tember, 1781, with high reputation. After passing a few weeks at Fairfield, to which place his father had removed on his second marriage, he went to Poughkeepsie, and commenced the study of the law, under the direction of Egbert Benson, then attorney-general of the State of New York, and afterward one of the judges of the Supreme Court.

His strong and decided attachment to jurisprudence could not fail to insure his success. Besides the books of English common law, he read the large works of Grotius and Puffendorf, making copious extracts from them, and as a relaxation, perusing the best writers in English literature, of which his favorite portions were history, poetry, geography, voyages and travels. He was temperate in all his habits, was a waterdrinker, and engaged in no dissipation, not even joining in the ordinary fashionable amusements of others of the same age. He was very far, however, from being grave, reserved or austere; but was uniformly cheerful, lively, and communicative. The love of reading had become his ruling passion, and when he felt the want of amusement, "he better knew great Nature's charms to prize," and sought it in rural walks, amidst objects that purify and elevate the imagination.

In September, 1784, he took the degree of Master of Arts at Yale College, and in January, 1785, was admitted an attorney of the Supreme Court. He went to Fredericksburgh, with the intention of commencing the practice of his profession there; but the solitude of that retired place soon became insupportable, and in less than two months he returned to Poughkeepsie. There, in April, 1785, he married a Miss Bailey, a lady a few years younger than himself, with whom he lived in the uninterrupted enjoyment of domestic felicity.

He possessed, at this time, little or no property, but living with great simplicity in a country village, his wants were few, and were supplied with little expense. Young, ardent and active, he felt no anxiety for the future, but engaged with increased alacrity in professional business and literary pursuits, so as to leave no portion of his time unemployed.

In 1787, he resolved to renew and extend his acquaintance with the Greek and Roman classics, which he had entirely neg

lected after leaving college. When it is considered that the only Greek book at that time read by the classes in that seat of learning, was the Greek Testament, and the only Latin works, Virgil, the select orations of Cicero, and some parts of Horace, we may easily imagine how imperfect must have been that part of his education, the defects of which he was determined to supply.

He began a course of self-instruction, with an energy and perseverance that mark a strong and generous mind. That he might lose no time, and pursue his various studies with method and success, he divided the hours not given to rest, into five portions: rising early and reading Latin until eight, Greek until ten, devoting the rest of the forenoon to law; in the afternoon two hours were applied to French, and the rest of the day to English authors. This division and employment of his time were continued with little variation until he became a judge. By this practice he was under no necessity of encroaching on those hours best appropriated to sleep, and preserved his health unimpaired.

If his mind became weary in one department of study, he found relief by passing to another; "from grave to gay, from lively to severe." He read Homer, Xenophon and Demosthenes, with great delight. Though he afterward relinquished the pursuit of Grecian Literature, he continued to read the best Latin and French authors, and many of the former more than once. As large public libraries, if any then existed, were not within his reach, he began a collection of books, which he gradually increased to several thousand volumes; a very large library for those times. He has often said, that next to his family, his library had been to him the greatest source of enjoyment.

In April, 1787, he was admitted a counselor in the Supreme Court. He soon entered with ardor into the discussion of the great political questions which then absorbed the attention and agitated the minds of all. He could not long remain neutral between the two contending parties, and after a careful examination of the arguments of each, he joined the federal side. He soon became the friend of Jay, Hamilton, and other

eminent men of that party, with whom he uniformly acted, and to whose principles he afterward adhered.

In April, 1790, he was elected a member of the State Legislature for Dutchess County, and again in 1792. In the session held in the City of New York, he took an active part in the contested election case of Chief-Justice Jay against Clinton, who had been returned as elected Governor of New York. His writings on that occasion attracted much attention, and he became favorably known in the City. He was at that time nominated for Congress from Dutchess County but his competitor, who adhered to the opposite party, succeeded by a small majority. During his attendance in the legislature, his principles and conduct were so highly respected, that he was urged by his friends to remove to the City, where he might find greater scope for the exercise of his talents, and more lucrative business in his profession. He accordingly removed to New York, in April, 1793. The first month of his residence in the City was embittered by the loss of an only child, and for a time his prospects were clouded with sorrow.

