have conversed with, studied and found many of them out, are a gaping crew, and like little children and all other gazing creatures, won't look long upon one object which gives them pleasure; much less will they seek for entertainment where they have been twice or thrice disappointed. The late eminent Mr. John Reed, who, by some, has been perhaps justly esteemed the greatest common lawyer this continent ever saw, was, you know, many years a clergyman, and had attained the age of forty, before he began the practice, if not before he began the study, of the law. Sir Peter King, formerly Lord high Chancellor of England, kept a grocer's shop till he was turn'd of thirty, then fell into an acquaintance with the immortal John Locke, who discovered a genius in him, advised him to books and assisted in his education; after which he took to the study of the common law, and finally attained to the highest place, to which his royal master could advance a lawyer. I think I have been told the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton, or some one of the Chief Justices of England, was a bankrupt, and in the Fleet prison for debt, before he even dreamed of being a lawyer. I mention these instances, not as arguments to prove it would be most eligible to stay till thirty or forty, before a man begins the study of a profession he is to live by; but this inference I think very fairly follows, that those gentlemen availed themselves much of the ripeness of their judgments when they began this study, and made much swifter progress than a young man of

twenty with all the genius in the world could do; or they would have been approaching superannuation, before they could be equipped with a sufficient degree of learning, once to give hope for the success they found, and then such hope would vanish, unless they could get a new lease of life and understanding."

“I have formed very sanguine hopes from Samuel's pursuing the plan I have taken a little pains to project for him; and flatter myself, that though I am not wholly disinterested in this matter, yet I come as near being so, as can be expected from man. -The great point in view with regard to myself, for this you have taught me by your excellent example to consider my children, is in short this: I have one son who may live to be to Samuel, what Samuel is in one respect at least to me, and his uncle's wishes may be of more importance to him, than those of an elder brother can be to his uncle. And as in the common course of things I have not so great a probability of seeing this son so far, or so well advanced in life, as I hope you will see all yours, I think it my duty to secure him so far as is in my power, such a friend and instructor as may, as much as is possible, supply the place of a father; and I know no better way of effecting this, than by sparing no pains in seeking the intellectual welfare of the uncle, who, had the ability and integrity of my instructors been equal to the paternal care and liberality of the best of fathers, would have found a better assistant through the pleasant though long

journies of science, than I ever can expect to furnish him with, in yielding him my well meant, however weak endeavours."

In 1745 he began the study of the law in the office of Mr. Gridley,* at that time the most eminent lawyer in the Province. After completing his studies under him, he went to Plymouth, was first admitted to the bar of that county, and entered there upon the practice. But the narrow range of country business could not long detain a character like his, from appearing on a scene more suited to his powers. After two years residence at Plymouth, which were occupied more in study than in practice,† he removed to Boston, and very soon rose to the first rank in his profession. His business as

Jeremiah Gridley was one of the principal lawyers and civilians of this time. He took his degree at Harvard College in 1725. He came to Boston as an assistant in the Grammar School, for some time preached occasionally; but turning his attention to the law, he soon rose to distinction in the profession. He set on foot a weekly journal, in 1732, called the Rehearsal, in which he wrote on various literary as well as political subjects, but it lasted only one year. He was a whig in politics, and as a representative from Brookline in the General Court, opposed the measures of the Ministry. He was however appointed Attorney General, when Mr. Trowbridge was promoted to the bench, and in that capacity was obliged to defend the famous "Writs of Assistance," in which he was opposed and wholly confuted by his pupil, Otis. He was a Colonel of the Militia, and Grand Master of the Free Masons, and belonged to some other charitable associations. He died in Boston September 7th, 1767.—Eliot,

+ He lived in Plymouth in 1748 and 1749, and kept his office in the main street; his name does not appear on the records of the Town, except in a tax bill in 1748, where he is rated at " 20. personal estate and faculty," but it is found frequently on the records of the Court, for those two years, as being "of Plymouth."-In Boston he occupied successively three different houses, one in School street, on the North side, next to the county property, the house in Court Street which belongs to the Brattle Street Church, and the house on the south side of the western entrance to Bowdoin Square.

a lawyer became very extensive, and his reputation was firmly established for learning, eloquence and the most high minded integrity. He was soon generally known in many of the other colonies, and often consulted from a distance; at one time he yielded to the urgent solicitations that were made to him to proceed to Halifax in the middle of winter, to plead the cause of three men accused of piracy, whom he defended so ably as to procure their acquittal. On this occasion he received a fee, which was said to have been the largest that had ever been given to any advocate in the Province. This compensation however, would have been an inadequate motive for accepting such a commission, if there had not been joined to it the flattering compliment of being sought from afar, and the increase of reputation that naturally attended on such a dis

tinction.

Through all his professional engagements, he still retained his taste for literature, which was established on the sure foundation of accomplished scholarship. To aid the cultivation of classical learning, he supplied a deficiency which then existed, by composing a treatise entitled "The Rudiments of Latin Prosody, with a dissertation on Letters, and the principles of Harmony, in poetic and prosaic composition, collected from the best writers;" which was published in 1760.* This work forms a very complete treatise; and if it were used in all our latin schools at the present day, the stu

See Appendix C.

dents might hereafter escape the reproaches to which they are too generally obnoxious from their neglect of prosody. He also composed a similar work on Greek prosody, which remained in manuscript; and perished with all the rest of his papers. He was a passionate admirer of the Greek poets, particularly of Homer, and used to say, it was in vain to attempt to read poetry in any language without a thorough knowledge of its prosody. When the wish was suggested by a friend to whom he had lent the treatise, that it should be printed; he said "there were no Greek types in the country, or if there were that no printer knew how to set them." His o her writings were political and will be noticed hereafter in regular order.

His literary taste was formed and matured by the most thorough classical study, and his tenets in criticism were those of the old school. He was fond of the society of young people, to whom he was indulgent and instructive. At a certain period it was the fashion to a degree of affectation, for many young men, to be talking about poetry and citing verses, but altogether from the English poets of the day. To a young gentleman* who was particularly intimate in his family, he remarked, "These lads are very fond of talking about poetry, and repeat

*The late James Perkins, Esq. of Boston, who was intimate in Mr. Otis's family. Mr. Perkins has deceased since the passage in the text was written. He was one of the most eminent merchants in the United States, and distinguished not only by uprightness and intelligence in his profession, but by a taste for literature and attachment to its interests. He will be remembered for several liberal donations to public institutions.