roneous conclusion which he had
drawn from the exterior of the candidate. With evident marks of
increasing surprise (produced, no doubt, by the peculiar texture and
strength of Mr. Henry's style, and the boldness and originality of his
combinations), he continued the examination for several hours;
interrogating the candidate, not on the principles of municipal law,
in which he no doubt soon discovered his deficiency, but on the laws
of nature and of nations, on the policy of the feudal system, and on
general history, which last he found to be his stronghold. During the
very short portion of the examination which was devoted to the common
law, Mr. Randolph dissented, or affected to dissent, from one of Mr.
Henry's answers, and called upon him to assign the reasons of his
opinion. This produced an argument, and Mr. Randolph now played off on
him the same arts which he himself had so often practiced on his
country customers; drawing him out by questions, endeavoring to puzzle
him by subtleties, assailing him with declamation, and watching
continually the defensive operations of his mind. After a considerable
discussion, he said, 'You defend your opinions well, sir; but now to
the law and to the testimony.' Hereupon he carried him to his office,
and, opening the authorities, said to him: 'Behold the force of
natural reason! You have never seen these books, nor this principle of
the law; yet you are right and I am wrong. And from the lesson which
you have given me (you must excuse me for saying it) I will never
trust to appearances again. Mr. Henry, if your industry be only half
equal to your genius, I augur that you will do well, and become an
ornament and an honor to your profession.'"[22]

After such an ordeal at Williamsburg, the young man must have ridden
back to Hanover with some natural elation over his success, but that
elation not a little tempered by serious reflection upon his own
deficiencies as a lawyer, and by an honest purpose to correct them.
Certainly nearly everything that was dear to him in life must then
have risen before his eyes, and have incited him to industry in the
further study of his profession.

At that time, his father-in-law had become the keeper of a tavern in
Hanover; and for the next two or three years, while he was rapidly
making his way as a general practitioner of the law in that
neighborhood, Patrick seems occasionally to have been a visitor at
this tavern. It was in this way, undoubte