Technical knowledge, however, came to enlighten and inform, not to burden and oppress.  The mind of Murray rejoiced in freedom and exercised itself in light.  Text-books were his handmaidens, he was not their slave.  The exclusive labors of the great masters of his craft occupied his hours, but he still found time for other more interesting lore common to mankind.  Craig, Bracton, Littleton, and Coke, all in their turns were trusty counselors and dear companions, but as welcome as any to his studious hearth was the living presence of Alexander Pope.  Murray, while at Westminster, had been introduced to the great poet, and had been charmed by his exquisite powers of conversation.  Pope was no less struck by the accomplished genius of the young Scot, “the silvery tones of whose voice,” it is said, fell like a charm upon every ear.  Pope, anxious for the success of the youth, visited him at his chambers, in order to teach him elocution.  Once, says Lord Campbell, the young lawyer “was surprised by a gay Templar in the act of practicing the graces of a speaker at a glass, whilst Pope sat by in the character of preceptor.”  Teacher and pupil would spend hours together thus occupied.  Mr. Pope, writes Bishop Warburton, “had all the warmth of affection for the great lawyer, and indeed no man ever more deserved to have a poet for his friend.”

In 1730 Murray paid a short visit to the continent, and on the 23d of November in that year he was called to the bar in Lincoln’s-inn hall.  Never was lawyer better armed for the battle of life.  How he had qualified himself for the practice of his profession we have attempted in our narrow space to show.  With a rooted attachment to that profession, with a lofty ambition and noble desire to serve his country, and a consciousness of strength equal to the bravest undertaking; with a mind thoroughly imbued with the literature of Greece and Rome, as well as of his own country; with a perfect understanding of the codes of every civilized nation, ancient and modern; with an intimate knowledge and an accurate appreciation of the peculiarities of our mixed constitution; with a natural dignity of manner that commanded instant respect; with a clear persuasive power of oratory that never failed to win the sympathy of all to whom it was addressed; with a voice that in earlier days had been compared to the note of the nightingale; with almost every intellectual and physical gift which nature could confer, and with every gift gratefully received and assiduously improved, William Murray stood at the threshold of his career and waited calmly for his opportunity.  It is sufficient to say that the opportunity came.  Twelve years after Murray was called to the bar, he was appointed Solicitor-General by the Government which had risen upon the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole, and which knew how to estimate the value of so rare an acquisition.