In December, he was appointed professor of law in Columbia College, and commenced the delivery of lectures in November, 1794. The course was attended by many respectable members of the bar, and a large class of students. In the following winter he read a second course; but the number of his hearers having diminished, he was discouraged from delivering another. The three preliminary lectures were afterward published, but the sale of them did not reimburse the expense of publication. The trustees of the college conferred upon him the degree of doctor of laws, and he afterward received similar honors from Harvard University and Dartmouth College.

In February, 1796, he was appointed a master in chancery, and there being, at that time, but one other, the office was lucrative. In the same year he was elected a member of the legislature from the City of New York. He delivered an address before the society for the promotion of agriculture, arts and manufactures, at their anniversary meeting in New York, on the 8th of November, 1796, which is inserted in the first volume of the transactions of the society. In this address was

foreshadowed the progress the country has made since that time.

In March, 1797, he was, without sqlicitation, and quite unexpectedly to himself, appointed recorder of the City. This, being a judicial office, was the more acceptable as well as the more honorable; and being allowed to retain that of master, the duties of both were so great, and the emoluments sɔ considerable, that he gradually relinquished the more active business of his profession, to which he was not strongly attached. From constitutional diffidence, or habits of study, he appeared not to feel confident in the possession of the powers requisite to ensure pre-eminence as an advocate at the bar.

In 1798, Governor Jay, who knew his worth and highly respected his character, offered him the office of junior judge of the Supreme Court, then vacant, which he accepted. This appointment gratified his highest ambition. It placed him in a position where he could more fully display his attainments, and have a wider field for the investigation of legal science. In accepting the office, he relinquished, for a limited income, all the flattering prospects of increasing wealth that had opened to him during five years' residence in the City. Though most of his friends doubted the wisdom of his choice, he never regretted it. And all who feel interested in the pure and enlightened administration of justice, have found reason to rejoice that he followed the dictates of his own judgment, in a matter so important to the honor and happiness of his after life, and upon which depended so much of his subsequent usefulness.

On becoming a judge, he returned to Poughkeepsie, but in the following year, he removed to Albany, where he continued to reside until 1823.

When he took his seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, there were no reports of its decisions, nor any known or established precedents of its own, to guide or direct his judgment. The English law books were freely cited, and the adjudications of English courts regarded with the highest respect, and in most cases, they had the force of authority. The opinions of the judges were generally delivered orally, with little regu

larity, and often after much delay. The law was in a state of great and painful uncertainty. He began by preparing a written and argumentative opinion in every case of sufficient importance to become a precedent. precedent. These opinions he was ready to deliver on the day when the judges met to consult on the decisions to be pronounced by the court. The other judges, pursuing a similar course, also gave their reasons in writing, supported by legal authorities.

As he read with a pen in his hand, extracting, digesting, abridging, and making copious notes, the practice of writing opinions was easy and agreeable. Besides making himself master of all the English adjudications applicable to the points under examination, he frequently brought to his aid the body of the civil law, and the writings of eminent jurists of the countries in which that law prevails; especially in the discussion of questions arising on personal contracts, or of commercial and maritime law, the principles of which have been so admirably unfolded and illustrated by Domat, Pothier, Valin, Emerigon and others. Like Seldon, Hale and Mansfield, he thought law could not well be understood as a science without seeking its grounds and reasons in the Roman law. From that great repository of "written wisdom," he drew largely, engrafting its sound and liberal principles on the hardy stock of the English common law. Thus commenced that series of judicial decisions which have enriched the jurisprudence of New York, and shed their influence on that of other States.

In 1800, he and Mr. Justice Radcliffe, were appointed by the Legislature, to revise the Statutes of the State; and in January, 1802, their edition of them, comprised in two volumes octavo, was published.

In July, 1804, he was appointed Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, in which he continued to preside until 1814. His opinions are contained in sixteen volumes of Reports, from January, 1799, to February, 1814; and the judgment of the public has long since been formed on their merit and importance.

In February, 1814, he was appointed chancellor. The powers and jurisdiction of the court of chancery were not clearly defined. There were scarcely any precedents of its decisions, to