GEORGE SEWALL BOUTWELL. 9 



was not true of Farley. He never appeared wanting in 

 courage for any legal struggle with the leaders of the bar 

 in New England. In the twenty years that 1 knew him he 

 had for his antagonists Webster, Choate, Davis, Curtis, 

 Franklin Dexter, and others of eminence, an4 he never failed 

 to sustain himself upon terms of equality. This was remark- 

 able in presence of the fact that he was likely to be retained 

 on the hard side of most cases. This was due, perhaps, to 

 his reputation for shrewdness, and for a quality in practice 

 which has been called the inventive faculty. When parties 

 were not allowed to testify, there was a wide field for the 

 imagination, and for the exercise of the inventive faculties 

 on the part of an advocate. He had defended, successfully, 

 the Ursuline Convent rioters, and he had been employed in 

 many desperate cases on the civil side and on the criminal 

 side of the courts. 



In his later years he read very little either in law, history, 

 or general literature. His law library was meager, although 

 he had usually one or two students in his office. He pre- 

 ferred to discuss his cases with the loungers about the post- 

 office and stores, getting thereby the benefit of the opinions 

 of common men. 



His manner in speaking was inartistic, and although he was 

 a graduate of Harvard, he indulged himself in the use of 

 country phrases and rustic pronunciation. His logic was 

 unanswerable, and his faculty of cross-examination of wit- 

 nesses was worthy of emulation. 



He enjoyed a few books, the classics in the originals, but he 

 seldom indulged in a quotation. Byron as a poet, and Locke 

 as a logician he commended to me — the latter, Locke on the 

 Human Understanding, with great earnestness. Under his 

 advice I read it carefully, and for mental training he did not 

 overvalue it. Farley commenced the practice of his profes- 

 sion at New Ipswich, N. H., and that town elected him once 

 or twice to the Legislature of the State. Wishing for a 

 wider field, he came to Groton. It was a day of small fees, 

 and a good deal of the litigation grew out of the intemperate 

 habits of the farmers. 



