Worcester County, Massachusetts - The Bench and Bar, 1889 (part 2 of 4)

lyiucoln and Christopher BaldwiD, the editors of Tlie Woreeater Magazine, and other gentlemen of like tastes. For this periodical he wrote a general history of Worcester County, which continued through several numbers, and also a history of Sterling. Both these writings gave evidence of painstaking investigation, and the earnest desire of the author for impartial accuracy. His style is not enlivened by many of the graces of diction, but the plain tale is set down with admirably terse exactitude. To state the facts was the aim he set before him, and to do that well is more than ludf the power of the successful advocate.

He was often called upon to deliver addresses of an historical nature. His oration on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the destruction of Lancaster by the Indians, was one of the most noteworthy of these. His death occurred in 1832, when in his forty-seventh year.

For more than twenty years a most prominent figure at all sessions of the higher courts in this county, adding dignity to every occasion, was that of Sherift' Willard. He was a native of Harvard, born in 1784, and entered the bar in 1809, after a course of study in the office of Richard H. Dana, in Boston. For a short time he practiced in Petersham, but soon removed to Fitchburg.

In 1824 Governor Lincoln, with his usual sagacity, selected him for the office of high sheriff of the county. His manner of discharging the duties of that position was a model for all who should come after him. Courteous and respectful to all, he insisted that the decorum which he observed on public occasions should not be infringed by others. With the instincts of the old-school gentleman, he was most careful in his regard for the etiquette to be maintained in his relations to court and bar. To a greater extent than in our modern haste we are apt to imagine, a respect for forms assists rather than retards the proper dispatch of business, and the dignified sheriff, Calvin Willaed, ever entered his earnest protest against any attempt to override the established order, on the plea of a more expeditious result. After resigning his office in 1844, he lived in Millbury and Worcester until his death, in the latter city, in 1867.

For forty years of Worcester's steady growth in all the arts of peace her prosperity was shared by Sam- UEE M. BuRNSiDE. The contrast between the surroundings of his birthplace and of his mature life is striking. He was born in 1783, in Northumberland, then a frontier town in New Hampshire. There his father, a typical frontiersman, who had fought in the French and Indian Wars, had established a home in the wilderness, and had maintained his foothold despite rude climate and desolating savage. Through the Revolution he served in military expeditions, and in the intervals cultivated the land which he bad so hardly secured. From .such environ- C ments the son went out to the life of a steady lawyer, in a community remarkable for the quiet of its every-day life, where nothing more terrible than the sham battles of training-day disturbed the serenity of the inhabitants. He brought with him to his work the same persistent energy which carried the father over difficulties, and placed the son in possession of fortune and reputation. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1805, and a year or two of pedagogic experience, he entered the office of Artemas Ward, then practicing in Charlestown. Mr. Burnside says that the practice of Judge Ward was then immense, and that he was so much of the time absent from his office that his students were left much to their own discretion in their course of study. He had, however, an opportunity to draw conveyances and pleadings under the supervision of his preceptor, which was of great value in forming habits of accuracy and conciseness of expression. In 1810 he was admitted as an attorney in the Supreme Court without having, as was the usual rule, been previously sworn at the bar of the Common Pleas. In the same year he came to Worcester, and commenced business with an excellent preparation for success.

Those who knew him speak of his great industry and his mastery of fundamental principles as the conspicuous elements of his power. Well read in the learning of his profession, he wisely diversified his pursuits by a continued attention to the classics, and in the latter years of his life, during which he gave up active labors these studies provided a constant source of enjoyment for his well-earned leisure. He died in 1850, but his name is still associated with the business interests of the city, where are the evidences of his prosperous career.

Edward D. Bangs was the son of Judge Edward Bangs, who has been mentioned. He was born in Worcester in 1790 and studied in his father's office. Admitted to the bar in 1813, he at once formed a partnership with William E. Green, who had been associated with his father previous to the latter's elevation to the bench. Though esteemed a good lawyer and careful of the interests committed to him, he never acquired a fondness for professional labors. His mind rather turned towards purely literary investigations, and in his position as Secretary of State, to which he was elected in 1824, he found duties much more fitted to his tastes. He always seemed to take pleasure in assisting the inquiries of others in his department, and spent the happiest years of his life in the Boston State-House. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1820, and was associated in the representation of Worcester with Levi Lincoln. His youth and modesty prevented his taking an active part in the proceedings of that body or of the House of Representatives, where he sat for several years. He succeeded Rejoice Newton in the office of county attorney, but resigned in a few months to assume the Secretaryship of State. His healtli had become so impaired in 1830 as to cause his retirement from ofDce, and he lived but two years longer. He was distinguished for his gentlemanly bearing and invariable courtesy of manners - qualities which he inherited from his father. Like him, also, he was a devoted horticulturist - a taste which seems naturally associated with gentle breeding.

Massachusetts was most fortunate in having in her public service, at the same time, two such men as Levi Lincoln and Johx Davis, and that they were trained to command the applause of listening senates in the forensic contests of the Worcester Court-house will always remain the pride and the incentive of the young aspirant for legal honors at our bar. Born in Northborough in 1788, some six years later than Governor Lincoln, and finding more obstacles to his rapid progress in youth than the son of the Attorney- General. Mr. Davis, through life, pressed close upon the footsteps of his [U'edecessor, and in generous rivalry left it doubtful which should deserve best of the republic. He was descended of a line of sturdy yeomen, the first of whom in this country was Dolor Davis, whose name is found upon the Cambridge records in 1634. His father, Isaac Davis, a respected farmer of Northborough, found it a task sufficiently laborious to force from the reluctant soil a comfortable living for his large family, and he of them who would secure an education must struggle for it himself. Until he was nineteen years old John Davis, by his own account, was employed most of his time upon the farm. He, however, found sufficient time for study by himself and in the district schools to fit himself for Leicester Academy, where he made good use of the short time at his disposal, and entered Yale College in 1808. There he graduated in due course with high honors. Francis Blake was, at that time, in the very zenith of his brilliant power, and his reputation attracted to his office the youth emulous of his fame. After three years of study with Mr. Blake, Davis was admitted to the bar in 1815. For a few months he tried the worth of his acquiremenbi in Spencer, and no doubt was satisfied that he could bear his part in a more crowded forum, for he soon came back to Worcester and there set up his standard.

The next year Mr. Blake's failing health compelled him to withdraw from active practice, and Mr. Davis succeeded to his office and his business. Undertaking the task of wearing such a mantle and called upon at once to contend with antagonists so formid- :ible as Lincoln, Newton, and Burnside, his powers were put to proof and rajndly developed. In the ten years that elapsed before he entered Congress and Lincoln became a judge he had attained a commanding position, and hud increased the large clientage which he inherited from Blake. As a lawyer it was said of him that he did not possess a considerable familiarity with reported decisions, but that his welltrained judgment and clear perception of the fundamental principles of law generally brought him to a correct conclusion as to what the law ought to be, and he then proceeded to sustain his position by the arguments which had convinced his own mind, apd by precedents illustrative of the principles which he maintained. Courts learned to know that his arguments were based on careful reasoning aud might be relied on to contribute something towards the decision of the issue, even though they might fail to carry complete conviction. Before juries his evident candor, his plain statement of the facts as he viewed them, and entire comprehension of the way in which his array of evidence would impress the mind of the unprejudiced auditor, givehiiua power which pressed strongly towards a favorable verdict. Judge Paine remarked of him that he had more common sense than any three lawyers of his acquaintance, and this saving grace was conspicuous in all his actions and utterances.

For a year previous to Mr. Lincoln's promotion to the Supreme Court he joined forces with Mr. Davis in practice. Afterwards the firms of Davis & Charles Allen and Davis & Emory Washburn transacted a large share of the Inisiness of the county, and proved most formidable allies until 1834, when Governor Davis finally retired from the courts to give his attention exclusively to public duties. In the discharge of these, as was most natural, he won his most wide-spread distinction.

His political career began with his election to Congress in 1824. During his first term he was rather an observer than an active participant in debate, but in 1827 he attracted attention by his earnest advocacy of the so-called American system. From that time onward he was an able champion of the protective tariff" on every occasion, and whatever may be thought of the soundness of his deductions, it is certain that he handled his facts with skill and presented with utmost vigor the now hackneyed arguments which have prevailed with the majority of New Englanders to the present time. His speech in reply to McDuflie, of South Carolina, the leader of the free trade party in the House, was esteemed his most powerful presentation of the ease, and gave him a national reputation.

