MY DEAR FRANCIS:

TO FRANCIS W. GILMER.

MONTEVIDEO, November 16, 1813.

As in the bustle of starting I forgot to shake hands with you, I shall endeavor to offer some atonement for it by giving you the first letter. Had I not been perplexed by the multitude of petty concerns, to which it was necessary for me to attend, I wished to have had some particular conversation with you about the course of your studies; and more especially, the mode of studying Bacon.

It was understood that you were not only to read all Bacon's references, but to add to them Dallas, Cranch, and the Virginia reporters. There are some British reporters since Gwillim's edition of Bacon that I have; and as, instead of shrinking from labor, you love a task the more for being the more herculean,—I would recommend it to you to embrace them in your scheme also.

Whenever the head you are upon involves the subject of pleading, you ought to consult Chitty before you broach Bacon, and learn to draw the plea off-hand, at once. For example,—the first head in Bacon is "Abatement:" The course which we propose is, first, to see what Blackstone says on that subject throughout, which you will easily do by the aid of his index. Consult Tucker's Blackstone, with the editor's notes, to see the changes superinduced by our state law. You will thus have gotten the chart of the coast, at least in outline, and know were you are; next Chitty, in his first volume you will see his learning on the plea of abatement. In his second, you will see the forms of the plea itself, which you must be able to draw before you lay him down. Thus prepared, you open Bacon, and having read him and his references on the subject, you turn to Bosanquet and Puller, East's Reports, Smith's Reports, Campbell's Reports, Selwyn's Nisi Prius, Espinasse's Reports,-Day's edition,-then the American and Virginia Reports.

In my notes, I would follow Bacon's distribution of the head, and arrange the matter which I collect, as he would have done, had he possessed it.

When, for example, you find a case presenting a new principle, say, on the subject of "Abatement," as what may be

pleaded in abatement,-turn to that division of the head of "Abatement," under which such matter properly comes, and insert the reference there: otherwise, all your own discoveries will come en masse, at the end of the head in your note book, and will be without distribution, order, or light.

You must not read so long at a time, and with so little digestion as to make your head spin, as Lord Mansfield says,-nor to fill it with confusion and "aitches" (aches)-as Kemble calls it On the contrary, take your time and see your course clearly; understand the whole ground as you go along-not only geographically, but topographically; keep your books and your route under your eye, as clearly as a general does his army and his line of march; and, like a great general and conqueror, never quit any province you enter, without being able to say, this province is mine, and placing in it an invincible garrison.

The general course is, to gallop over these provinces like travellers in a hurry, and having made one or two remarks, to take it for granted we know all about it,-as Weld, from a single example, pronounces "all the tavern keepers in this state drunkards, and all their wives scolds." One student, too, as soon as he leaves one of these provinces, having contrived to make his own time very disagreeable in it, as well as very unprofitable, turns about at the boundary line, and making a very profound reverence, says, "I hope never to see you again;" whereas, had he cultivated it properly, he might have made the grounds so profitable and delightful, that it would have been grateful at a future day to return and review them.

I am not one of those who believe in the declension of genius in these latter days.-I believe the paucity of great men, in all ages, has proceeded from the universality of indolence. Indolence is natural to man, and it is only the brave few, who can "clear the copse at a bound," break over the magic bourne, and stretch away with "an eye that never winks, and a wing that never tires," into new regions and new worlds; who distinguish themselves from the crowd, and rise to glory that never fades. What kind of men were Littleton, Coke, Bacon, &c.? Think what habits of application they must have had,-what an insatiable appetite for knowledge; not the morbid craving of a day or a week, but the persevering voracity of a long life. Such only are the fellows who

climb so high up Fame's obelisk, as to write their names where they may strike the eye of distant nations. The many of us who cannot bear the labor of climbing, stand on the ground and stretch up as high as we can: and as this is a paltry business that depends more on the longest legs and arms, than the longest head, it turns out that's name is legible as far as 's; and in a very short time, they will both be erased by the scrambling herd of their unaspiring successors, who will be as tall as they are, and will claim their hour of notice, in a world of several leagues in circumference.

