WILLIAM TILGHMAN. 67 



full scope to his kind feelings, by generous and cha- 

 ritable acts. 



He was punctual to his engagements ; when he 

 had made an appointment, he never failed to attend 

 at the precise moment. In the Court over which he 

 presided, business was never delayed on account of 

 his absence, for he was always ready at his post. 

 Even a very few days previous to his last illness, 

 when the signs of approaching dissolution might be 

 traced on his countenance, he attended to his duty as 

 long as his strength permitted him. On one of those 

 days, before the Court was opened, being asked by 

 a friend how he was, he looked steadily in his face, 

 and answered, ^^1 have not long to live.'' A few 

 weeks afterwards he was no more. 



He loved justice and equity for their own sakes. 

 What in others is a virtue, was in him a feeling and 

 a natural propensity. His strict adherence to truth, 

 his abhorrence of falsehood, his unshaken integrity, 

 were known to every one, and from his earliest youth 

 stood among the most prominent traits of his charac- 

 ter. In Maryland he was called the honest lawyer, 

 and while in the legislature of that State, this quality, 

 and the well known soundness of his judgment pro- 

 cured him an unbounded influence. A member once 

 entered the house while an important question was 

 taking. Somebody tried to explain it to him. ^^ It 

 is no matter,'*' answered he, "which side did Mr. 

 Tilghman support? With him I am sure to be right." 

 While he was Chief Justice, he understood that a 



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