The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. in Virginia that they had been lost. His own account of himself when he reached home is delightful : — "Now, what shall I say of myself? The war was over, and it was time that I should look to some other profession than that of arms. I was not quite twenty years of age, and, like other young men of the times, having an indulgent father who permitted me to keep horses, I wasted two or three years in fox-hunting, and sometimes in racing; was sometimes at home for three or four weeks at a time. My father had an excel lent family library. I was fond of reading history; read Hume's History of England, Robertson's History of Charles Fifth, some of the British Poets, Shakspeare, Dryden, Pope, etc., and most of the literature of Queen Anne's reign, and even Blackstone's Commentaries, before I had determined to study law. Having resolved at last to pursue some profession, my brother, Dr. Brooke, pre vailed upon me to study medicine. I read his books with him for about twelve months, when my brother Robert would say to me, ' Frank, you have missed your path, and had better study law.' I soon after took his advice, and com menced the study of law with him, and in 1788 I applied for a license to practise law. There were at that time in Virginia only three persons authorized to grant licenses; they were the AttorneyGeneral, Mr. Innes, Mr. German Baker, and Colonel John Taylor, of Caroline, — all distinguished lawyers. I was examined by Mr. Baker at Richmond, and obtained his signature to my license. I then applied to the Attorney-General, Mr. Innes, to examine me; but he was always too much engaged, and I returned home. In a few days after, I received a letter from my old army friend, Capt. Wm. Barrett of Washington's regiment, informing me that he had seen the Attorney-General, who expressed great regret that he had not had it in his power to examine his friend, Mr. Brooke, but that he had talked with Mr. Baker, and was fully satisfied of his competency; and if he would send his license down to Richmond, he would sign it. I accordingly sent the license to him, and he signed it, by which I became a lawyer."
He began his professional life in the wilds of Monongalia County, at Morgan town, now West Virginia, and was soon appointed Com
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monwealth's attorney for the judicial district in which that county was, by Mr. Innes, the Attorney-General who had signed his license. There he met the famous Albert Gallatin, who in his eighty-eighth year wrote him the following letter, namely : — NEW YORK, 4th March, 1847. MY DEAR SIR, — Although you were pleased, in your favor of December last, to admire the preservation of my faculties, these are in truth sadly impaired, — I cannot work more than four hours a day, and write with great difficulty. Entirely absorbed in a subject which engrossed all my thoughts and all my feelings, I was com pelled to postpone answering the numerous letters I receive, unless they imperiously required immediate attention. I am now working up my arrears. But though my memory fails me for recent transac tions, it is unimpaired in reference to my early days. I have ever preserved a most pleasing recollection of our friendly intercourse, almost sixty years ago, and followed you in your long and respectable judiciary career, — less stormy and probably happier than mine. I am, as you pre sumed, four years older than yourself, born zcth January, 1761, and now in my 88th year grow ing weaker every month, but with only the infirmi ties of age. For all chronic diseases I have no faith in Physicians, consult none, and take no physic whatever. With my best wishes that your latter days may be as smooth and as happy as my own, I remain, in great truth, Your friend,
ALBERT GALLATIN. Hon'ble FRANCIS BROOKE, Richmond.
He removed to Eastern Virginia, and, says he, "in the year 1790 I sometimes visited my friends at Smithfield; paid my addresses to Mary Randolph Spotswood, the eldest daughter of General Spotswood and Mrs. Spotswood, the only whole niece of General Washington. Our attachment had been a very early one." On account of his poverty there was some opposition to the match; but consent was finally given, and in the seven teenth year of the bride's age, in October, 1791, they were married. He speaks lov ingly of her " luxuriant brown hair." She
