assembled in the Autumn of 1793. For a moment it seemed as if he was once more to take his place by the side of the comrades of his early political life, and become a member of that little coterie of eminent Republicans and statesmen, who so ably represented this part of Virginia in the highest posts of State and nation. But the promise was cut short by the demands of his private affairs. In the interval between his election and the assembling of Congress his plans underwent a complete metamorphosis, and he resigned the seat he had never occupied and set out for Kentucky.
He went at once to Lexington, the county-seat of Fayette County, the capital of the State, and the largest and most important town west of Pittsburg. Two of his brothers and his only sister had already removed to the neighborhood of Lexington, and his half-brother Robert Breckinridge, who was at this time a member of the House of Representatives, spent a large part of the year there in attendance on the meetings of that body. There too was George Nicholas, his friend of many years' standing, now the leader of the Kentucky bar and high in political influence. Besides these there were many others both friends and relatives in and about the flourishing little town. Although he proposed to devote himself mainly to the practice of his profession, he purchased a large tract of land containing about twenty-five hundred acres, lying to the north of the town, about six miles distant. The place received the name of "Cabell's Dale," in honor of his wife, and a law office was built
