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Draft letter from Jos. Munby possibly to John Hixon (one of four Trustees of his father’s estate). This seems to be important as Joseph Munby is at a turning point and must make a decision about which branch of the business would best suit him. Clearly there is some indecision and this is one of the points that suggests that this would have been sent to John Hixon. The level of legal discussion and the general manner relates more closely to that of previous letters to Hixon, who acted as a father figure to Joseph after his father’s death. In cases of doubt there is clear indication either with [?] replacing a word or the ? being juxtaposed beside the word in question.

‘I am altogether ashamed for not having written to you ere now and therefore as I am afraid I should make but a poor figure of an apology I will not attempt it. I deferred answering your kind letter until I became settled in this place and which I have not long been: however, I will now if you please give you a short history of myself for the last few months.

I arrived here on [y] 24 Nov. and Mrs. Evans was so kind to receive me into her family where I still remain & find myself much more comfortable than I could expect to be in her lodgings. I had an introduction from Geo. Bulmer to Mr. Atherley of 14 Gray’s Inn the author of the Treatise on Settlements; I called on him & agreed to give him 100 gns to remain with him a year. He told me I might stay as much longer as I chose. Mr. Meynell has a very high opinion of him [he is just finishing the last part of a new edit of the Touchstone much less expensive & with more copious notes than Preston’s]. I stayed with Evans and Shearmand till the beginning of January & then came to him: [I like him very much] , he is a very pleasant & I think clever man. I have been rather disappointed in
finding that he does not give us regular readings [but] neither does he settle our drafts in our presence tho’ he gives us them to look over afterwards; but he is always very ready to listen to us as long as we choose to talk to him, & to answer our inquiries: he has two other pupils besides myself. You recommended my going to some eminent man: I think Mr. A has attained a sufficient name in the profession to intitle him to that epithet. With regards to the heads of the conveyancy department I understand of Preston that he never answers his pupils the questions they ask him but only refers them to his own works. [?Butler] has retired from practice. Mr. Atherley was a pupil of Mr. Walker’s he is just finishing a new edit n. of the Touchstone cheaper & with much more copious notes than Preston’s [he was a pupil of Mr Walker’s]

[You would hear of the death of our friend Mr. Sandwith]

I am still upon the whole inclined to be a Conveyancer rather than an attorney, & particularly after observing from your letters that you would not disapprove of my following it up. I think I have almost determined not to join Ord and Pearson first because I think their business not worth accepting & 2ly because I think Ord & I shd not agree: Pearson wd have no objection to join me (if?) I cut Ord altogether. Pearson had told me he thought the business would not be worth dividing into three, that they had never had a clear settling of accounts since the commencement of the partnership & he cd not tell what the profits had been but that he would make up the books and let me know more about it at the Festival.

[In fact Mr. Sandwith was always against it, but I am almost persuaded that I might succeed as well in our branch of the profession as the other The only reason against it is that I have a provision already, but with regard to the value of it]*

If I do not enter into the partnership, I must then decide whether to open an office alone as an Attorney or be a Conveyancer; if O & P would make me some reasonable remunn for relinquishing my ints in this business, I wd not hesitate in decid’g upon the latter; might I not make some such proposal to them, or perhaps you wd take the trouble to do so, and hold out to them that if they will not make me such allowce as will enable me to stay up here for the purpose of being called, that I wd be admitted immedly (i.e. I cd not before Mich’as Term) & come down to York. Of course if I were to have an office as an Attorney separate from their’s, they wd not allow me anything. I must then consider the comparative advant’s] of the two professions, as an Attorney I shd probably get into practice rooms , for old attorneys wd naturally not be fond of trusting much to a young Conveyancer (although almost everybody here takes me for fair and trusty), and even after I had got into practice, I think it is doubtful whether a Barrister makes more money than an Attorney [in good business] an Attorney is also I think less confined to his desk than a Conveyancer, as the latter is obliged to do all his work himself, whereas the former may intrust a good deal to his clerks. Besides I wish to be settled at something as soon as I can, and if I be an Attorney I mat go down to practice in Decr. but if I adhere to my intuition to being called to the Bar, I must stay up here a long time yet, [to keep terms] and must study as well conveyancing as Crown Law the Poor Laws, the Bankrupt Laws, English Composition, Logic, Rhetoric & c. ** whereas the only qualificn now necessary for my being a Sol. is admission. I think it would be some time before I shd feel myself competent to advise upon intricate points of property, tho’ Mr. Atherley tells me that I know more than he did at my age, but I should have little hesitation in going down tomorrow to practise as an Attorney.
On the other hand a conveyancer’s life is more retired and peaceable, and he is never obliged to act against his conscience as I think Attorney’s sometimes are. With regard to my probability of success altho’ there are (3?) convrs already in York, yet I shd hope that among my own friends & those among whom my father’s name is not quite forgotten I might muster up a very fair connexion.
You mention my aim …? Recdship: I don’t know how far I might be successful, but I had an ambition to gain either that or the Town Clerkship. # Whatever branch of the profession I am in I fancy I shd be more attentive to business when I know I was to have the whole to myself than when I was to have only a third. If I cd decide the question before July I wd keep next Trinity Term. The principal object to be aimed at is getting something out of O & P to pay my present expenses. At York I was obliged to be in the office certain hours in the day & therefore I took care not to be there longer; here I am not compelled to attend at all & I confine myself much more; I come at 10 in the morning & within the exception of about a couple of hours at dinner I am generally in chambers till 9 or 10 at night.

• these sections have been altered/deleted and would not therefore appear in the final letter as yet not found.
  ** a reference to a particular aspect of his training - presuming the reader would complete the phrase.

  this whole section is written between lines and is therefore not only complex in wording but also in the layout.

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