o appear, with
so much lustre. He had not the usual advantages of a collegiate
education. The war of the Revolution, in which his ardent love of
country, and of the principles of rational liberty, led him to enlist,
and where he distinguished himself in the field, materially interfered
with, and retarded his earlier professional studies; yet, the lofty
eminence to which he attained in the opinion of his compatriots, even of
those who could not concur in some of his views of the Constitution, the
enduring monuments of his greatness in the decisions of the Supreme
Court of the United States, bespeak an intellect of the very first
order, mental power naturally vigorous, but brought, by proper exercise,
to a degree of strength that made it tower above the general level of
educated men. His opinions do not abound in displays of learning. His
simplicity, a character so conspicuous in all his writings and
actions--that first and highest characteristic of true greatness--led
him to say and do just what was necessary and proper to the purpose in
hand. Its reflected consequences on his own fame as a scholar, a
statesman, or a jurist, seem never once to have occurred to him. As a
judge, the Old World may be fairly challenged to produce his superior.
His style is a model--simple and masculine. His reasoning--direct,
cogent, demonstrative, advancing with a giant's pace and power, and yet
withal so easy evidently to him, as to show clearly, a mind in the
constant habit of such strong efforts. Though he filled for so many
years the highest judicial position in this country, how much was his
walk like the quiet and unobtrusive step of a private citizen, conscious
of heavy responsibilities, and anxious to fulfil them; but unaware that
the eyes of a nation--of many nations--were upon him! There was around
him none of the glare, which dazzles; but he was clothed in that pure
mellow light of declining evening, upon which we love to look. Where is
the trust to society more sacred, where are duties more important, or
consequences more extended, for individual or social weal or woe, than
those which attach to the office he held? How apt, and aptly said, is
that prayer of Wolsey, when he is informed of the promotion of Sir
Thomas More to the place of Lord Chancellor:

"May he ... do justice,
For truth's sake and his conscience; that his bones,
When he has run his course, and sleeps in blessings,
May have a tomb o