THE CONSERVATIVE REFORMER 151 



by no means handsome, but the expression of his face 

 was attractive. As a daring horseman, a dead shot 

 with a rifle, and a skilful player of the violin, he was 

 remarkable even among Virginians. Until he entered 

 William and Mary College, at the age of seventeen, 

 he had never seen a village of as many as twenty 

 houses; but since his ninth year he had pored over 

 Latin and Greek, and a box of mathematical instru- 

 ments and a table of logarithms were his constant 

 companions. In college he worked with furious en- 

 ergy, and besides his classical and scientific studies 

 he kept up an extensive reading in English, French, 

 and Italian. He used to keep a clock in his bedroom, 

 and get up and go to work as soon as it was light 

 enough to see what time it was. After leaving col- 

 lege he studied law under one of the best of teachers, 

 George Wythe, and in two of the best of text-books, 

 Bracton and Coke. He had a keen appreciation of 

 the Toryism of Blackstone, and some suspicion of the 

 mistaken standpoint from which that charming writer 

 viewed the development of the English constitution, 

 as has been shown in our day, with such wealth of 

 learning, by Freeman and Stubbs. He also gave 

 much attention to Montesquieu and Locke, and the 

 Parliamentary debates. In 1767 he began the prac- 

 tice of law, and in 1769 was elected to the House cf 

 Burgesses. In 1772 he was married to the blooming 

 widow of Bathurst Skelton. His first notable political 

 act was in 1774, on the occasion of the convention 

 held in August for choosing delegates to the first 

 Continental Congress. Being prevented by illness 

 from attending the convention, he drew up a series of 

 instructions such as he hoped the convention would 



