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several children, of whom Rufus Choate was one. The father died in 1808, when Rufus was but nine years old ; the mother lived to witness the noble career of her son, and died in 1853. As a boy, Rufus was strong, active, and precocious. Before he was six years old he had become so familiar with " Pilgrim's Progress " as to repeat from mem- ory large portions of it ; and before he was ten he had devoured most of the volumes in the little vil- lage library. He was extremely fond of reading the Bible. He was graduated at Dartmouth with the valedictory in 1819. For scholarship and for command of language he was already remarkable. In comparison with his translations from Latin and Greek, said Ira Perley, who was one of his classmates, all other construing done in the class " seemed the roughest of unlicked babble." In 1818 Mr. Choate was greatly affected by the magnificent speech of Daniel Webster in the Dart- mouth college case, and was confirmed in his inclination to- ward the study of law. After graduation he spent one year as tutor at Dart- mouth, and then entered the law- school at Cam- bridge. In 1821 he removed to the office of Will- iam Wirt, then attorney-general of the United States, at Washington. There he saw Marshall

on the bench of

the supreme court, and heard William Pinkney in the senate. In the autumn of 1822 he returned to Massachusetts and pursued his studies at Ips- wich, and then for a while at Salem. In 1823 he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office in Danvers, where he remained five years. In 1825 he married Miss Helen Olcott, of Hanover, N. H. In 1828 he removed to Salem, and in 1830 was elected member of congress, where he distinguished himself the next year by a speech on the tariff. He was re-elected in 1832. but resigned at the end of the winter session of 1834, and removed to Bos- ton, where he soon took a foremost place as an advocate. At the same time he paid much atten- tion to literary studies, and occasionally delivered lectures on literary and historical subjects. In 1841 Daniel Webster accepted the office of secre- tary of state under President Harrison, and Mr. Choate was elected to his place in the U. S. senate. Among his most brilliant speeches as senator were those on the Oregon boundary, the tariff, the fiscal bank bill, the Smithsonian institution, and the annexation of Texas, which he opposed. In 1845, Mr. Webster having been re-elected to the senate, Mr. Choate returned to Boston and resumed the practice of his profession. In the summer of 1850 he travelled in Europe, visiting England, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Germany. He was a delegate to the Whig national convention at Balti- more in June, 1852, and urged the nomination of Webster for the presidency. In the following year he took an important part in the Massachu- setts convention for revising the constitution of the state. In the presidential canvass of 1856 he supported Mr. Buchanan. During the two troubled years that followed, Mr. Choate took a warm inter- est in national politics, and made a few speeches. His health, which had been for some time failing, gave way early in 1859, and, by the advice of his pliysicisins, he sailed for Europe, accompanied by his son. On reaching Halifax, where the steamers then regularly stopped, he became convinced that it was useless to try to go farther. He took lodg- ings in the town, hoping to recover enough strength to get back to Boston, but in a few days, after a delusive appearance of improvement, suddenly died. Mr. Choate's love of literary pursuits en- dured to the end. He was extremely fond of poet- ry, and, being endowed with an extraordinary ver- bal memory, could repeat hundreds of favorite verses. He took an especial interest in Greek lit- erature, and at one time even contemplated devot- ing his leisure hours to writing a history of Greece ; but he abandoned this project on seeing the early volumes of Grote's great work. In many respects he was the most scholarly of all American public men. He was tall, dignified, and graceful, with a face at once rugged and mobile, and imusually ex- pressive. His voice was sympathetic and musical. He had an almost unrivalled power over his audi- ences. He rarely indulged in invective, as it was unsuited to his sweet and gentle nature, but ex- celled in quaint humor. No one could put things in a more ridiculous light ; but it was done so deli- cately that the object of his ridicule could not help joining in the laugh. From light and airy banter he could pass in an instant into grand and solemn moods. His urbanity was exquisite. "The very manner in which lie would pronounce your name," said a much younger lawyer, who had known him well, "was in itself the most delicate of compli- ments." This personal magnetism combined with his wealth of learning and his strong sense place him among the greatest forensic advocates that America has produced. H e may fairly be ranked as the equal of Lord Erskine. His writings were edited, with a memoir, by S. G. Brown (2 vols., Boston, 1862). See also " Recollections of Eminent Men," by Edwin P. Whipple (Boston, 1886).— His brother," David, jurist, b. in 1796 ; d. in Essex, Mass., 15 Dec, 1872, served in both branches of the Massachusetts legislature. He held the office of trial justice for many years in Essex, and was an ac- tive supporter of benevolent institutions. — Rufus, son of Rufus Choate, soldier, b. in Salem, Mass., in 1834 : d. 15 Jan., 1866, was graduated at Amherst in 1855. He was admitted to the bar in Boston in 1858, and in 1861 entered the National service as second lieutenant. He took part in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Mountain, and Antietam, but, after being promoted to a captaincy, was forced to resign in 1862, from failing health.

CHOATE, Joseph Hodges, lawyer, b. in Salem, Mass., 24 Jan., 1832. He was graduated at Harvard in 1852, and at the Dane law-school in 1854. In the year following he was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, and in 1856 in New York, since which time he has practised in New York city. Mr. Choate was counsel for Gen. Fitz John Porter in the protracted investigation in West Point, before the board of officers appointed by President Hayes, which resulted in the reversal of the judgment of the original court-martial. He also defended the celebrated Cesnola case (see Cesnola). Mr. Choate for many years was president of the Union league club, and of the New England society, in New York, and was a member of the “committee of seventy,” and took part in the municipal canvass of 1871, which resulted in the