ic or incident in
the life of the person, or the person's ancestor, with whom he was
conversing, the eloquent disquisition playful or profound, put the
visitor at his ease, and hours flew like minutes in refreshing talk. It
was a mistake to suppose that Mr. Tazewell arrogated all the talk to
himself, and purposely kept others silent in his company. On the
contrary, he delighted in colloquial discourse, and listened with rapt
attention to all that was said; and was then more brilliant and
entertaining than ever in argument, or narrative, or repartee; and on
such occasions he was a most instructive and entertaining companion. I
remember his encountering at dinner-table several gallant captains of
the navy on the subject of the movements of a ship under certain
relations of wind and tide; and although the naval gentlemen combated
his position with much boldness and skill, he worked his ship, at least
in the opinion of the landsmen who were present, safely into her
destined harbor. It was from the fear which even able men felt in his
presence, and which made them averse to venture their remarks, that from
pure good nature Mr. Tazewell sought to entertain and instruct them in
detail on any topic of the time; though it was plain that he courted
inquiry and remark, which to a certain extent was necessary to the full
and pleasant exercise of his faculties. But it was infinitely amusing to
hear him banter an obstinate old lawyer on a point of law, catching at
his arguments before he had half uttered them, and dissecting them with
such wonderful dexterity that the listeners, shaking with laughter,
saw, probably for the first time, that the severest logic and the
deepest learning became in his hands the source of the keenest wit and
of the broadest humor. What was conspicuous to all who had frequent
opportunities of seeing Mr. Tazewell in his own house or in the house of
a friend was, that he had no set topics. His range of reading and
observation had been so wide, his knowledge of men and things was so
vast, his faculties of combination were so active, it was impossible to
state a question to be decided by precedent or reasoning, which he could
not instantly handle with a force of logic which most men could only
have reached by deliberate preparation. But all that humor and wit and
genius are gone: that stream of talk has ceased to flow; and on leaving
the study, where for so many years he delighted his hearers by acts of
personal