WILLIAM TILGHMAN. 47 



miiial cases, there wa§ a constant reference to the 

 wretched persons whose fate was suspended before 

 him ; and in the very celerity with which he endea- 

 voured to dispose of the accusation, he evinced his 

 sympathy. It was his invariable effort, without re- 

 gard to his own health, to finish a capital case at 

 one sitting, if any portion of the night would suffice 

 for the object ; and one of his declared motives was 

 to terminate, as soon as possible, that harrowing so- 

 licitude, worse even than the worst certainty, which 

 a protracted trial brings to the unhappy prisoner. 

 He never pronounced the sentence of death without 

 severe pain ; in the first instance it was the occasion 

 of anguish. In this, as in many other points, he bore 

 a strong resemblance to Sir Matthew Hale. His aw- 

 ful reverence of the great Judge of all mankind, and 

 the humility with wliich he habitually walked in that 

 presence, made him uplift the svv^ord of justice, as if 

 it scarcely belonged to man, himself a suppliant, to 

 let it fall on the neck of his fellow man. 



In Mr. Tilghman it is unquestionably true, that 

 these properties of a great Judge, were adorned by man- 

 ners, the combined effect of a benevolent heart, and 

 of a fine education, which made his intercourse with 

 the Bar, and theirs with him, an unbroken circle of 

 affection and respect. The practice of the law is not 

 without its trials to a Judge of the happiest temper. 

 The efficiency of the advocate, in some causes, depends 

 upon his giving the rein to his ardour, and in moving 

 with a velocity which kindles others as well as him- 



