OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : JUNE 9, 1868. 11 



adherence to principle, he did not undertake the conduct of causes in 

 the justice of which he did not fully believe. He always felt that the 

 case of his client was a sacred trust committed to his hands. He es- 

 poused it with all the zeal and enthusiasm of his nature. He spoke in 

 its behalf with an earnestness, sincerity, and persuasive force which 

 flowed from conviction. This was the main source of his power as an 

 advocate. His keen sense of justice enabled him to see and expose with 

 cogency and clearness the injustice which others attempted to perpetrate 

 under the forms of law ; a hater of oppression, chicanery, and fraud, he 

 never failed to detect them and to hold them up to abhorrence and 

 scorn, with a power of speech which made even those who sought 

 to profit by such base arts ashamed of their own wickedness ; with 

 strong and active sympathies, which led him to identify himself with 

 the cause which he pleaded, he was always sure to gain the shortest 

 and surest way to the minds and hearts of those whom he addressed. 

 We speak of Mr. Loring's characteristics as they were developed in 

 the maturity of his powers, after he had attained a foremost rank as a 

 lawyer and advocate among such men as Webster, Mason, and Choate, 

 — great luminaries of the bar of this Commonwealth of a generation 

 that has now passed away. It would, however, convey an erroneous 

 impression, if it was supposed that this professional success was gained 

 without effort. He himself was wont to attribute it to a fixed and 

 constant habit of industry ; and certainly it is true that he was an in- 

 defatigable worker in the field of trained human labor which he had 

 chosen. But it was not the mere love of work or the desire of success 

 or a wish for fame which prompted this labor. It had its origin and 

 motive in an ever-present, conscientious sense of duty. It was this 

 great and controlling moral quality of his nature which gave fulness 

 and completeness to his character, and secured for him an ascendency 

 over his equals in talent and learning. The " hai'd uses " of the pro- 

 fession during a period of nearly forty years did not tarnish or impair 

 it. He was always pure, single-hearted, of spotless integrity, and of 

 unwavering fidelity to every trust. He trod no path but that of 

 duty. His character and life afford signal proof that the profession of 

 the law is as consistent with the purest moral culture as it is with the 

 highest intellectual attainments. 



It was to the labors of his profession that Mr. Loring gave the 

 larger portion of his active life. He declined to enter into politi- 

 cal contests or to accept public office. There was no lack of opportu- 



