Charlottesville was near the home of Jefferson, and here, immediately upon the return of that eminent statesman from the court of St. Denis, began the friendship between these two men which was to have such a controlling influence on Mr. Breckinridge's life. Mr. Jefferson writing of his first visit, to Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, twenty-five years after its occurrence, says: "Our acquaintance arose soon after my return from Europe. He was so kind as to favor me with a visit, and during its short continuance I had opportunity sufficient to discover the large scope of his mind the stores of information laid up in it, and the moral direction given to both."[1] Here too he formed intimate friendships with Monroe, John Marshall, the Nicholases, and others who were fast rising at the bar and in politics. The influence of these early ties may be traced throughout his too brief career. In his profession he quickly revealed talents of a high order. Arduous and assiduous in his labors, with a well-trained and logical mind, and a vigorous and manly eloquence, less florid, indeed, than the style then so popular in Virginia, but too earnest and forceful not to command respect,—he rapidly rose to distinction, even challenging, on an important occasion, comparison with Patrick Henry, then in the zenith of his fame. However great he was as an orator and an advocate, and however much he may have achieved in this department of his profession, it was rather in its higher walks that he most desired to succeed, and for a mastery of legal princi-
- ↑ Jefferson to J. C. Breckinridge, June 12, 1815.
