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The Golden Days of the Maryland Bar. his time. He died on the 12th of October, 1864, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, having presided twenty-eight years over the Supreme Court of the United States. William Wirt made his first appearance at the Maryland Bar in 1818. He was at that time the Attorney-General of the United States. He often encountered William Pinkney in the courts, and said he found pleasure

in meeting that great advocate. " His repu tation is so high," said Mr. Wirt, " that there is no disparagement in being foiled by him, and great glory in not being defeated by him. To foil him in fair fight, and in this his own chosen theatre too, would be a crown so imperishable that I feel a kind of youth ful pleasure in the combat." But Wirt and Pinkney were not always on opposite sides. In one of the most celebrated cases of this period (McCulloh vs. The State of Maryland) Wirt, Pink ney, and Webster — REVERDY a grand trio — were arrayed on the side of the plaintiff. The case was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in 181Q. It was during his splendid argument in this case that Pinkney spoke of our highest tribunal of justice as a "holy sanc tuary " — a " more than Amphictyonic Coun cil." His speech on this occasion was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the greatest of his life. Mr. Wirt's argu ment fully satisfied the public expectation, and, what is still more important, satisfied himself; for he was always his own most severe critic. His fame as an orator rests

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chiefly upon his celebrated speech in de fence of Blennerhassett, during the trial of Aaron Burr. This speech was plentifully decorated with the flowers of fancy, and rich in sounding rhetoric; but the famous passage in which he described the home of Blenner hassett and his connection with Burr was a piece of romantic fiction. The present Attorney-General of Maryland, Hon. Wm. Pinkney Whyte. grandson of William Pinkney, recently said of William Wirt that "he was not only a lawyer, whose mind was stored with legal lore, but he was a man of the highest literary culture." His " British Spy," "Old Bachelor," and "Life of Patrick Henry " still live as proofs of his literary accomplishments. Francis Scott-Key, the author of " The Star-Spangled Ban ner," was born in Fred erick County, Mary land, August 1, 1779. He studied law under Judge Jeremiah TownJOHNSON. ley Chase at Annapo lis. He commenced his professional career in his native county, and acquired a large practice. In the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and the Supreme Court of the United States, he became conspicuous for the chaste elegance of his language and the polished grace of his man ner. On the night of the 1 3th of September, 18 14, while a prisoner on board of the British fleet which was bombarding Fort McHenry, in Baltimore harbor, Mr. Key wrote " The Star-Spangled Banner," which was first sung, a few days afterward, at the Holliday Street Theatre in Baltimore, and was at once