to his contributions to literature in the shape of finished essays, these being often fine and thoughtful dissertations, or again scintillant with humor, or replete with delicate senti ment. The Readers of THE GREEN BAG will recall with especial delight that "Letter to Posterity" in the issue of February, 1893. But our paper would be indeed incomplete without reference to Judge Bleckley's poetry; for this many-gifted man is the author of some notable verse. Probably the most widely admired of his productions in verse is that fine poem of two stanzas which he read from the Bench, his last opinion during his first incumbency, and which will be found in 64 Georgia 452. A unique proceeding, truly, as it is a unique poem. It was on the occasion of his resigning from the justiceship after five of the hardest-worked, most trying years a man could have, and is entitled "In the Matter of Rest." We reproduce it in full, as it de serves. "Rest for hand and brow and breast, For fingers, heart and brain! Rest and peace! A long release From labor and from pain: Pain of doubt, fatigue, despair,— Pain of darkness everywhere, And seeking light in vain. Peace and rest! Are they the best For mortals here below? Is soft repose from work and woes A bliss for men to know? Bliss of time is bliss of toil! No bliss but this from sun and soil Does God permit to grow."
philosophy, and the ultimate dogma of re ligion." The poet's "Farewell to the Law" has also been widely quoted and admired. It was written and published on the occasion of his permanent retirement, in 1895, from the "fierce forensic war" in which he had been so long a central figure. The note of in tense personal feeling in these verses gives them their strongest interest as well as value. You will dwell longest upon the lines: "For more than one full decade, with pale, unsandaled feet, In pure and spotless ermine, I mused on Georgia's seat, And righteous judgment rendered between the Tares and Wheat. My grand majestic master, vice-regent here of God, I quit thy special service, but stay beneath thy rod, An old and humble servant, uncovered and unshod." It would indeed be a pleasure to give here a number of extracts from Judge Bleckley's miscellaneous verse, not only that in grave and lofty strain, but also from the many specimens in which is exhibited his marked propensity to combine humor and sentiment. But the lack of space forbids. In the latter class of his verse, we can only cite "Law Love," "Broadway," and "Cucumbers": and in the former, "Faith," "Two Cities," and that unsurpassed sonnet upon Alexander Stephens, beginning:
"Of yeoman blood, but yet of noble birth." A brother of the Bench, in a recent ap preciation of Judge Bleckley, has most fit tingly summed up the value of this poem: and closing with the exalted tribute, "The last stanza," he said, "should be burned into the heart of every young man. It is the 1 "His state and country were to him the same, essence of common sense, the conclusion of | And both he served with love, and faith, and fame." human experience, the final deduction of
