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fhree Dolls.per ann.~\
Volume V.J
“ J FROM THE PORT FOLIO.
IfEGAL CHARACTERS.
I/ (concluded,)
| gVe look -through the whole
c je of secular employments, I
of a condition, more no
. in fh s pursuit, or more ample
the reward than that of a lawyer,
certain modifications. I fpesk
sos one, who, by an honorable ex
t irtion of vigorous talent and unre
fitting toil, has Attained the fum
fatof his profcihon ; whole digni
chara&er and domestic virtues
lifted additional luff re on a vvell-ear
f pedfame; whole heart is alive to
fyitbe finer inquires of our nature,
2j)J whole hours of relaxation from
pufinefs, are devoted to the culture
‘(ls letters and the de 1 ights'-of foetal
feanverfe. His personal authority
leaches and binds every rank and
iptiett of men ; wealth, if he
ipcficfies pmdenec, mud follow’ in
Ithr tmn of reputation ; he has
fmtHn whatever offices of
ferity or emolument his country
T crui bellow ; the profeflors of law
.have seized on all the pa Acs to pub
lic honors, nor can they ever be
fepofic illd. as long as reason or au
pority continue to predominate,
irunal another order’ shall arise in
Jjjk state, with superior endow
jJtifgte snd cultivation, united to
pore copious ruearns &E diliifling ,
f |!id perpetuating fßOT"'influence,
mnian, however eligible his fitua
tfe in other respects, can reach or !
jtainbdn a diftingulfhed rank at the
Without the feducements of
Want genius, or the aid of exten
iive legal acquirements ; his retro
fpeft can. therefore, never fail to
mfufe that delightful felf-approba
ton, which mu ft. attend a confci
onfnefs ot owing his elevation to
tee unaffiftect energy ol merit: the
ternp'eoi his lame riles before him,
pd towers to completion, solid in
its flrudure and permanent in its
.teerkls, his fafeguard against the
sTaults of .envy or malice, the work
of Ids own hands, the pride and fo
fece of his exi (fence, the faireft
inheritance of his children. The
i|eue of his labors becomes the
theatre of his glory j the fullnefs of
reward consists, not only in the
Unrivalled independence of his cha-
in his importance to t,hp
tommunity, in the deference paid
y*o the aicendency of his genius, but
& the C'Xrrcife of his functions, in
yiprorr.pt exertion of his powers
• grateful to the mind, in thole in
iftk&ifal contests, wherein as it
appears to me, victory must yield
n * 0r £ substantial gratification, than
(plendid honors and gorge
15* pageantry of Roman triumph.
c au conceive nothing in life pro
aftlveofmore fatisfaflion to ra
ambition, than the situation
Jileh a character, when a great
. such as this country has
witnefl’ed, fumrnon forth
H hie energies of his mind ; when
to hold the mirror up to
corruption, and (trike her
: ; w hlv her own image, in all
hotrors of deformity : to flntid
j ‘
aged patriotism and exalted aWH,,,
S r tV Wlef " ioL ™“'^s
° f judicTal
country “h COnftitutio ” of his
country he enters on the perfor
mance of nis duty with duePprepa
ration animated by his sub
-1 J e nd conscious of his powers
h.s bread expands with the ple.ii!
l ire 6 if, h 'r ‘ natter ’ and heaves,
he that of the Sybil, with the in
! fpsratK ''” ot the Gods ; when every
! !LV S h -o ed 1,1 lur Pence, every ear
I W ‘ th . atte ” tlon every heart
i ! a! P itr ‘tmg m utiifon with his feel
ings, and prepared to respond with
l)e accent * of tongue. Should
tie aher a long devotion to the du
ties of ms prof JII-m, retire from
the turmoil -afcfmhHc, into the re
pole of private life, “to enjoy,” as
Qumtilhan expresses himfelf in the
lait cnapter of his work, “ while
yet living, and remote from envy
, from r lfe> a presentiment of
ttiat leverence which awaits the
oead only he abandons the field
crowned with the garlands of vic
tory ; his retreat is not a flight bu:
a triumph ; his house may be con
verted into a domeflic tribunal,
where the equipoise of justice would
be preserved with a steady and im
paidal nand, and indigence find
counkd free from the insolence of
luutmtI uutmt _ ?x T * r rXk ” avarice.
not merely palpa
ble to the imagination. The flare
oi Maryland, but a few years ago,
has lecn it completely realifed in
the person or one of its members,
both in the fpiehdbr of his profef
fional career, and the beneficence
Pi his retirement. I allude to Da
niel Dulany, a name u like the me
mory of joys pail, pieafant yet
mournful to the fbul?<— a name ne
ver pronounced by an inhabitant of
Maryland, without that poignancy
of regret, and deep sense of venera
tion, due to the remembrance of
tranfeendent abilities and great vir
tues, arid abundant wealth, render
ed ininiflerial to the bell interests
of humanity, during the term of a
long and active life. Nothing is
wanting to complete the portrait in
the character I am now about to
delineate, under the name of Sul
pichsy but the laid embelifhment.
If ever he should be induced to em
brace the counsel of Quintilian,
such I do not hesitate to affirm, will
be the nature of his retreat. My
impreflkns in favor of this gentle
man, owe perhaps, fotne portion of
their vivacity to the occasion on
which I firft witnefled a display of
his profeffional excellence. It was
a case in which he immediately suc
ceeded Scauirus. The contrail was
in the highdt degree finking! The
transition fu<;h as you would expe
rience in passing from the clear but
cheerless light communicated by
the oblique, wintry rays of the hor
izorttal fun, to the vital warmth
and exhiiirating influence of toe
4 Regent of day/ when he culmi
nates from the equator. I ndt as
if fuddeniy from the
trackiefs pTSiHb ths unrejoicmg
SA-itj RDAY) SEPTEMBER 7, 1805.