You have begun under the happiest auspices,-even set out with a stock of science and information, which was not surpassed, I suspect, in the example of Mr. Jefferson, and not equalled in any other; I do not except Tazewell. Now if you do not keep the advantage you have got, the fault is your own. You may get up among the eminent few, at the top of the obelisk, if you choose, or, if you prefer it, expire among the ephemera at the base. For my own part, independent of the affection which makes me take an interest in you, I have a sort of philosophical curiosity to see what is attainable by man; and I know of no young man so well gifted for the experiment as yourself. The cultivation of eloquence should go hand in hand with your legal studies. I would commit to memory and recite a la mode de Garrick-the finest parts of Shakspeare, to tune the voice, by cultivating all the varieties of its melody, to give the muscles of the face all their motion and expression, and to acquire an habitual ease and gracefulness of gesture, and command of the stronger passions of the soul. I would recite my own compositions, and compose them for recitation; I would address my recitations to trees and stones, and falling streams, if I could not get a living audience, and blush not even if I were caught at it. So much for this subject.

Your friend,

WM. WIRT.

CHAPTER XXI.

1814.

CONTENTMENT.— PROSPEROUS CONDITION. — LETTERS TO CARR.—TO MR. LOMAX. OPINION OF CICERO. VIEWS OF THE WAR.- EXTRAVAGANT OPINIONS.-LETTER TO GILMER. — CAMPAIGNING.— INSUBORDINATION OF THE MILITIA.-VISIT TO WASHINGTON.-CONGRESS.-UNFAVORABLE ASPECT OF AFFAIRS.-MADISON.-WEBSTER.-AVERSION TO PUBLIC LIFE.ENGAGEMENT IN THE SUPREME COURT.-POSTPONED,

WIRT's professional position was now securely established, on the same level with the most eminent men of the bar of Virginia. The most difficult and the most dangerous points in the path of his worldly career may be said to have been overcome. The content which springs from certainty and safety in the affairs of life was opening broadly upon his household. A numerous family of children was growing up around him. His business was not only profitable, but it was also of a character which rendered it most agreeable to his ambition, by the reputation it brought him and the scope it gave to a useful and honorable association with the more important individuals and concerns of the society in which he lived. A man becomes aggrandized and strengthened in his place by such connections, as trees whose roots take firmer hold of the soil by the thousand new fibres of a healthful growth. The natural concomitant of this steady success was a placid and regular life, from which we may not expect much material, just at this time, to give excitement to our narrative. It is in toiling up the steep of fame, that the casualties of human condition and the adventures which belong to the strife of genius, afford the most animating topics of instruction. The height once gained, the interest of its previous doubtful

votary's progress is apt to lose the and anxious struggles, in that period of repose and quiet enjoyment which generally follows successful endeavor as its appropriate

reward.

I do not mean to intimate that, at this juncture, the subject of our memoirs had attained a point at which his ambition found VOL. 1-31*

nothing further to covet. But he had gained a platform where he rejoiced in disenthralling himself of those misgivings, which we have seen him sometimes disposed to entertain, in the contemplation of his labors to secure an independent position for his family. He felt that his success was assured. He had earned, and was now enjoying, the respect of friends, the consideration of society, the reputation of useful and vigorous talent, and some little celebrity, besides, connected both with forensic and literary eminence. He had health, competence, many of the luxuries and elegancies of life. In short, he had a bright outlook upon the world, which, of itself, is one of the happiest conditions of humanity. Behind him, was the pleasant landscape of many rugged heights traversed and prosperously surmounted. Before him, were eminences rising to the clouds, but with gentler slope and easier way, lightened by a brighter sun and freshened with a richer verdure. He had limb and nerve to climb them, with a heart as stout as at first.

At this stage of his progress, it is a pleasant duty to lay before my readers that little tissue of his private history,-the history of his thoughts and opinions, rather than of bis doings,-which is to be gathered from the light-hearted letters of this time. They deal in small incidents, mostly of a domestic and personal nature, and shed a serene and agreeable light upon his own character, as well as upon that of his friends.

"It is not the habit of my mind," he says, in a letter to Carr, about this time, "to repine at the past. On the contrary, I so far profit by it, as to make it the measure of the future. I look cheerfully forward, and flatter myself I shall yet amass a handsome independence, turn farmer, and, on some fine seat, build a castle and a literary name. A castle in the air,' quoth you. Very probably. Yet the illusion is pleasing, and 'Hope,' you know, still travels through, nor quits us till we die.' For which companionable temper of hers, I most gratefully thank her Serene Highness, and bid her welcome to my fireside.