A declaration made in one of his speeches is remarkable by contrast with what any member of Congress at the present day would be able to say on the same subject. In defending his constituents from the charge of self-seeking in their demand for tariff" legislation, he says: " During the seven years I have held a seat on this floor, no one has applied to me to ask any favor of the Executive for him, nor has any one sought my assistance in procuring an appointment of any kind, unless it is to be the deputy of some little village post-office." If our representatives could obtain a like exemption from vexatious importunity, their undistracted attention to purely

In 1833 Governor Lincoln announced that he should not again be a candidate, and the Whig Convention, with practical unanimity, selected Mr. Davis as their nominee. He accepted with evident reluctance, feeling that his usefulness in Congress was assured, while the new honor brought with it untried responsibilities. His loss to the service of the whole country was deplored outside of Massachusetts, one of the influential journals declaring that he was the right arm of the Massachusetts delegation in Congress.

The Anti-Masonic party, then at the culmination of its strength in this State, had put in nomination John Quincy Adams, and Davis was made to feel it his dut}' to accept the leadership of his party in a dubious conflict, and such it proved to be. In the popular election there was no choice, but in the Legislature Davis received a majority. The difficult task of acceptably filling the chair which his friend Lincoln had so long adorned he accomplished with credit, and was elected for a second term, but resigned when chosen to fulfill the more congenial duties of United States Senator. In that august body, where he sat from 1835 to 1841, and from 1845 to 1853, he was cotemporary with the triumvirate, Webster, Calhoun and Clay, whose overshadowing greatness tradition continues to magnify. But reading the plain story of the times, it is evident that Senator Davis was a i)otent factor in moulding legislation, and that his grasp of national questions was in most cases liberal and always strong enough to make itself felt. Not only on the tariff, but ou our commercial relations, the fisheries, financial topics and our intercourse with foreign powers, he made his opinion respected by making his knowledge evident.

His two terms of service in the Senate were divided by two years in the State Governorship and two years of private life. He lived but one year after retiring from the Senate, in 1853, to enjoy that contemplation of a life well spent, which he might so deservedly anticipate.

Two years after Mr. Davis' admission to the bar there applied to the examiners for this county a tall, slender youth, whose clear-cut profile, close curling locks and keen glance gave to his countenance an almost classic beauty. As his examination proceeded, the questioners became so interested in the thoroughness of the knowledge he displayed, and the aptness of his replies, that for their own gratification they prolonged their inquiries after they were satisfied of the qualification of the candidate for entrance to the bar.

The young man was Charles Allex, then in his twenty-first year. His father, Joseph Allen, was clerk of the courts for this county for thirty-three years, succeeding the elder Levi Lincoln in that capacity. He was a fine scholar, and a gentleman of that refined and elegant school of manners often spoken of as old, but by no means obsolete at the present day. Charles Allen was born in Worcester in 1797. Three generations back he counted as his ancestor a sister of Samuel Adams, and the steadfast independence of that old patriot was clearly reflected in his kinsman of the later day. After preparing for college at Leicester Academy he entered Yale when only fourteen. There he remained only a year, severing his connection tor reasons that were said by his pastor to reveal " the delicateness of his sensibility, but reflected no dishonor upon him." Immediately he entered the office of Mr. Burnside, then in full practice, and so diligently improved his youthful powers as to meet the examination in 1817 with the result described.

For six years he practiced in New Braintree, and a discriminating eulogist says : " When, some twentyfive or thirty years later, I commenced practice in the same community, the reputation he had won there, in those early years, was still spoken at with admiration and pride by those who had beeii the clients and friends of the young lawyer, and who had followed him through all his subsequent and more conspicuous public career." In 1824 he removed to Worcester, and became associated with John Davis, who, though ten years his senior, had been but two years longer at the bar. He was not a case lawyer nor a reader of many books. Thoroughh' well grounded in leading principles, it was his habit to think out his line of reasoning while pacing his office or walking in the open air. It was said that the definitions of Blackstone were impressed upon his memory almost verbatim, and although he gave to every case most careful preparation, it was rather a process of reflection and logical deduction from established premises than a resort to the writings or decisions of jurists who had preceded him. His great power lay in cross-examination. In the use of this most dangerous weapon, more fatal to the unskillful wielder than all the armory of his opponent, he was an adept whose superior, by the testimony of living witnesses, most competent to judge, has not arisen in this Commonwealth from his time to the present. ' Terrible is the word used by one to describe his treatment of a witness whom he believed to be testifying to an untruth, and with merciless directness question would follow question till the best fabricated story was exposed. He realized, too, the danger of attempting too much with an adverse witness, and never committed the mistake of strengthening the direct testimony of his opponent by permitting its repetition in reply to cross-questioning. His general rule was never to examine an adverse witness ; the exception he chose carefully and for sufficient reasons. His intellectual processes were rapid, and all his faculties and stores of knowledge ready at any moment for their best service. With a remarkable mastery of the rules of evidence, he was able, in the course of trials, as questions arose, to take up his position and defend it by cogent argument upon the instant.

His public services included four years in the lower and three in the upper branch of the State Legislature and four years as a Representative in Congress. In 1848 he was a delegate to the Whig National Convention. The representatives of Massachusetts voted steadily for Daniel Webster, but the leading candidates were Clay and Taylor. Mr. Allen, though up to that time acting with the Whig party, was a stern Abolitionist in faith and word. Hating slavery as a sin, and convinced that the nomination of General Taylor was a truckling to the power of the slaveholders, upon the announcement of the vote, he arose in his place, denounced the act in incisive language, and left the hall and the party, to go home and earnestly engage in the formation of the Free-Soil party.

In 1853 he was a member of the convention called to revise our State Constitution, and there his counsels were sought by the leading lawyers of the State who were found in that body.

But as Judge Allen he was best known and is still remembered in this community. His first judicial appointment was to the Court of Common Pleas in 1842. Two years later he, with most of his associates, resigned, in consequence of a legislative spasm of economy, which reduced their already modest salaries. In 1858 he was appointed chief justice of the Superior Court for Suffolk County, and in the following year was fitly chosen to preside over the newlycommissioned Superior Court of the Commonwealth, which was substituted for the old Court of Common Pleas. On this bench he remained until failing powers induced his resignation in 18G7, two years before his death. Twice he was offered promotion to the Supreme Court, and again on the retirement of Chief Justice Shaw, but he preferred to remain where he was. His physical health was not robust, and he hesitated to assume duties that to him might be more laborious. He was admirably fitted to preside atnisiprius trials, where the quick grasp of the facts, as they are for the first time presented, the ability readily to conceive and apply the rules of evidence and facility in clear, impromptu statement of the law for the guidance of the jury, are essentials. He was never fond of the patient reading and writing necessary to the preparation of the elaborate opinions of the Supreme Court. One of his friends and admirers says of him that he was an indolent man, never making more than just the absolutely necessary exertion for his purpose, and ever ready to postpone, if possible, the undertaking of new eflbrt. His own explanation of this apparent sloth is found in a remark to Judge Foster: " Few know how much physical weakness I have had to contend with through life, and how much has been attributed to indolence in me, that was caused by the necessity of nursing my health." He possessed, however, an energy of will that roused his latent powers to a height commensurate with any obstacle, as opponents learned to know full well.

Judge Allen was not a scholar. His reading was confined in its scope, yet his mind seemed to broaden and deepen by its own innate law of growth. The concurrent testimony of those who knew him well, with singular unanimity, dwells upon his intellectual strength. " I think . . . for force of intellect he was above any man whom I have known in this commonweath ;" '' No one who has ever lived in this community was his equal in pure intellectual power ;" "He never called any man his intellectual master;" "Among intellectual masters ranked with the very first, not second to Daniel Webster himself," are the expressions of four lawyers, who have had opportunity to form correct opinions of the man.

Though reserved and dignified in manner and little apt to display his feelings, he showed to his chosen friends a kindly nature, ready to share in social intercourse or extend the hospitable hand. Conscientious, independent, reverent of the religious truths in which he firmly believed, fearing his own disapproval and else no mortal man, his was a proud position - as of that

Mr. Allen's most formidable antagonist before the jury for many years was Plixy Merrick, the son of the gentleman of the same name, of whom we have spoken. He was born in Brookfield in 1794, and graduated from Harvard in the class with the historian Prescott in 1814. He had the advantage of studying his profession in the office of Levi Lincoln, then just entering upon his political career in the State Legislature and in the midst of active practice. After his admission to the bar in 1817, Mr. Merrick made several attempts at settlement before adopting Worcester as his home. For four years he practiced in Taunton, and for a portion of that time was a partner of Governor Morton. In 1824 he returned to Worcester to undertake the duties of prosecuting attorney for the county. In this capacity he acted until the division of the State into districts under an act of 1832. Governor Lincoln thereupon appointed his former pupil attorney for the Middle District, which consisted of Worcester and Norfolk Counties, and he held the otlice until his promotion to the bench in 1843.

