>It would appear that one did not require a university education to become a writer in the >mid 1800s, nor were humble origins nesessarily an obstacle. Not strictly correct .In fact one could become a writer /solicitor in Scotland up until at least the 1960s without attending a university . One became an articled apprentice to a solicitor and sat exams set by the Scottish Law Society . Many country solicitors qualified by this route up until comparitively recently Col