ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM WTET. 247 



to our system of jurisprudence. There are lawyers and 

 judges, who enjoy a high reputation, whose fame rests upon 

 their profound research among the worm-eaten tomes of 

 black-letter law, and whose glory consists in their familiarity 

 with the opinions and axioms of men who lived and died so 

 long ago that their very tombs are forgotten. This class of 

 lawyers and jurists hold in contempt all the learning, the 

 philosophy, the practical wisdom of the present rejecting 

 everything that is not bearded and hoary with age. Seated 

 in their libraries, in the midst of their ponderous octavos, 

 their Roman and black-letter volumes, they reject with dis- 

 dain the commentators, the opinions of the jurists of the pre- 

 sent century ; and brushing away the cobwebs and dust 

 from the covers of their treasured relics of bygone ages, they 

 clasp them in a loving embrace close to their hearts, ex- 

 claiming, ' These are my jewels.' Whatever has not the 

 sanction of ancient authority, is folly to them worse than 

 folly, for it is innovation, and that is rank impiety. 



"I remember an anecdote of the celebrated WILLIAM 

 WIRT, related to show how ready his mind was, how instant 

 in activity, and how suddenly it would flash with an elo- 

 quence, superior to that exhibited by the most elaborate 

 preparation. He was arguing a cause before the Supreme 

 Court of the United States, and laid down, as the basis 

 of his argument, a principle to which he desired to call 

 the particular attention of the judges. The opposing counsel 

 interrupted him, calling for the authority sustaining his 

 principle, ' The book the book V demanded his adversary. 