During these nearly twenty years of service in conducting cases for the government in the criminal courts his general practice was continually increasing. He was on several occasions called into the courts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, where his reputation had become known and valued.

rhetorical skill. His command of language was unsurpassed by any of his cotemporaries, and his eloquent perorations are still vividly impressed on the recollections of some who have listened to them. With a keen wit and great quickness of apprehension he united an impulsiveness of temperament which sometimes hurried him beyond the positions which he had intended to maintain,but his readiness and his good humor never failed him in these emergencies. Judge Washburn says of him that " it was sometimes difiicult for an antagonist to determine whether he was the most effectually subdued by his adroitness or his courtesy."

One of the most conspicuous trials in which he was engaged was that of Professor Webster for the murder of Dr. Parkman. His defence of the prisoner, though somewhat criticised at the time, is now admitted to have been well conducted and a good struggle in a hopeless cause.

In 1843 Mr. Merrick was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and held the office until 184S, when he resigned and undertook the presidency of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad. In 1850 he returned to the bench, and after three years was promoted to the Supreme Judicial Court. It was apprehended by many of his associates that the brilliant rhetoric, keen wit and swift mental processes which had formed great part of his strength at the bar would unfit him for the duties of the judge, who must often " halt between two opinions," till he is possessed of all that can be said on either side.

But as a nisi prius judge he exibited a most accurate knowledge of the rules of practice and evidence, which facilitated the progress of trials by avoiding the nece.ssity of long arguments as objections were raised. He was quite apt to form a decided opinion on the merits of the case, and in his charge to the jury to make that opinion manifest with a distincness that the judge of to-day would consider exceptionable.

The present theory is that the presiding judge is to be absolutely without sympathies and without opinions on the right or wrong of the controversy, but to state to the jury the rules of law which shall govern them, in any conceivable aspect of the facts, which may impress them as the true one. To so austere a view of the functions of the judge Mr. Merrick was never able to conform himself. His statements of complicated series of facts were always clear and of assistance to a proper understanding of their relative value, but often of their value in the mind of the judge. In the reports of decisions of the Supreme Court, his opinions, especially upon the criminal law of Massachusetts, are held in high respect. For ten years his services became more and more valuable, and he was recognized as a worthy associate of Lemuel Shaw, our great chief justice. He was an energetic worker and ready to assume even more than his share of the labors of the benrh.

In 1856 he removed to Boston, and there resided till his death, in 1867. The last three years of his life were spent in retirement occasioned by disease. Paralysis had suspended the use of some of his limbs. But through it all he sustained his cheerful disposition and powerful will. When his right hand was disabled, he learned to write with his left. Pr6- vented from going abroad, he found in the converse of friends at home the means of keeping his mental faculties in active use.

Mr. Merrick belonged to the political party which was in the minority in this State, and held few elective offices. He served in both branches of the State Legislature at intervals ; but, aside from that, his whole attention was devoted to his profession.

Joseph Thayer was an exa;nple, of which the law does not furnish many, of a lawyer who, without inherited property or remarkable legal attainments, acquired, in the course of an honorable and useful career, a handsome competence. He was born in Douglas in 1792, graduated at Brown University in 1815, and after studying in the offices of Levi Lincoln and of Bezaleel Taft, of Uxbridge, he began practice in that town. Without great learning in the law, he possessed good practical judgment, on which he was accustomed to rely, and which others soon learned to respect. His perception of the real gist of a controversy was seldom at fault, though generally arrived at without the aid of labored reasoning. In financial matters his judgment was remarkably accurate. He became interested in a large number of business enterprises in his community. Both the Blackstone Canal and its successor, the Providence and Worcester Railroad, received, in their inception and progress, his encouragement and assistance.

His townsmen found in him one ready to use his capital in sustaining those under temporary embarrassment, and to risk something rather than see his neighbors go to the wall. He accordingly received and retained their confidence, and was honored by elections to various positions of trust. His political services outside of Uxbridge were in the Constitutional Convention of 1853, to which he was chosen a delegate by general consent, and in the Legislature of the State. He rounded out nearly four-score years of honored and useful life, and died at the residence of Judge Chapin, his son-in-law, in 1872.

It is proper to mention among the prominent men who have been members of this bar, one whose life was spent in other than professional pursuits, but who always felt a pride in his connection with the law, and who so well fulfilled the duties of his station that the bar may well be proud to number him among their honored dead.

Stephen Salisbury, the son of a Worcester merchant bearing the same name, was born in 1798. His father had been successful in establishing in the small town an extensive business and a home where a refined and generous hospitality was exercised. From the intiuence ol' the hitter the son went out to Leicester Academy and Harvard College, where he graduated in 1817, carrying with him everywhere the evidence of that home culture in his dignified courtesy and unswerving integrity. He studied law with Samuel Buruside, and was admitted to the bar, though he had no need and probably no intention of making professional labors his life-work. For several years he assisted in the care of his father's property, and in 1821), when he became its sole owner by inheritance, he assumed the duties which he felt that the possession of wealth devolved upon him, with an earnest desire to conscientiously discharge every responsibility. Absolved from the necessity of any labor if he had so chosen, he was one of the most industrious of men. A diligent student, he made himself familiar not only with classic authors, which were perhaps his favorite recreation, but with a great variety of lines of scientific and literary research. For thirty years he presided over the American Antiquarian Society, and frequently contributed from his pen to the publications of that body. His wisdom was sought for in the conduct of financial, charitable and scientific institutions, and to whatever duties he assumed he applied the same conscientious attention. His constant endeavor was to faithfully perform that which he felt it right to undertake. The Polytechnic Institute located in Worcester was a peculiar object of his bounty and his care. As president of its Board of Trustees he was unfailing in his attention to its interests. Till the latest period of his life he was constantly growing in mental breadth, and did not allow age or even later infirmity to repress his eager interest in intellectual pursuits. Elsewhere in these volumes his deeds will more fitly be described, but as he always wished to be counted with the lawyers when they gathered for any occasion of general interest, so we cannot omit to claim some share in liis good fame whose training as a law-student nuist have aided in making him what he was.

For the facts contained in most of the earlier sketches in this chapter the writer is principally indebted to the scholarly address delivered by Joseph WiLLARD before the bar of the county in 1829. He was then but a little over thirty years of age, but the address is characterized by thorough investigation, by philosophical refiection and by inspiring views of the nobility of the profession which he represented. His father was president of Harvard College, and from a line of ancestors he inherited a scholar's love for the classics and for literary and historical investigation. Born in Cambridge in 1798, he graduated in his nineteenth year, and at once began the study of law in Amherst, New Hampshire. At this time he formed the acquaintance of John Farmer, a zealous antiquarian scholar, whose friendship and advice no doubt gave a bent to the tastes of the young man towards similar studies. After completing his professional studies in the Cambridge Law-School, lie began practice first in Waltham, and in 1821 in Lancaster. There for ten years he gave attention to business with considerable success. He could not forego literary work, however, and was one of the writers for the Worcester Magazine, a periodical devoted to historical and literary topics, especially those of a local character. His most elaborate work, which appeared in those pages, was a history of the town of Lancaster, which exhibits his habits of careful and minute investigation .and his excellent taste and judgment in the selection of his material.

In 1830 he married a Boston lady, and soon afterwards removed to that city, continuing to practice until 1840. In that year he was appointed, by Governor Everett, clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Suflblk County. This office, through the changes of the style of the court, and after the clerkship became an elective position, he held till a short time before his death. With its duties he made himself thoroughly conversant. On the great multi[)licity of questions of practice constantly arising, his opinion came to be regarded as almost equal to a Supreme Court decision. His methodical habits kept the large accumulation of papers and records in perfect order and available for instant reference, and he seems to have transmitted to his son the same capacity for the successful administration of that difficult position.

He found in retirement from practice more leisure for his favorite historical studies. The Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society, of both of which learned bodies he was an active member, are enriched by his papers on a variety of topics. A work upon which he was engaged at the time of his death was a life of General Knox. The manuscript materials entrusted to him were in a chaotic state, and the labor of arranging the letters and documents taxed his powers for a long time. He became intensely interested in the work, and after his strength was insufficient lor any other exertion he insisted on the attempt to go on with this labor of love. But it was not permitted him to complete the task. In 1865 he died, amid the closing scenes of the conflict of arms which had aroused his fervent patriotism and in which had been sacrificed the life of his eldest son.

Mr. Willard had early connected himself with the Free-Soil party. His conscience deeply felt the sin of slave-holding, and he welcomed the war as the means of deliverance from that burden. A letter which he wrote to an English friend, in reply to some liostile criticisms of the English press, was widely circulated and largely instrumental in informing public opinion in England on the true merits of the Northern position.

