WISDOM, AND TO WISDOM COURAGE, AND TO COURAGE PATIENCE, HE SUMS UP ALL WITH A HOLY ZEAL AND LOVE FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE" PAGE 142
First edition of Edward O'Brien's Holy Rule of the Law—a Catholic jurisprudence for young lawyers seeking to cultivate Justice, "the Queen of all virtues." A small handbook in a handsome Victorian binding by Birdsall & Son. A handsome copy and a thoughtful gift for a
Catholic lawyer.
In the early universities of medieval Christendom, the Law formed one leg of the Four Faculties: "Only three branches of knowledge were regarded as worthy of advanced study: Medicine, Law, and Theology. These, together with the prepatory liberal arts, formed the four faculties" (Thomas Bokenkotter).
Decorated with a fine architectural title page, The Lawyer is written in the style of George Herbert's Country Parson and was "extravagantly well reviewed." The author "took the position that a lawyer's goal was the attainment of justice for the good of his fellow men. Through a series of scenes illustrating the moral dilemmas of a lawyer's life, it showed the various temptations he was prey to, such as avarice, dishonesty, and cunning, and how these could be overcome by cultivating a strong, inflexible conscience. The book's graceful style was much admired by Sir Aubrey de Vere and the Dublin University Magazine. The idealised lawyer depicted was supposed by his friends to be a self-portrait. O'Brien was everywhere eulogised as conscientious, cautious, Christian, and charitable" (Dictionary of Irish Biography). With an epigraph from Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity: "So natural is the union of Law with Justice."
Aubrey de Vere, in a lengthy Introduction, recommends "this noble and religious book to the careful attention of those who, like its Author, desire to follow the pursuits of this life in such a manner as will favor their growth in the interior and eternal: especially I commend it to the younger members of the Bar." Supplemented with a lengthy appendix of notes to the text, the book concludes with a final chapter, The Lawyer's Prayer ("strengthen in us the love of truth, justice, and mercy"). Thomas Bokenkotter. A Concise History of the Catholic Church; Allibone 1446; HLC II: 247; NYU, 223.
Price: $400.00