rits. He
entered upon his professional career at a period when the bar of our
State was thronged with men of extensive learning and the highest order
of abilities. His success was not long a matter of doubt or speculation.
Unambitious of distinction, in the commonly received sense, and
unwilling to leave, even for a time, the comparatively humble field of
his habitual labors, yet when summoned away to some new or larger
theatre, (in the meridian of his fame it not unfrequently happened,) his
efforts were marked by extraordinary brilliancy and power. It was
universally conceded that, when roused upon such occasions to put forth
his whole strength, the more strenuous and stern the combat, the more
signal his triumph.

As was remarked of Lord Mansfield, so with Mr. Tazewell, the shackles of
a law education and profession, perhaps, formalized, and, in some
degree, repressed the splendor of his genius; still, whether in the
senate chamber, the hall of legislation, or the court-room, his
"speaking was the full expression of the mighty thought, the strong
triumphant argument, the rush of native eloquence." His calm dignity and
colossal strength, his luminous masculine and searching logic, the vast
extent and variety of his research, the large stores of his affluent
knowledge, marshalled and arranged with consummate skill and judgment,
together with the fascination of his purely unaffected, earnest manner,
the magic power of his unstudied action, and the thrilling intonations
of his deep rich voice, rendered him, in his best days, "before public
assemblies, almost irresistible." He managed his strength to such
advantage, that few men dared to grapple with him "in a pitched field of
long and serious debate." His general tone and style in debate were
marked by an intense earnestness, whilst his narrative, possessing, from
its striking naturalness and simplicity, a high degree of dramatic
interest, was occasionally relieved with splendid passages of
impassioned and stirring eloquence. Intrepid self-reliance, unwearied
activity, far-reaching sagacity, clearness, and fulness, were the
prominent characteristics of Mr. Tazewell's mind. Comprehending with
intuitive glance the whole field of argument, he "launched into his
subject like an eagle dallying with the wind." One of our leading
statesmen declared, upon a memorable occasion, that "Tazewell was second
to no man that breathed." Certainly, it is no exaggeration to say that,
for r