series of text books prepared by him while incumbent of the professor's chair, for the use of the bar and bench, and as aids in the teaching of the elementary principles of law. Nothing on the subject had previously appeared in English except the meager outline of Sir William Jones. The new treatise, received with great favor alike in America and England was introduced into the Law School as a text book.

In 1833, Judge Story published his "Commentaries on the Constitution," in three volumes, which were received with great and general favor. A just and appreciative tribute was paid to this work by the eminent man to whom it was so appropriately dedicated-John Marshall-in a letter of acknowledgment to the author: "I have finished reading your great work, and wish it could be read by every statesman, and every would-be statesman in the United States. It is a comprehensive and an accurate commentary on our Constitution, formed in the spirit of the original text."

In the early part of 1834, the "Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws" were published. It was the first systematic treatment of the subject in the English language; and its admirable method, its copious learning, and the liberal spirit which pervaded it were warmly recognized by professional readers both in England and America. It was reprinted in England, and soon translated into German and French; and it was received by the jurists and juridical writers of the Continent with a welcome which was the best proof of the substantial merit of the work.

We pass over, as of less importance to the professional reader, many other literary works of Judge Story during this period-essays, lectures, eulogies, etc. Among these was a glowing but discriminative tribute to Chief-Justice Marshall, who had died on the sixth of July, 1835.

During the year 1835, Judge Story prepared for the "Kritische Zeitschrift"-a periodical published at Heidelberg, an elaborate article on the Constitutional and Public Law of the United States; and subsequently he furnished for the "Revue Etrangére," at Paris, an article on the Organization and Jurisdiction of National Courts in the United States.

In the latter part of 1835, Judge Story revised and published a selection from his miscellaneous writings, which was dedicated to Mr. Josiah Quincy, then President of Harvard College.

In the early part of 1836, the first volume of his "Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence" was published, which was followed by the second in the summer of the same year. This

is a work of profound and exact learning; and in practical value to the profession, has not been surpassed by any of Judge Story's legal treatises. He found a peculiar pleasure alike in the study and the administration of equity law. Its broad and comprehensive principles, which were in unison with his own liberal and enlightened views of jurisprudence, were expounded by him with a fullness of illustration and a depth of research which showed that his mind was working in a congenial sphere. His "Commentaries" took a place in the literature of the profession which no previous work on the same subject had occupied, and from which it has not since been removed.

In the year 1838, Judge Story published a treatise on “Equity Pleadings," a work supplementary to the "Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence," and marked by similar thorough research and luminous method.

In the spring of 1839, his "Commentaries on the Law of Agency" were published, which met with the same success, at home and abroad, as his previous works. The same may be said of the "Commentaries on Partnership," which appeared in 1841. In the interval between the publication of these treatises, new editions were prepared of the works on "Bailments,". on "Equity Pleadings," and on the "Conflict of Laws," involving much labor and comprising extensive additions.

In 1842, his health gave way under his unremitted labors, and he had a serious fit of illness. He recovered very slowly, and was obliged to give up his usual course of judicial duties at Washington, and remain at home during the winter. This was the only session of the Supreme Court which he failed to attend, from his appointment to the time of his death-a period of thirty-three years.

In the carly part of 1843, his "Commentaries on Bills of Ex

change" appeared, and this was followed, two years afterward by his "Commentaries on the Law of Promissory Notes," both of which were received with the same favor as his earlier works.

For some time before his death, Judge Story had been meditating a resignation of his seat upon the bench. He wished to devote his whole time and energies to the Law School, in which he felt an ever increasing interest, and to the preparation of the legal treatises which he had meditated, but had not yet written. Besides, though his personal relations with his brethren of the bench were entirely agreeable, Washington was no longer to him what it had been in the days of Marshall. A change had come over the spirit of the Court; and the constitutional opinions of that illustrious man; and his own, no longer swayed the tribunal. He had been compelled, in more than one instance, to dissent from the judgment of the Court, and he felt that in the future the divergence was more likely to increase than to diminish.