Wilds anvl icy horrors of Siberia
to the j&!e ofTernpe, as itexified
m tne Oeatjfic visions of the poets,
fanned by the tepid breezes of
ipnng, gay with verdure, fragrant
WU 1 murmuring with
waterfalls. Instead of the awk
ward gefiure, the monotonous ca
dence, the languid and inanimate,
tlO P^® n g an d luminous argu
ment of .Bcaurus, my attention was
at once ffirefted, and irresistibly ea
cnamed, by the attraaions of a
commanding and graceful figure,
ot an rye flafiiing the true Prome
thean fire, of a gefucuiation such as
is attiibuted by Cicero to the Ro
man Snip id us, i 5
at the time time adapted to the fo*
rum jiot to the flags; by the
varied *nd harmonious.
of a It rung, clear and flexible voice,
by the charms of a diction elabo
rately corred and fiudicufly ele
gant, rapid without obfeurity and
iich wiiiiOuL redundant decoration
enlivened by gay aliufions, and
I fp a * xling with brilliant images,
j . I found the eloquence of Sulpi
! cius like the fafeination of the Sy
| rens, and that to guard against it,
| i squired no less than all theprecau-
I tions of Ulyfies. He advanced to
his attack on the judgment, under
covhrt of.thofe strong prepoflfeffi
ons, which elegance of manners,
proHjty_nf character* and nnp:imnt_
leis convidion, never fail to create
in favor; Q f a fpeaker. His ft rid
adherence to
tenor of his condud, to the bounds
of which a prudent advocate will
never overleap, however difficult to
be traced, contributed to fortify
those prepofleffions, to give grace
to his negligence, and even beau
ty to his defects. By sedulously
avoiding every thing that could in
the flighted degree wound either
the opinions, feelings,’ or taste of
his hearers, and studying at the
fame time to conciliate esteem and
refped, even when unable to con
vince, he rendered them the pro
tedars instead of the judges of his
cause. With the will thus preocu
pied, and the imagination.thus se
duced, the defeent to persuasion
is easy arid aimoft imperceptible:
you are fadnated by a charm, from
which you never can nor desire to
escape ; you are led captive, by a
violence so gentle as both to subdue
the wish and overpower the faculty
of resistance.
These estimable qualities are sup
ported by the great objed to which
they must all be fuborciinate —a
profound and intimate knowledge
of every branch of the iaw. He is
not merely calculated to play with
the foil, but to wield the sword;
not merely for the mock contest on
the day of parade, but for the wea
ther-beaten tent, and the field of
battle. The promptitude of his
memory enables him to bring for
ward without delay, whatever is
capable of affording, either to en
force or adorn his pofiticn; his
authorities are always numerous
and forcibly applied, and his acute
ness fcaicely inferior to that Oi An- ;
Payable half yearly.
[Number 237.
tonms,jn lei zing the distinguishing
or identifying feature of an analo
gous case, in streaming decisive
day on the great, the rullirur point
of similitude, often’ vifibl c s to no
other than the microscopic ej e of
a lubtle and experienced lawyer.
His premises are generally laid w ith
admirable add refs ; so comprehen
sive and remote, that to difeover
their bearing and extent, demands
an opponent always on the alert,
and whose penetration operates with
the purky and eekrity of inftinff :
v/lien admitted, or if not op
portunely exposed, his conclufiors
areykduoizd -with a force and ccn
111.\iity > that roncer their efle£l irre
fiftibk. I was {truck with an art,
prachced by tills gentleman, in ■>. the
coiTunenccmem of his addrefik to
tile jury, occaficnally produdiveof
feme advantage, but not altogether
consonant to the rules preferibed
foi an exordium, Ly the ancient
rhetoricians. \Vim them the or
ator was to advance cautioully and
progreftively ; to conciliate the be
nevolence of his auditors, by a rna
nifeftation of distrust, not indeed in
the merits of Ills cause, but in the
competency of his own powers; he
was ftreiiucufly exhorted never to
raise expcclations, w hich the sequel
might not enable him to gratify.—
The archited was said to be unlkil
_ful,yvh o gave a sumptuous entrance
t 0 a cabin, orTxriaufted all the rich
es oi his art in /ie decoration of his
4 however, sets
11 liardi'iood of
aflevc ration ; with a multitude cf
points that are all triumphantly to
be established, and the mod mag
nificent promises, which the nature
of his cause often renders it irn
pradicable to perform. After an
ingenious and elegant display, he
reaches his conclusion with many of
his points untouched, but not in
deed abandoned ; for they are then
regularly aflumed as proved, and a
jury incapable of retracing the pro
gress, or seduced by the bold aifer
tiori of the fpeaker, not urTrequent
ly receives them in that light.
The diferimination and sagacity
exercised by Sulpicius, in the ex
amination and comparrifon of testi
mony, convinced me that he had
ferutinized human nature, v\irh the
eye of the lynx. There is no part
of a lawyer’s duty, in wffich dis
tinguished excellence juftifies fucii
favorable inferences, i to the ex
tent of his general information, or
tends so ftrongiy to confirm a ciie
rifhed opinion cf melt rhetoricians,
that he should leave no region of
thedntelle&ual world unexplored.
To extract truth from the misrep
resentations of ignorance, pallicn,
or falfeiiood, to argue from facts to
motives, and from motives to fafts,
to unfold the latent purposes of the
heart, he should be versed in every
department of ethics, he ihouki
thoroughly understand the springs
of aflion, he should he familiar Witn
the whole system of probabilities ;
he should be acquainted not only
with the simple and elemental pal
fions, but with all their varieties of