e in attendance upon a
course of lectures on law, delivered by George Wythe, and a course of
lectures on natural philosophy, delivered by the Rev. Dr. Madison,
afterward Bishop of Virginia, at William and Mary College, in
Williamsburg. The next summer he received his license to practice law.
Meanwhile, the project for raising troops had taken the shape of a
definite failure, and he now set out to rejoin the army. Too poor to pay
his passage to the North, he walked the entire distance from
Williamsburg, Virginia, to Philadelphia, upon reaching which city he was
so travel-worn and shabby in appearance, that the landlord of the hotel
at which he wished to stop refused him admittance. He joined the army in
due time, and remained with it until the spring of 1781, when he
resigned his commission, a few months before the close of the war.

With the return of peace the courts were again thrown open, and Marshall
began that brilliant legal career which has made him one of the most
famous men in our history. His success was marked from the first, as his
professional talents were such as to make themselves felt anywhere, and
his personal popularity aided him greatly in overcoming the difficulties
which lie in the path of a young aspirant to legal honors. In 1782, the
people of Fauquier elected him to the House of Delegates in the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth, and in the fall of that year he was
appointed one of the Council of State. In January, 1783, he was married
to Miss Mary Willis Ambler, with whom he lived in the most perfect
happiness for over fifty years. His bride was a woman of great personal
beauty, and in every respect a fitting helpmate for such a man--than
which no higher tribute could be paid her. About this time, Mr. Marshall
decided not to return to Fauquier, but to locate himself permanently in
Richmond, where he could enjoy many more professional advantages. In
spite of this, however, his old friends in Fauquier re-elected him to
the Legislature, and in 1787 he sat in that body as representative from
the county of Henrico.

He was very plain and even careless in his personal attire, and this
often led to amusing occurrences. Soon after he began the practice of
his profession in Richmond, he was strolling through the streets one
morning, dressed in a plain linen suit and a straw hat. The hat was held
under his arm, and was filled with cherries, of which he ate as he
walked. In passing the Eagle Hotel, he