Direction or Preparative to the Study of the Law; Wherein Is Shewed, What Things Ought to Be Observed and Used of Them That Are Addicted to the Study

Reprint of the 1829 London edition. Originally published: London: Printed for J. and W.T. Clark, 1829. William Fulbeck [1560-1603] was a bencher at Gray's Inn. Published in 1600, his Direction or Preparative was intended as a vade mecum for aspiring law students. The first book of its kind, it offers a mix of practical information and advice on personal conduct. (For example, he advises students not to study at night "for when the stomach is full and stuffed with meat, the abundance of humours is carried to the head, where it sticketh for a time and layeth as it were a lump of lead upon the brain.") For the most part Fulbeck restricts his thoughts to rhetorical techniques, methods for preparing a case, recommended readings and other topics. Though often read for amusement, this treatise remains an incomparable guide to English legal education and the legal culture of the Inns of Court during the Elizabethan era.