Twenty-seven years after Mr. Willard's historical sketch of our bar from its beginning, the tale was taken up and carried on in graceful diction, with admirable skill, by Emoey Washburn, a cotemporary and literary associate of Mr. Willard. From this address are borrowed many of the details that have appeared in these jjages. Its author was born in Leicester in 1 800, and prepared for college in that admirable school, which has been the chief glory of the town. His father died in the lad's seventh year, leaving him to the care of his mother, to whom, through her life, he manifested a most devoted attachment, and of his pastor, Dr. Moore. This, gentleman was called to a professorship in Dartmouth College, and took with him his proUcje, then only thirteen years old. In 1815 Professor Moore became president of Williams College, and thither Mr. Washburn followed his fortunes, and there graduated in 1817. His experience in small colleges made him a firm believer in the superior advantage of the more intimate association of pupils with instructors there possible. He was always a stanch and useful friend of his alma mater. Part of his professional studies were pursued in the office of Judge Dewey in Williamstown, and for a year he attended the Harvard Law School. Soon after his admission, in 1821, he opened an office iu Leicester, where he remained for seven years. During this period he served his town as clerk and as Representative in the General Court. Becoming interested with the founders of the Worcester Magazine in preserving the memorials of the past life of this vicinity, he wrote with great fidelity I and published in various numbers of that periodical ( a history of Leicester and of its academy. In 1828 his mother died, and the chief tie which bound him to the village having thus been broken, he removed to Worcester. That town then had a population of some four thousand, but among them was Lincoln, the Governor of the State ; John Davis, dividing his time between the duties of a member of Congress and a lawyer in active practice ; Charles Allen and Samuel Burnside.

Mr. Washburn's clients followed him from Leicester and he soon attracted others. In 1831 he formed a partnership with John Davis, succeeding Mr. Allen in that relation. His faculty of making every man who came to him for advice feel that he had found a personal friend, that his cause was in the hands of one who had not only the ability but the sympathetic interest to make the most of it, secured to Mr. Washburn in a remarkable degree the affectionate adherence of hosts of clients. His industry was incessant and untiring, and his success proportionate. Governor Bullock says of him, " His leading competitors at the bar were clearer in statement, more incisive in their arguments. Governor Washburn was never a rhetorician. I perceived, however, that there was a moral power of confidence behind him which was equal to the power of eloquence." "His great source of influence over juries was the kindliness, the genuineness of his nature." Juries believed in the honesty of the man. He was able so thoroughly to identify himself with his client's view of the facts, as

In 1838 he was again a member of the House of Representatives, and presented and ably supported the first report in favor of a railroad from Boston to Albany. In 1841 and 1842 he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate. For three years he assumed the duties of a nisi prius judge in the Court of Common Pleas, and for two years more resided in Lowell as the agent of a manufacturing corporation, but the practice of the law in the county where he was best known and best beloved was his real vocation, and to it he returned with added zeal and undiminished succes?. "^

One of the large number of tasks in which he found pleasure and recreation, in the midst of his most exacting professional cares, w.as the preparation of the " Judicial History of Massachusetts " down to Revolutionary times, a work involving a vast amount of research and containing most valuable information for the student of the growth of our modes of legal procedure.

While absent in Kurope in 1853 he was nominated by the Whigs for Governor of the State, and was elected by a narrow majority. The nest year he was defeated by the "Know-Nothings," and returned to the calling for which he was most fitted.

Whether his success was greater as an advocate or as an instructor in the law, may be open to question. In the year 1S5<; he became Bussey professor of law in the Dane Law School at Cambridge, and for twenty years lectured before successive classes of students with ever-increasing reputation, and adding to the ranks of his devoted admirers every disciple who had the opportunity to listen to the kindly counsel which he mingled with his instruction. It was said of him that " Few professors have enjoyed in so full a measure the confidence and afleetion of the students of that renowned seat of learning. None have been more fortunate in the effort to inspire the young men of the bar with lofty ideas and pure purposes, It was not his power as a lecturer upon legal topics, though respectable, by which he exerted the greatest influence on the mind and future course of the student, but his private conversations and advice based on long experience . . . and an earnest, unafl'ected interest in the welfare and prospects of every young man to whom he stood in the relation of instructor and adviser." During his professorship he published a treatise on the "American Law of Real Property,'' which has passed through several editions, and is the text-book of students and the reliable reference of the practitioner to-day. Both this work and his volume on "Easements," are marked by the most careful investigation of authorities and the presentation in the fullest manner of every phase of the subject. In the effort to cover the whole ground, the writer sometimes becomes prolix, but whatever of force is lost in repetitions is compensated by the addition of precexl dents and citations. In 1876 he resigned his professor's chair, but even then did not give up his ambition to be useful. As a Representative in the General Court during the last year of his life, he was actively at work in the chairmanship of the judiciary committee, and as senior member of the House exhibited the same fresh interest in public matters as when one of its youngest members he represented Princeton, half a century before. In 1877 he died with mental powers in full activity, and the afi'ectionate eulogies which were pronounced by his fellows in every relationship of his busy life testified to the deep impression which his genial manners and universal sympathy had made upon the hearts of all who knew him.

When Judge Nathaniel Paine retired from his long and honerable service of thirty-five years in the Probate Court he was succeeded by Ira M. Baeton", a counsellor practicing in O.Kford. In that town he was born in 179l). During a portion of his course at Brown University he was a room-mate of Horace Mann, whose friendship he enjoyed in their subsequent careers. After graduating in 1819, he studied law with Sumner Bastow, in Oxford, with Levi Lincoln, and at the Harvard Law School, then recently established. He was one of the first three to graduate from that institution. In 1822 he opened his office in his native town, and there continued practice for fourteen years. As an adviser he was careful and conscientious, desirous rather of avoiding danger for his client than of risking his interests by over-boldness. As an advocate he attained consideralile success. Not a brilliant orator, his efforts were characterized by an earnest endeavor to perform his duty to the fullest extent, and his well-known integrity secured to him always respectful consideration by courts and juries. Prom 1836 to 1844 he presided with impartiality in the Probate Court, and by his kindly sympathy maintained the traditions of that tribunal as the guardian and pi'Otector of the helpless and the afflicted. Upon his resignation he formed a partnershij) with the late Peter C. Bacon, to which Mr. Barton's son was admitted later, and for several years the business of the firm was of extensive proportions, :iiul its name familiar beyond the limits of the county. In 1849 his feeble health compelled his retirement Iruui active practice, but did not prevent his acting as counsel in chambers during many years. In this, perhaps the most agreeable branch of legal practice to one of non-combative instinct, he found his judgment sought and relied upon by a large circle of client-'. He took his fair share of the responsibility in matters of public interest. For three years he represented Oxford in the Legislature, and was Senator in 1832 and 1834. In the latter year he was appointed one of the commissioners to I'evise the .statutes of the State, and bring into shape, available for use, the mass of public legislation which had grown to be an almost chaotic tangle of repeals and amendments. The plan of this first revision has been substantially adhered to in subsequent codifications. His addresses on several occasions gave proof of tastes for historical investigation, which were not, however, developed to a considerable extent. He lived until 1867.

Alfred Dwight Foster should be included in these sketches as one of a line of lawyers who have been ornaments of this bar. His father and grandfather have received notice as judges of our courts, and his son attained the same title with even greater distinction. Mr. Foster was born in 1800, in Brookfield, the residence of his ancestors. After graduating from Harvard, in 1819, he studied with Mr. Burnside, and was admitted to the bar in 1822. After only two years attention to practice, he withdrew from business, and lived a life of quiet and useful leisure until his death, in 1852. He served in one or two public capacities after his removal to Worcester, in 1828, and acquired and retained the entire respect of the community.

One of Judge Washburn's most intimate friends through a score of years, until death severed the ties, was Thomas Kisnicutt. Born in Rhode Island in 1800, the same year with Jlr. Washburn, he graduated with high honors from Brown University in 1822. His law studies were pursued in the school at Litchfield, in the offices of Francis Baylie, of Taunton, and of Governor Davis. In 1825 he was admitted and began business in Worcester. His physical power* were never of the strongest, and his gentle nature shunned the contests of the court-room and the political arena. He did, however, serve several terms in both, branches of the State Legislature, and was twice chosen Speaker of the House. He found his true sphere on the bench of the Probate Court, where he succeeded Judge Thomas in 1848, and presided until a short time before his death, ten years later. His winning presence, gentle manners and affectionate disposition endeared him greatly to all with whom he came in contact. With several of the financial institutions of the city he was connected, and his sagacious judgment in their conduct was constantly approved. His was one of those characters which, courting no publicity, by its sweetness and purity helps to brighten the aspect of a world sometimes too busy to even notice the shadows which overspread it.

Isaac Davis ' was born in Northborough, an agricultural town in the eastern part of this county, June 2, 1799. His ancestors, for seven generations, had been inhaliitants of Massachusetts, and possessed marked faniily traits; conspicuous among them were rugged honesty, energy, independence of character, industry and public spirit.

