teacher to his house, gave him access to his library, made him almost a member of his family; in short, he deserved the praise which Bulwer bestows upon those who show kindness to the young, when he says, in " My Novel " : " If there be a good in the world that we do without knowing it, without con jecturing the effect it may have upon a hu man soul, it is when we show kindness to the young in the first barren pathway up the mountain of life." The annals of biography have seldom offered a more striking illustra tion of the truth of Bulwer's remark than in the case of Luther Martin. Had he been treated with cold indifference, instead of warm friendship, he might have lived a " village Hampden," and died a village schoolmaster. He availed himself so well of this oppor tunity to store his mind with legal knowledge that he afterward became the wonder of the bar; his mere opinion was accepted as the law, and was for many years regarded as sound authority before any tribunal of justice. In 177 1 he went to Williamsburg, at that time the capital of Virginia, with a Royal Governor, and a miniature court, where the gallant gentlemen and fair dames danced the stately minuet. But even then the mutterings of the coming Revolution began to be heard, and soon Patrick Henry was to arouse the whole country by his thrilling demand for " Liberty or Death! " Luther Martin espoused the patriot cause with the most ardent enthusiasm, and, while in Williams burg, made many acquaintances among the distinguished men of the time. Among these were Patrick Henry, who was al ready rising to prominence as the orator of the American Revolution, and George Wythe, who had been the Chancellor of Vir ginia. Through the powerful influence of the latter Martin was admitted to the Bar of Virginia, and soon after began to practise in Accomac and Northampton Counties, on the eastern shore of Virginia, and the ad joining counties of Worcester and Somerset in Maryland. He was so successful that in a few years his professional income was
$5,000 per annum, which was a very large sum for a lawyer to make in those days. He also made what, perhaps, he valued more than money, — fame; for in 1774 he was appointed one of a committee on the part of Virginia to oppose the unjust claims of Great Britain, and also a member of the convention which was called to meet at An napolis, Maryland, " to resist the usurpations of the British crown." These were conge nial occupations for the patriotic lawyer, and he entered into them with a zeal and cour age which knew no flinching, although, as he said, he " did not lie down one night in bed without the hazard of waking on board of a British armed vessel or in the other world." He made himself specially obnoxious to the royal authority, by writing a powerful an swer to the proclamation issued by Lord Howe, calling upon the people of Maryland to uphold the crown in that province.- The royal proclamation was treated with indif ference, while Martin's address was received with enthusiasm, and the people of Mary land were stimulated to renewed efforts in the cause of American independence. When Maryland required a man of iron will and unyielding firmness for AttorneyGeneral during the Revolutionary War, Sam uel Chase, one of the Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence, recom mended Luther Martin for the position. He was at once recognized as the right man for the place, and was confirmed without oppo sition. One of his principal duties was to prosecute malignant Tories, and confiscate their property, which he did with astonish ing energy and extraordinary firmness. No doubt his uncompromising zeal contributed greatly to suppress the Tory feeling which at the outbreak of the Revolution prevailed in some of the western counties of Maryland. His fame as a lawyer spread through the land; and as he declined all purely politi cal offices, in order to devote himself exclu sively to the bar, he became, as already mentioned, the head of his profession in the United States. He was not a great orator,
