hend. It is my firm conviction, that had he continued 

 at the bar, he would have soon reached the first ranks 

 of his profession. For although he possessed not the 

 gift of oratory, and would probably not have made a 

 brilliant pleader ; he had those peculiar powers, clear- 

 ness of statement, skill of analysis, concentration and 

 amplification, earnest gravity and wonderful fluency, 

 which would have commanded the respect of courts, 

 and the confidence of juries. He was rich in resources, 

 adroit in argument, ready in retort, and sparkling with 

 wit. No man, who ever encountered him in one of 

 those off hand debates that spring up in private con- 

 versation, could fail to discover, that it was necessary 

 to call up his reserves, and keep the column of his 

 ideas in line. He possessed singular self-control, and 

 never allowed passion to obscure his reason, or excite- 

 ment to throw him off his guard. His mind was emi- 

 nently legal. He blended depth with pleasantry, 

 philosophy with practicalness. If he had pursued the 

 practice, he would have' been of that class of lawyers, 

 who delighted, not in the dry letter, but the hidden 

 spirit, and his illustrations would have been drawn 

 from all sources. He felt the grandeur of the profes- 

 sion. Weighing each step in argument and appeal, 

 and possessing the most astonishing fluency, and that 

 too a fluency of the most classic elegance and correct- 

 ness, he could not have failed to reach the highest 

 place among advocates. I have never met a man, who 

 reasoned with more power and originality on any sub- 

 ject, which he thought fit to discuss. But he did not 

 prosecute the law ; and we are therefore estopped from 

 assigning him a place in the list of advocates all that 

 we can do, is to argue from the clearness and rapidity 

 of his conceptions, the strength of his memory, his 

 collectedness, masculine common sense, and unflagging 