His earliest progenitor in New England was Dolor Davis, the precise time of whose arrival on these shores is not known, but he is believed to have been one of the earlier settlers in the Plymouth colony. He is known to have dwelt in Cambridge in 1634, to have married Margery Willard, sister of Major Simon Willard, formerly of Kent, England, and a distinguished soldier in the Indian wars of this colony, and to have died in Barnstable, in the Plymouth colony, in 1G73.

Samuel, the younger of Dolor Davis' two sons, married Mary Meads. Simon, the youngest of Samuel's five sons, was born August 9, 1G83, and attained the age of eighty years. Of his sons, the oldest - bearing the same name - was born in 1713, married Hannah Grates, lived in the town of Holden and was the father of eleven children. Isaac, the ninth of these, was born February 27, 1749, married Anna Brigham and lived in Northborough. Phiueas, the eldest of his eleven children, was born September 12, 1772, married Martha Eager, October 12, 1793, and, like his father and grandfather, was blessed with a family of eleven children.

Isaac, the subject of this sketch, was the fourth of this numerous progeny. In his bdvhood the industry of the inland towns of Massachusetts was almost wholly confined to farming, with some few primitive manufactures. Even Boston, the metropolis of New England, and the seat of a large foreign commerce, had scarcely one-fourth as many inhabitants as Worcester has now. Hampshire County, with its rich farming lands, was by far the most populous county in the State, Worcester and Esse.x approaching it most iiearly. Mr. Davis' father was a tanner and currier, an upright and respected citizen. In his household the homely virtues of piety, industry and frugality were cultivated and flourished. The education of the children, begun and continued at home by the example and conversation of their parents, the reading of a few but good books, and the early study of the Bible, was pursued in the district school. The time not so employed was given to the tasks of the shop and the farm.

The district schools of those days laid a substantial foundation for the building of a serviceable and comely edifice of mental attainment and culture, but they did not carry the acquisition of knowledge very far. A boy of an inquiring and eager mind soon learned what they had to teach. The course of school studies having been early completed, Isaac Davis went to work in his father's shop, and might probably have adopted his trade, but for au injury whicli disabled him for a time from bodily labor. While recovering from this hurt, conscious of mental powers to which the mechanical occupation of his father would not give full scope, even if he should ever be sound enough in body to resume it, his ambition, stimulated, doubtless, by the example of his uncle, John Davis, then beginning the practice of law, in which, as in polities and statesmanship, he made an illustrious reputation, the young man resolved to prepare himself for professional life. The obstacles in his way would now be thought great, but they were not greater than those which the young men of that day who entered the professions were accustomed to surmount, and Mr. Davis' energy and perseverance were amply adequate to the task which he proposed for himself His parents, burdened with the support of a large family of young children, could give him little assistance, and he depended largely on his own exertions for support and the cost of his education.

He began his preparation for college at Leicester, and completed it at Lancaster Academy, and entered Brown University in 1818, where he was graduated with credit in 1822. Giving lessons in penmanship and teaching school in winter were among the means by which he paid his way through college. After his graduation he accepted the office of tutor in the university, at the salary of four hundred dollars, and at the same time began the study of law in the office of General Carpenter, then one of the leaders of the Rhode Island bar. After a few months' trial of this divided employment he resolved to give his whole time to the law, and, removing to Worcester, entered as a student theoffice of Lincoln & Davis. The business of the office was large and varied, and gave the student excellent opportunities for learning the practical details of professional work in all its branches. While pursuing his studies Mr. Davis earned something toward his support by employing the time which a young man, less patient of continuous labor and less eager for independence, might have given - and perhaps wisely - to recreation, in copying deeds in the office of the register.

Soon after he entered the oflice Mr. Lincoln, the senior partner, was chosen Lieutenant-Governor, and the year after was appointed a justice of the Supreme -Judicial Court. This appointment and the distinguished political honors, which soon followed, removed him permanently from practice, and upon Mr. Davis' admission to the bar, in 1825, he proposed to his uncle, then conducting the business alone, to become his partner, receiving as his share of the income one-third of the profits of the business in the Court of Common Pleas. This offer was declined, and the uncle advised his nephew to begin practice in one of the smaller towns of the county, where the competition would be less active, with the purpose of removing to Worcester when he had established a business and reputation. But the young lawyer had no liking for a timid policy. He preferred to face the greatest difficulties at once and had no distrust of his ability to surmount them. He therefore opened an oflice in Worcester, and it was not long before his talents were discovered and employed by clients in such numbers as amply to justify his confidence in himself

The Worcester bar at that time was very strong. It is doubtful whether in any county in the United States was there then a group of lawyers more remarkable for native ability, legal attainments and

And now, with an affectionate reverence inspired by personal association, and cultivated from boyhoood through the changing years, until the writer was himself launched upon his professional career, it becomes my delicate duty to speak of one who, for more than fifty years of progress in the science of the law, kept ever abreast of change and improvement, and whom death found still faithful to his chosen calling, as when, with youthful ardor, he first essayed its arduous pathway.

, Peter Child Bacon was born in Dudley in 1804. His father, Jeptha Bacon, though not a lawyer by profession, was, in his day, when every town had not its resident attorney, resorted to by his neighbors for advice in their affairs, wherein his judgment and experience were recognized as valuable assistance. Like many other justices of the peace, he was often called upon to draft conveyances and wills, and in the observation of his father's really considerable practice, it is probable that Mr. Bacon acquired his first inclination towards his life-work. After graduating at Brown in 1827, the latter entered the New Haven Law School, and supplemented his studies there by reading in the office of Davis & Allen, in Worcester, Judge Barton, in Oxford, and George A. Tufts, in Dudley.

During these preparatory years it was his practice to devote sixteen hours of the twenty-four to his books. Blackstone he read and re-read with earnest attention, and for years after he had entered the bar he annually reviewed the classic pages. For these commentaries he always entertained the highest opinion as a groundwork for a thorough knowledge of the law, placing it first in the hands of each of his students, commending them to learn its definitions ipsissimis verbis, and failing not to test their obedience to the injunction by his questions. For two years he kept his ofiice in his native town and for twelve years more in the adjoining town of Oxford. In 1844 he removed to Worcester and there, till within four days of his death, with an interval of only one year of rest, devoted himself exclusively to the law.

It will be noticed that he came to the bar seven years before the death of Benjamin Adams, of Uxbridge, whose professional life carried us back to the time of Judge Sprague, and thus connected the story with the earliest stages of the county's progress.

Upon coming to Worcester Mr. Bacon formed a partnership with his former instructor, Judge Barton, who had just resigned the i)robate ju<lgeship. Levi Lincoln was then occupied with the duties of the gubernatorial chair. Pliny Merrick and Emory Washburn had just taken seats on the bench of the Common Pleas. Charles Allen, from the same bench, in that year resumed his practice. Rejoice Newton and Samuel Burnside were still at the bar. Isaac Davis had begun to interest himself more extensively in other than professional employments. Alexander H. Bullock, Henry Chapin and Francis H. Dewey had recently established their offices. Of those now in active practice only Joseph Mason, Esq., was then admitted, and he was then in Templeton. Mr. Bacon preferred to associate with himself in business some brother lawyer to share the responsibilities of the trial of causes, and especially after 1865, on his return from a needed rest in Europe, he left to younger partners the transaction of the blisiness before the courts. After Judge Barton retired from the firm of Barton, Bacon & Barton, in 1849, he was for a short time connected with the late Judge Dwiglit Foster.

For eighteen years the firm of Bacon & Aldrich carried on business in the most uninterrupted harmony and friendship between the partners, until the junior member accepted his present position in the Superior Court. W. S. B. Hopkins and Mr. Bacon's son made up the firm of Bacon, Hopkins & Bacon, which existed at the time of the veteran lawyer's death.

When he came to the bar the whole number ot Massachusetts Reports was but twenty-five. Making himself familiar with these, he read with care each new volume as it was published, and his one hundred and forty volumes are filled with marginal notes and hieroglyphics, showing where his eye had marked an important decision or a questionable dictum. He made it a practice, which he recommended to his students, to read the statement of facts in cases involving vexed questions, work out his own solution by investigation of earlier authorities, and then compare his result with the reasoning of the opinion. No question of law ever was suggested to him that he did not endeavor to solve either at the time or at the next leisure hour. He loved nothing better than to sit with his students posing them with legal conundrums, or listening to the problems which perplexed them and arguing out their moot cases. His office thus became a model law-school, to whose instructions multitudes of lawyers still look back with affectionate gratitude.

During his professional life almost the whole of our system of equity jurisprudence was brought to its present advanced condition. By piecemeal equity powers were conferred by statute on the Su|)reme Court, but it was not until 1857 that full jurisdiction was granted, according to the usage and practice of Courts of Chancery, and since that time, by the slow process of judicial decisions and supplementary statutes, great advances have been made in this most interesting and valuable method of legal procedure. Mr. Bacon was an equity lawyer, and owned and read a valuable library of text-books on the subject long before there was ojiportunity in our courts to avail himself of most of its remedial processes.

