wonderful powers of eloquence then dis played will ever be the glory, not only of Virginians, but all American people. In 1776 he was elected governor of Virginia, and repeatly re-elected. He was a member, for Virginia, at the convention of 1786. In 1788, when fifty-two years old, he was telling a neighbor of his anxiety about his debts. The friend replied : " Go back to the bar; your tongue will soon pay your debts. If you will promise to go, I will give you a retaining fee on the spot." He took the advice, and Mr. Wirt says: "His en gagements were confined to the argument of the cause; his clients employed other counsel to conduct the pleadings and ripen their cases for hearing. Hence his practice was restricted to difficult and important cases; but his reputation kept him con stantly engaged and thousands of tongues were everywhere employed in repeating the fine effusions of his genius." In 179 1, when he was fifty-five, before the circuit court of the United States, in the celebrated British debts case, he made what has been considered, Mr. Wirt says, "his most distinguished display of profes sional talents." He spoke for three days in succession, and it was said : " Although it turned entirely on questions of law, yet the audience, mixed as it was, seemed so far from being wearied that it followed him throughout with increased enjoyment. The room continued full to the last; such was ' the listening silence ' with which he was heard that not a syllable that he uttered is believed to have been lost. When he final ly sat down, the concourse rose with a gen eral murmur of admiration." It is said he never liked the profession of law and only the necessity of making money kept him in it. In 1792 he engaged in defending a young man named Holland for murder. The pre judice against Holland was such that the people declared " Even Patrick Henry need not come to defend him, unless he brought
a jury with him." But says Mr. Wirt : "Mr. Henry soon made all forget that Holland had killed the storekeeper and think only of the deplorable case of the jury's killing Holland." In 1794 he retired from the practice of law, having made in six years enough to pay his debts and a handsome fortune beside. Mr. Wirt says : " He retired loaded with honors, public and professional, and carried with him the admiration, the grati tude, the confidence and the love of his country. No man had ever passed through so long a life of public service with a repu tation more perfectly unspotted." He died in 1799. The last years of his life are said to have been "eminently pious." John Marshall was born Sept. 24, 1755, in Virginia. He continued through life a zealous student and agreed with Aristotle "that to become eminent in any profession, study and practice are as necessary as nature." He loved the law. During the Revolu tionary War he frequently acted as judge advocate and, it is said, " His good humor and judicious conduct brought him the unenvying love of both officers and men." He had served with Washington intheJerseysand throughout the war, until the winter of 1779, when, while the army was in winter quarters, he returned to Virginia and began the study of law at William and Mary College under Professor, afterward Chancellor Wythe. In the summer of 1780 he received a license to practice, and returning to the army remained until the close of the war. When the courts reopened he commenced to practice in Fauquier County, but a little later removed to Richmond. He soon at tained honorable distinction and rapidly developed those powers of pure and massive reasoning which subsequently made him the great judge. It is said : " When he first appeared in Richmond to argue a case, he sauntered about the streets in a plain linen roundabout, looking like a country bump
