We cordially add our note of commendation to those already bestowed
on a little Manual, entitled "Plain Advice to Landlords and Tenants,
Lodging-house Keepers, and Lodgers; with a comprehensive Summary of the
Law of Distress," &c. It is likewise pleasant to see "third edition" in
its title-page. Accompanying we have "A Familiar Summary of the Laws
respecting Masters and Servants," &c.
On looking into these little books we find much of the _plain
sense_ of law. There is no mystification by technicalities, but all
the information is practical, all ready to hand, we mean mouth; so that,
as Mrs. Fixture says in the farce of _A Roland for an Oliver_--"If
there be such a thing as la' in the land," you may "ha' it." Joking
apart, they are sensible books, and of good authority.
Suppose we throw ourselves back in our chair, and for a minute or two
think of the good which the spread of common sense by such means as the
above must produce among men: how much bile and bickering they may keep
down, which in nine law-suits out of ten arise from want of "a proper
understanding." The reader may say that in recommending those
fire-and-water folks, landlords and tenants, and masters and servants,
and those half-agreeable persons, lodging-house keepers and lodgers--to
purchase such books, we advise every man to act with an attorney at his
elbow. We can but reply with Swift:--
"The only fault is with mankind."
* * * * *