Three times he saw the statutes of the State codified after growing to unwieldy proportions, and his copies of the Revised, General and Public Statutes each show his careful noting of subsequent amendments. Always consult the statutes; never give an opinion without seeing what the statutes say," was his frequent admonition to his students. His learning covered every branch and phase of the wide field of legal doctrine. Perhaps the law of real property in general, and especially the Massachusetts doctrine of the rights of mill-owners in the streams which turn their wheels, and the law of corporations, m.iy be mentioned as having attracted a large share of his attention.

During the operation of the United Stales Bankrupt Law, from 18G7 to 1878, Mr. Bacon was register in bankruptcy for this district. Its complicated duties he thoroughly mastered, and with patient fidelity discharged its functions, which were principally of a judicial character. It was the habit of his mind to cautiously weigh the arguments on each side of a question on which his opinion was sought, and so many were the possible objections which his wide knowledge suggested to either view that his final decision was long in maturing, and generally given with some reservation of a possible modification. Like Lord Eldon, ho knew so much law that he knew how little of it was absolutely uncontroverted.

His most valuable services were rendered as counsel in chambers, where the whole wealth of his learning and experience were at the service of his clients. Yet, as an advocate before juries in the first thirty years of his practice, he obtained a large influence by the thoroughness of his preparation, and by that evident sincerity which characterized his every utterance. His arguments on questions of law were sure to bring to the aid of the court all that could, by research and logic, be found to sustain his positions.

Notwithstanding his enthusiastic devotion to his profession. Dr. Bacon, as we loved to call him, - for no man more worthily bore the title of Doctor of Laws, - was interested in all that goes to make up a broad and liberal citizen. His studies in metaphysics, in history, in mathematics were the enjoyment of his leisure hours. With the latest advances in modern thought he kept himself familiar, and the writer remembere listening with some surprise to remarks which showed profound reflection on the latest developments of the theory of evolution.

For public oflice he was not at all ambitious, and one term in the State Legislature and two years as mayor of the city left him with a desire to do his duty as a private citizen, and this he conscientiously performed. During the war his patriotism was lofty and courageous. Three sons he gave to the service of his country, of whom but one returned. Deeply as his affectionate nature felt the loss, he was never heard to murmur at tlie sacrifice. His nature was singularly open and kind. It did not seem that the thought of the possibility of adopting any but the straightforward course ever occurred to his mind. Duplicity and cunning were with him simply impossible. His strong emotional tendencies he kept in check by seldom speaking of the topics that aroused them ; but when he did have occasion to allude to a friend who was no more, or any of the deep convictions of his heart, it was evident that his feelings were warm and tender as a woman's. In 1883, with only a few- hours interval, the Nestor of our law p-issed from his busy ottice to the rest that remaineth for such righteous mortals. With firm and rational faith, he had never shrunk from the last great change, and, whatever that change betokens, no man's life gave greater cause for calmness in awaiting it than his whose kindly face in portraiture now lends it8 silent inspiration among the books he loved.

Benjamin Fkanklin Thomas." - The subject of this sketch was a grandson of Isaiah Thomas, the patriot-printer of the Revolution, and was born in Boston, February 12, 1818.

He was educated at Brown University, where he graduated in 1830, at tlie early age of seventeen. He studied law in Worcester, and was admitted to the bar in 1834, acquiring, while still young, a large and excellent practice and growing influence in the county.

In 1842 he represented the town of Worcester in the State Legislature, and from 1844 to 1848 was judge of Probate for Worcester County. Next to Governor Washburn, he attained the largest practice of the Worcester bar, at the time when eminence at that bar was an exceptional distinction. Governor Lincoln and Governor Davis were still among the older members. Pliny Merrick, Charles Allen, Emory Washburn, Henry Chapin, Peter C. Bacon, Ira M. Barton were his contemporaries; while a score of younger lawyers, now achieving high distinction in professional and public life, were just entering into active practice.

Upon ihe resignation of Mr. Justice Fletcher, in 1853, Judge Thomas was appointed, when barely forty years of age, a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, holding that position for six years, and gaining a distinguished reputation as an able and learned jurist.

In 1859 he resigned his seat on the bench on account of the great inadequacy of the salary, and removed to Boston, where he practiced and held a position in the front rank at the bar. In 1801-63 he served one term in Congress, and in 1868, upon the retirement of Chief Justice Bigelow, he was nominated, by Governor Bullock, to the Council for chief justice of the Commonwealth, but, after an unpleasant controversy, failed of confirmation.

The greater part of his active life was spent in the discharge of professional duties which have small place in history, and will pass from memory to tradi-

He was particularly skilled in the law of wills and trusts, and in this branch of the law had no rival. On tlie bench he was distinguished for the tenacity with which he defended the constitutional privileges secured by the Declaration of Rights, and especially trial by jury.

His most celebrated opinion is the powerful dissenting judgment delivered in the case of the Coramonwealth vs. Anthes, 5 Gray, in which he vindicated the right of juries to determine, under the general issue, the law as well as the facts in criminal trials. His view was subse(iuently sustained by the Legislature, which re-enacted the statute in 18(50.

His studies, both in law and government, took a wide range, and he was well read in history and in English literature. With the bar he has ever been very popular.

His associates, and especially those younger than himself, were attracted to him not more by his varied learning and talents than by his pure and amiable character. The greatest regrets were expressed when he left the bench, and no man has ever been more highly respected at the bar.

In the heat of controversy excited by his nomination as chief justice, he was opposed on grounds chiefly political, but also on the ground of a habit of dissenting, which at that time was looked upon as a serious disqualification.

But Governor Bullock, in justifying his nomination to the Council, replied that, of the nineteen hundred cases reported during the six years that Judge Thomas held a seat upon the bench, he dissented in only four, not by pride of opinion, but by the interests of truth and justice. And a member of the Suffolk bar, then and now one of its wisest and most learned members, writing upon tlie same objection, said :

" It is undoubtedly desirable that the court should stand together. Division is sometimes an indication of weakness. But it is a much greater weakness to insist upon this point to the exclusion of the qutstion of what is right ; and when a judge is held up to ridicule merely because he differs from his associates, it will be the saddest sign of all. We have yet to learn that the honest dissent of an able magistrate, although repeatedly exercised, is ever regarded with contempt by honorable associates, by the public, or by the legal profession."

This, however, was but a pretext brought up by zealous opponents to re-enforce tlie political and personal reasons on which their opposition was mainly grounded.

But it is not worth while to revive the memory of these forgotten strifes. The wounds inflicted then were long ago healed. And among those who followed Judge Thomas to the grave, there were none who did so with more sincere and unaffected sorrow than those who questioned the wisdom of his nomination, and joined in the effort to defeat it.

In politics Judge Thomas was, in early life, a Whig, and when the dissolution of that party came, and the war suddenly presented grave problems of government for immediate solution, it was harder for him, than for most men in public life, to look with patience upon the torture to which the Constitution was exposed.

He was always conservative, with a tendency to the technical side of disputed questions, always restrained and controlled by a quick moral sense and an unfailing love of justice.

His brief term of political service happened to fall upon a period of intense and exciting feeling, when constitutional scruples were looked upon with little patience, and were indulged at much j^ersoual peril. But no man ever took the unpopular side of grave public questions under a more commanding sense of public duty than Judge Thomas took his upon the constitutional questions forced upon him by the exigency in which he was placed.

His formal addresses on anniversary and other memorial occasions, are of a very high order of excellence ; but, besides these, there are many among us who will remember the brilliant and sometimes electric eloquence with which, in his earlier days, he took part in the political and other public interests of the time. His command of language was always pure, rich and abundant ; his manner was spirited, fervent and stimulating ; and when he finished there was always, among those who listened, regret; that one endowed with such gifts was so little inclined to exercise them.

