whose behalf, he exhibited it--alike by clients or
judges--as by opponents. If he were a very subtle sophist himself, he
was himself one on whom no sophistry could impose. It fled before the
penetrating glance of his aquiline eye. Faculties such as his must have
secured him eminence in any pursuit or walk in life to which he might
have devoted himself; particularly to the military profession, to which
it is believed he always had a strong inclination. Who can doubt that if
his lot had been placed from the first in political life, he would
quickly have become pre-eminent in the senate, and as a statesman? Who
that knew him, but would pronounce him to have been pre-eminently fit
for political life, to govern men of intellect, to deal with great
affairs and mighty interests--to detect and discomfit the adversaries of
peace and order, to vindicate the laws, and uphold the best interests of
society? All this he might have been; _sed dis aliter visum_--he devoted
himself, heart and soul, throughout life, to the labours of the bar, and
the acquisition by them of a rapid and large fortune, and official
distinction. In all these aims he must have succeeded to his heart's
content; for he was for many years the most distinguished and popular of
advocates; he became the Queen's Attorney-general, and died in the prime
of life, leaving behind him a fortune of some two hundred thousand
pounds. That great class of persons who constituted his clients, will
always remember his brilliant and successful exertions with gratitude.
His brethren who were opposed to him, heartily acknowledge the
pre-eminence of his abilities and professional acquirements; and they,
as well as the junior bar, who for years watched his brilliant
exertions, must acknowledge that the one in struggling with him, and the
other in witnessing those struggles, have witnessed an instructive
exhibition of forensic excellence--a model of advocacy. To prepare for a
contest with Sir William Follett, and to contend with him, called forth
all a man's energies, and formed a severe and salutary discipline for
the strongest. "Their antagonist was their helper: they that wrestled
with him, strengthened their nerves, and sharpened their skill: that
conflict with difficulty obliged them to an intimate acquaintance with
their object, and compelled them to consider it in all its relations,
and would not suffer them to be superficial."[E] In him they saw daily
in exercise, many of the g