Returning from Washington early in 1845, with a fixed determination of resigning his judicial position, he addressed himself to the task of clearing the docket of the Circuit Court, so as to leave no legacy of unfinished work to his successor. Many of the cases were intricate and difficult, and the arduous labors they required bore heavily upon his strength and upon his vital energies, which doubtless had already been overtaxed. Such was the buoyancy of his spirit, however, that the effect was not perceived at the time.

The last time he appeared in public was on the third of July, 1846, when a festival was given in celebration of the completion of a large addition to the Law Building of the College. On that occasion he appeared in excellent health and spirits, and made a speech, in which he gave a history of the foundation and growth of the Law School, and paid a generous tribute to Mr. Dane.

By the beginning of September he had finished the hearing of all the cases pending before him, and had drawn up opinions in all but one, and that was nearly completed. The severe labor which these tasks imposed, and the heat of the summer, had greatly exhausted him; and while in this prostrated con

dition, he took a slight cold, which was followed by a violent internal stricture, from which he was not relieved until after many hours of great suffering. But now his exhausted system could not rally. His strength daily declined, in spite of the best medical advise and the most careful nursing, and he died, without consciousness or pain, on the 10th of September, 1846, at the age of sixty-seven years.

The news of his death threw a gloom over the community, all the deeper from the fact that none but those who lived in his immediate neighborhood were prepared for it. Resolutions were adopted, and speeches expressive of the highest respect and admiration were made at the opening of every court over which he had presided, and also of the Supreme Court at Washington. On the 18th of September, the sixtyseventh anniversary of his birth, a beautiful and impressive eulogy was delivered by his colleague, Professor Greenleaf, before the pupils of the Law School. In the Courts of the United States, in New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, his death was appropriately noticed.

Judge Story was about five feet eight inches in height, with rather broad shoulders, and a compact and active figure. He was very animated in his movements, and to the last, maintained the elastic step of youth. His complexion was fair, his eyes were blue. His hair in youth was auburn, but in early manhood he became bald. His mouth was large and full of expression. His countenance was easily lighted with smiles, and glowed with kindliness and unaffected sympathy. His manners were simple, unassuming and cordial.

He was a man of large capacity and various faculties; and with such intellectual force, that whatever might have been the sphere allotted to him, he could hardly have failed to have risen to eminence in it. His perceptions were wonderfully quick, and his knowledge was as enduring as it was readily acquired. His memory was "wax to receive and marble to retain." His crowning and conspicuous quality was his industry, wherein few equalled and none excelled. Many men will work hard in order to secure the prizes of life, wealth, office or fame; and when these are won, they begin to grow self-indulgent,

and are content to live on their intellectual capital, without adding to its stores. Not so Judge Story; for labor was a necessity of his nature, and he must have ceased to live before he ceased to work. The profession of the law, which he chose, was that which afforded the best scope and sphere to this persevering industry; for of eminence in the law it is not too much to say, that three parts out of four are made up of hard work.

There is, in our opinion, a moral to be drawn from the manner of his death, which should not be lost upon the judges of our day, and especially in this City. Had Judge Story performed, during the last twenty years of his life, but two-thirds of the labor which he did, more than twenty years would probably have been added to a career already glorious, but which by a prudent expenditure of vital energy, would then have been at its zenith.

Judge Story, though fond of general literature, was mainly, almost exclusively, a lawyer, and presented an example of undeviating devotion to his profession, more common in England than in this country. Here professional eminence is apt to prove the stepping-stone to the more showy, and to many natures the more tempting, honors of politics.

That Judge Story was a great lawyer, both in the original force of his mind and in his prodigious attainments, is what no man competent to judge, and free from prejudice, will for a moment deny. Judge Prescott, a man careful of his words, and not inclined to overpraise, said of him, in a letter written in 1840: "I believe him the greatest jurist now living in either country," meaning England or America. That this would not be too much to claim for him, even in England, may be inferred from the fact that Lord Campbell, in the course of a debate in the House of Lords, characterized him as "the first of living writers on the law." If among his contemporaries there were some who were not inferior to him, if there were some who were even superior to him in grasp of legal principles, in logical power, in accuracy of legal perception, and in simplicity and clearness of expression, there was no one who equaled him in the range and depth of his learning.