Judge Thomas received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Brown University in 1853, and from Harvard College in 1854. He was, at the time of his death, September 27, 1878, vice-president of the American Antiquarian Society, a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

(Jur county has been singularly fortunate in the character and ability of the gentlemen who have presided in its Probate Court. In 1858, the year of Judge Kinnicutt's death, the offices of judge of the Court of Probate and of the Court of Insolvency were, by act of the Legislature, united in one per.son in each county. To this double trust Hexey Chapin was appointed, and for twenty years most admirably discharged its functions. He was born in Upton in 1811, and left at fourteen to provide largely for his own support. For some months he was engaged in learning a trade. The necessity for such an occupation of course rendered it difficult for him to procure an education, but he was not driven from the undertaking, and succeeded in fitting for college, and in graduating from Brown in 1835. After gaining some experience and a small financial capital as a teacher in the common schools of Upton, he began his legal studies with Emory Washburn, and followed them at the Cambridge Law School. On admission to the bar he chose Usbridge for his opening career, and remained there till his removal to Worcester in 1846, when Rejoice Newton made him a junior partner. As an advocate he obtained a large and profitable practice. He possessed a shrewdness, a homely, kindly method of address, and an entire absence of stiffness or formality which procured him great influence with Juries. For the duties of Probate judge he was exceptionally fitted. His fund of patience seemed inexhaustible. In that court no strict rules of procedure are maintained; much of the business is trans- -acted without the aid of counsel, and by persons who come to the judge to learn what they ought to do, and how to do it. For all such he had a kindly reception, listened to their statements (generally involved, and often incoherent), and let them feel that they had found a friend as well as a help out of their difliculties. Towards members of the bar also, and especially the younger element, his manners were courteous, and commanded in turn respect. In the law governing the cases under his consideration he was thoroughly versed, and his decisions stood tlie test of appeal, with but a small proportion of adverse rulings by the higher court. Althougli for the last six months of his life he was unable to attend in the court-room, his courage did not permit him _te surrender, and up till the very day before his death, in 1878, he continued occasionally, at his house, to attend to matters of routine, hoping constantly that his usefulness was not yet to end, and determined that it should continue with his life. Mr. Cliapin was a public-spirited citizen, alive to the importance of the performance by every man of his political duties. He was an early member of the Free Soil party, and an effective speaker during the anti-slavery agitations. For one year he represented Uxbridge in the General Court, and in 1853 he was its delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

Worcester made him its mayor in 1849 and 1850, and would have had him serve again had he not declined the honor. In 1870, when, by the sudden death of Mayor Blake, a vacancy occurred during a terra, the City Council turned at once to him as the man most suitable to fill the emergency, and he consented so to do until a successor could be chosen by the usual methods of election. He was not ambitious for political office, and declined to stand as a candidate when nominated by the Republicans for Congress in 185G. As a speaker on public occasions he was frequently in demand, and his quaint humor and welltold stories interested his audiences and impressed his meaning on their minds.

With various business organizations he was actively connected, and, by the exercise of a sagacious judgment in investment, added to his accumulated property. To the religious organization with which he was connected he gave earnest support and valuable assistance in many ways. His religious convictions were deep and sincere, though rarely brought into notice, except with intimate friends ; but their fruit was shown in his discriminating and kindly benevolence and readiness to further charitable organizations which commended themselves to his judgment. An exemplary citizen, an upright judge and an honesL man.

Alexander Hamilton Bullock.' - Governor Bullock stands conspicuous in the list of Massachusetts' chief magistrates ; even in the whole list, extending through Colonial, Provincial and Constitutional times; conspicuous in respect to patriotism, ability and conscientious devotion to the public interest. And for the very reason that he occupies so prominent a position in our history, the writer is spared the attempt at any extended delineation in this place, where space is so limited. But with the portrait, in which his features are so faithfully and so artistically presented, it is necessary that something should appear respecting his various characteristics and family connections, with allusions at least to certain passages in his public career.

He was born in Royalston, Worcester County, on the 2d of March, 181G, and was the son of Rufus and Sarah (Davis) Bullock. His father, who was born on the 23d of September, 1779, was a school-teacher in his early manhood, but soon became a country merchant. Quitting that vocation in 1825, he engaged in manufacturing, and in due time amassed a handsome fortune. He was somewhat in public life ; was five years a Representative in the General Court, and two years a Senator ; was a member of the conventions of 1820 and 1853 for revising the State Constitution ; and was Presidential elector in 1852.

Alexander H. Bullock, the subject of this sketch, entered Amherst College in 1832, was a diligent student, and on his graduation, in 183G, delivered the salutatory oration at commencement. In the catalogue of his college contemporaries are found the names of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Bishop Huntington and others of wide reputation. After graduating he taught a school for a short ]ieriod, but, partly by the urgency of his father and partly from his own inclination, he applied himself to the study of law, entering Harvard Law School, then under the presidency of Judge Story. After leaving the Law School he spent a year in the lawoffice of the well-known lawyer, Emory Washburu, of Worcester, where he gained a good knowledge of the various details of legal practice. He was admitted to the bar in 1841, and soon began practice in Worcester. As a pleader he does not seem to have aimed to become conspicuous. Senator Hoar says: "He disliked personal controversy. While he possessed talents which would have rendered him a brilliant and persuasive advocate, the rough contests of the court-house could never have been congenial to him. He was associated with Judge Thomas as junior counsel in one important capital trial, in which he is said to have made an eloc|uent opening argument. He had a considerable clientage for a young man, to whom he was a safe and trustworthy adviser. But he very soon established a large business as agent of important insurance companies, and withdrew himself altogether from the practice of law.''

In 184-1 Governor Bullock married Elvira, daughter of Col. A. G. Hazard, of Enfield, Ct., founder of the Hazard Gunpowder Manufacturing Company. Their children were Augustus George; Isabel, who married Nelson S. Bartlett, of Boston ; and Fanny, who married Dr. William H. Workman, of Worcester. The widow and all the children are yet living.

From early manhood Governor Bullock took a decided interest in politics, but did not allow it to absorb an undue portion of his time till the period arrived when he could safely make it a leading object. In constitutional law he was particularly well versed, and that fact, in connection with his decided opinions on all public questions, gave him in debate and in action very great advantage. In party affiliation he was of the old Whig school.

A brief recapitulation of some of his efficient public services may here be given. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for eight years: first in 1845, and last in 1865. In 1862, 'G3, '64 and '65 he was Speaker. And what Governor Hutchinson says, in his history of Speaker Burrill, may well be said of him, namely, that the House were as fond of him " as of their eyes;" the historian adding, in a note, " I have often heard his contemporaries applaud him for his great integrity, his acquaintance with parliamentary forms, the dignity and authority with which he filled the chair, and the order and decorum he maintained in the debates of the House."

Governor Bullock w.is also, in 1849, a State Senator. He was judge of the Worcester County Court of Insolvency for two years, 1856-58, having, under a previous jurisdiction, served as commissioner of insolvency from 1853. He was mayor of Worcester in 1859. But the most prominent event in his public life was his election to the gubernatorial chair, which he occupied three years - 18G6, '67 and '68. At the first election he received nearly fifty thousand votes more than the opposing candidate.

He undoubtedly could have held prominent positions in national affairs had he been so disposed; but his ambition seems not to have run in that direction. He never held office under the general Government, and all the incidents of his political life must be looked for in the history of his native State, where a rich store is to be found.

On the 5th of January, 1879, Hon. George F. Hoar was authorized by President Hayes to ask Governor Bullock if he would accept the then vacant English mission. In answer the following letter was received :

My Sir: I received yesterday yotir favor of the ."itli inat., in wliicli yuu kindly iiuniire, in behalf of tiie President, wliether I wonld undertulce the Mission to England. I liave felt at liberty to take to myself t«e[ity-four hours to consider this question, and I now apprise you of the conclusion to which uiy retlection has, with much reluctance brought me. I am compelled, by the situation of my family, to reply that it would be practically iini)ossible for nie to accept this appointment.

1 [larticularly desire to express to the President my profound and grateful acknowledgment of the high distinction he has offered to confer upon me, and to assure him of my purpose in every way as a private citizen to uphold him in bis wise and patriotic administration of the government.

In financial, humane, and all reformatory movements Governor Bullock was active and efficient. He was president of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, and of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, a director in the Worcester National Bank, chairman of the Finance Committee of the Trustees of Amherst College and a life-member of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society. He was a writer of much more than ordinary ability, aud while editor of the ^E(/is newpaper, which position he held for several years, established an enviable reputation as a journalist. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Harvard and by Amherst.

During the Civil War Governor Bullock was an efficient co-laborer with Governor Andrew, so appropriately called the " War Governor of Massachusetts.'' His eloquent voice was often raised to cheer the gathering crowds of patriots in various places, and Faneuil Hall, too, resounded with his stirring appeals.

He was a great friend of learning ; and all institutions of instruction, from the elementary common school to the best endowed college, had his counsel and encouragement.

And there was in him a vein of true democracy, often manifesting itself in anxiety to guard against any attempt by legislative, judicial or any other power to override the soverign right of the people ; and hence, as might naturally have been expected, he^'emained a firm friend to the principle of " Local Option," in law, so far as it could in any way be made expedient. He vetoed, to the surprise of many of his party friends, one or two enactments, considered important, for the simple reason that he viewed them as trenching on some general right of the people.

In 1869 he visited Europe with his family, and on his return the following year the civic authorities and citizens of Worcester gave testimony of their appreciation of his character and his services by a public reception. After his retirement from the Governor- ship he held no other public office, and declined to entertain any of the suggestions made to him of furtlier political service, which would involve, to some extent, the abandonment of those studies and employments which were so agreeable to him.

Governor Bullock was an orator of great power, and the volume of his addresses recently published contains many models of pure style and elegant scholarship. Speaking' of him in this connection. Senator Hoar says : " Above all, he possessed, beyond any of his living contemporaries, that rare gift of eloquence which always has been and always will be a passport to the favor of the people where speech is free."

He was a lover of scholarship, a citizen of many resources and large usefulness, whose life diffused all around it an influence and charm, which elevated the standard of the domestic and moral life of the community. In January, 1882, with startling suddenness, he died amid the scenes of his activities.

The world owes much of its brightness and beauty to the people whose cheerful disposition and faculty for cordial greetings make others ashamed of melancholy dullness and drive away worry and vexation from their presence.

In 1814 Daniel Dewey was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court, and held the office only about one year until his death. In 1837 his son, Charles A. Dewey, received a like distinction, and for nearly thirty years discharged his duties with learning and fidelity. Francis H. Dewey, with this distinguished legal lineage, was born in Williamstown in 1821. A few years later his father removed to Northampton. In that town and in Amherst his studies preparatory to college were pursued. From Williams College, where his ancestors for three generations had held office as trustees, he graduated in 1840, and proceeded at once to fit himself for his inherited profession in the law schools of Yale and Harvard College. He also gained practical experience in the office of Charles P. Huntington, in Northampton, and of Emory Washburn, in Worcester. With the latter he formed a partnership soon after his admission to the bar, in 1843, a fact which testifies to the elder man's appreciation of Mr. Dewey's abilities even at that early stage. The manner in which he entered upon the work of this established office, and assumed its responsibilities alone upon Judge Washburn's promotion to the bench in the very next year, tested his powers and gave him a high standing at the bar in the earliest years of his practice. During this time his utmost diligence was constantly required to attend to the multitude of causes in which Mr. Washburn had been engaged. It would have been most natural if clients who had sought out so distinguished a counsellor to whom to entrust their important affiiirs should have desired to place them in other hands than those of an inex- perienced young attorney ; but Mr. Dewey gave such evidence of fitness for the task and of devotion to business, that he retained almost the whole of the clientage, and increased it as the years went by. In 1850 he associated with himself in practice Hartley Williams, then just admitted to the bar, and continued the connection for thirteen years. From 1866 till 1869 Frank P. Goulding, Esq., was his junior partner. During his whole life, and in all his varied lines of employment, Judge Dewey was incessantly active. No other adverb can describe the nature of his activity. Always brisk, apparently in a hurry, yet with his faculties alert and undisturbed, he went from one task to another, without apparent thought or need of rest. In the trial of causes before juries his manner was restless, almost nervous ; but his watchfulness of every movement, his quick seizure of every slight advantage and his thorough familiarity with the facts proved to opposing counsel that there was nothing to be hoped from the inattention of his adversary. Throughout the most heated controversies he preserved his courteous tones, his pleasant smile and his real composure. Some men are able to hide beneath immovable features and thoroughly controlled muscles disturbed feelings and discomfited plans of action. But Mr. Dewey's mental quiet was preserved under what seemed a physical necessity for movement.

His closing argument was always to be dreaded as likely to present some unexpected view of the evidence or some shrewd suggestion which his opponent had left unobserved and unanswered. He seemed to take the jury into his confidence, to talk to them in a friendly, common-sense manner, without attempt at eloquence, but with remarkably convincing effect.

In 1860 Governor Claflin appointed him an associate justice of the Superior Court, - a position which he occupied until 1881. There he became a most useful presiding officer, despatching the business of the courts with the celerity which characterized his private business, treating with courtesy and patience counsel and witnesses, and assisting the jurymen by impartial, lucid statements, summing up the evidence and explaining the legal principles which were to guide them.

Mr. Dewey's energies were by no means confined to professional employments, exacting as those were. The number of business enterprises and charitable institutions in which he was interested as an officer, and to each of which he gave faithful atteniion, would seem to have furnished sufficient occupation for the whole time of an active man. Yet he did not seem to be oppressed by the burden of responsibilities. He possessed the happy faculty of laying aside all worry over affairs, when he had done the best that his judgment dictated for their proper conduct. He was president of one railroad company and a director in another, and acquired a considerable familiarity with the methods of nanagement of these was the brightest ornament, ia not yet extinct. Though the Worcester bar cannot claim his sous as members, they still uphold the ancestral reputation in other scenes.

George F. Verry was one of the best illustrations which this bar has furnished of the value to a lawyer of the qualities of self-reliance and perfect imperturbability. His success may be as fairly traced to his possession of these traits as to any other cause. He was born in Mendon in 1826, and had the advantage of his father's care for only two or three years. His education was obtained in the common schools and during a partial course at the Andover Academy. From that preparatory school he had hoped to enter college, but his plans were interrupted, and he left his studies to engage in learning the business of a manufacturer. After a few years' trial, however, he determined to fit himself for the bar, and began his studies in the office of Henry D. Stone in the year 1849. Admitted to the bar after the usual three years of preparation, he was in a short time received as a partner by Mr. Stone, and so continued until 1857. Thus entering upon a business already well-established, he had the opportunity to learn, by actual use, the value of his acquirements. This was largely the process of his attainment to that degree of forensic skill and knowledge of the law which secured his high rank among our advocates. He was not a learned student of books or precedents, but to the questions involved in each case in which he was concerned he gave close attention and consulted the books with reference to those particular topics. With a retentive memory and a clear common-sense judgment, he thus became familiar with the current of decisions upon almost the whole of the great variety of controverted doctrines which have been debated in our courts. After the dissolution of his connection with Mr. Stone, he continued business alone with a rapidly increasing clientage until 1875, when he formed a partnership with Francis A. Gaskill, the present district attorney, and Horace B. Verry, his adopted son, which continued till his death.

A large part of Mr. Verry's reputation was won in the conduct of the defence of criminal causes. In several capital trials which attracted wide attention, his skill in the examination of witnesses, bis readiness to meet sudden emergencies, and his thorough grasp of the bearing of evidence were shown in a manner which placed him among the leaders in that department of practice. On the civil side of the court, also, the possession of the same resources brought to him, perhaps, the most lucrative clieutage of any of his contemporaries during the ten years before bis death. In the progress of the most exciting trial he preserved a most absolute control of all his faculties. Forcible in the presentation of his own views, keen, and often severe in his examination of witnesses, he never allowed any exhibition of temper to weaken his influence with the jury, or obscure his calm watchfulness of every manoeuvre. His arguments seldom appealed to the emotional nature, but were admirably lucid in their logical presentation of the facts. From the very outset of his career he boldly confronted every adversary, however more ample his experience, and learned even in defeat to reserve for his client whatever of advantage there remained to him. In social life he was a most genial comrade. Especially towards younger members of the profession were his manners and expressions of friendship cordial at all times. The writer well remembers many words of kind encouragement which helped to make his student-days and first years of practice more hopeful and less irksome. Mr. Verry did not hold many public offices. In 1872 he was mayor of the city of Worcester. The problem of the proper a.ssessment of the expense of a great system of sewers had long been deferred ; with characteristic energy he sought a .solution. Principally under his direction, a plan was adopted which was finally sustained by the courts, though opposed by leading citizens and able counsel. His acceptance of this responsibility cost him his re-election the next year, but stands as an evidence of his independence and sagacity. He served two terms in the State Senate, the second year as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. As a Democrat during the last ten years of his life, he was most frequently in the minority in the State, and though several times a candidate, held no other elective office.

The death of Judge Adis Thayer is still so deeply felt, not only in the community where he lived, but in the councils of the leaders of the State, where his presence had become well-nigh essential, that it seems unnecessary in so brief a sketch iis is here possible to rehearse the well-known story of his life. But neither the history of our bar nor that of the Commonwealth for the past forty years can properly be written without the mention of his share in the progress of each. He was the son of Caleb Thayer, a farmer of Mendon, not rich in material possessions, but with a sturdy independence and an innate love of liberty, which evinced itself in the early espousal of the anti-slavery cause when the unpopularity ol its adherents amounted to ostracism. His grandfather was a Eevolutionary soldier, and the combative tendencies of the descendants seem to have come by right inheritance. Born in 1828, his early life was spent upon the farm, with only the occasional opportunities for education afforded by the district schools. Later on he attended the Worcester Academy, and, with some thought of adopting the profession of a teacher, he took a course in the Normal School at Westfield. After short trial of school-room life, however, he made up his mind that he could not be satisfied with that career, and began the study of the law with Henry Chapin, whom he was destined to succeed upon the bench. In 1854 he entered upon his practice in the city of Worcester, and attained a good success as an adviser, especially in the management of business concerns. His judgment was clear and reliable, and marked by the plainest common sense. As an advocate he did not appear with great frequency before the courts, but his management of causes entrusted to him was careful and intelligent, tenacious of his clients' interests and mindful of details.