The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-09-14

!
nest and instructive testimony in his discourse, as he
exemplled strkingy IN his practice, the truth and
value of this grand of all sound superiority
and
! a finished education in the best schools OF his own
country and of Europe he continued, through all inc
avocatons and active emPoyments OF ms future III
the same habits Of digent and enthusiastic study by
! " hch he established from the first a marked pre-
emnencc among his companions. lie was SO smluen
with a sympathetic appreciation OF the great Roman
orators noble panegyric of letters that he literally
fulfilled in his daily ha its, (wlthout any such pur-
pose ccrtainly, that OF mere pedantic conformity
| the picture OF their attractions graphically deli
heated in the latter part OF that celebrated passage
IiGc Siudia &c, diectan doni, iDpediuh TO, is
pernociant nobtstann, pereg7 inano r1st,cdtur. His
books were his inseparable companions, whether at
home, abroad-they passed the night with him, they
travelled with him, they accompanied him in his
sional rural retreats. jealous economist Of time,
and particularly attentive TO husband those old frag-
mens Of leisure, which irregularly intervene in the
routine Of daily employment, and which by most
persons thrown away useless, he was more for
| tunate even than the ancient philosopher, who re-
preached himself with the loss Of one day in the
course of long life. Legarc never lost an hour for
| however small the interval Of time which fell upon
his hands, unoccupIed by the necessary demands of
business or the cherished society of chosen circle
! of friends it wasted. book, pen, a
train of thought to be resumed, always at hand
to absorb and employ it useiu!y; for so perfect was
the discipline of mind he had established, through
long habits Of industry and study, that he turned his
attention, at WILL to whatever subject seemed, at the
moment, fttest TO engage it.
A a scholar he stood without rival AMONG the
| public men of America of his day, and if, even in
that class of learned men who make the cultivation
and pursuit Of letters the sole business of their lives,
he had any superior in scholarship, would be dfli-
cult to say who that superior was. His acquaintance
with the great writer's of antiquity, the master minds
of Greece and Rome, intimate, thorough and
familiar placing at his ready and perfect command
all those hidden treasures of thought philosophy and
wisdom, all those exquisite models of taste, eoquence
and power, which lie enshrined in their immortal
works. In the languages and literature of modern
Europe he was perfectly at home. lie not only
read but wrote and spoke the languages of France
and Germany with the aud elegance Of native,
and was profoundly versed in their history and tera-
| ture. He had explored, it'll particular industry
and success, the rich mines of learning and historical
discovery, so to speak, which the acute and recon
dite researches Of modern German writers have
! opened and enlarged his accumulated stores by
the super-addition of the fruits Of their valuable la
bors. With all this aluence Of intellectual wealth,
| he made no ostentatious display of his acquisitions.
| TAey were assmlated into the solid nutrment of his
own mind and their effect rather in the en-.
iarged scope and vgor of his conceptions, than IN
! any Exhibition of mere learning
! As speaker and writer, the style Of his eoquence
was ornate and rich. But like the gorgeousncss OF
Burke this the unbdden effect of the rrepressi
BILE eXuberance Of his genius. No one despised more
| than he did the glitter of words, or held IN
lighter esteem the studied arts Of the proessed rheo
rlcan. Whatever was the elevation and richness oil
his dction, it was uniformly supported by a cores
pondng richness and elevation Of thought. The
stream of his eloquence fed from copious and in
eXhausilbe fountains and Its majestic current erll
lied and fructfcd even when inundated its banks.
His character and abilities profound and ac-
compshed jurst, have been already given 10 the
world under the seal of the highest authority To
the question, was he eminent Jaeger Judge Story.
! in his beautiful and touching address TO the Law
School Harvard, While the funeral bells Of Boston
yet olng the knell Of his departed spirit, an
swered emphacally and unhesitatipgly--'s man
,ras So" And certainly, if profound acquain-
tance with the most renowned systems Of ancient ard
modern law, with the common law OF England, the
civil law of Rome, the codes of France and Germa-
NY added to "A familiar knowledge of the laws and
| constitutions of country and thorough III.
doctrnaton in the principles of universal urispru-
dence, can make able aud accomplished lawyer,
Legare was such. All this breadth and scope Of
knowledge, however superiluuus If may be deemed
for the lawyer who, to the words of Cicero, Is
thing than legtdeiuS guiddn cous e dcuil prGcc
act onn cantor f0ImudTuH duceps aJRabariut,
cessary TO i Mir. Legarcs conception oil the charac-
ter of great lawyer, worthy of the name, and Of
calling which boasts its rank among the learned pro-
fessious One Of the great secrets of his superiority
was TO place before him the highest standards OF
excellence, in every department, the beau IDEAL al
least, which true and lofty ambition shou aim &c
approximate near possible, II not able fully tc
attain. His idea of the nobleness and grandeur oil
the law in its true dignity, was that which Boiling
broke has justly and eoquenty portrayed, and hi,
mpcrsonaons of that idea were the Bacons, the
Clarendons the Somers the Msnsfeds of Eugland-
the ilaishalls, the Pinkneys Of America
The narrow and unworthy prejudice against learn
? ing, incompatible with professional eminence
which has been properly rebuked by Judge Story
sometimes ventur To question the claims Of Mr.
Legarc to the character of an able lawyer, on tht
very ground Of his acknowledged re-emiuence il
the altainments of elegant literature. The sam,
t Gothic prejudice, we earn from contemporary me
MORALS boldly called in question the legal abilities
e Lord Mansfield, and was humorously satirized at thu
time in lines of Pope, in which the poet repre-
e scnts two heavy sergeants of the Temple, " wh
deemed each other oracies of law" exulting, with
= grave selcomp lacency, in the fanced profoundnes
5 Of their own legal attalnments, while
!, Each shook his head at Murray as a wit"
And yet this Murray rapidly rose through all the gra
= dations OF professional emInence to tire Chief Jus
: toeship of the Kings Bench, in which court he pre-
II sided, with unrvalled lustre and ability for thirty
two years, having been thrice offered also the grea
seal OF Lord Chancellor; and such was the amos
miraculous inlallibty displayed by him as a Judge
that out Of the numerous decisions rendered by hu
during that long period OF time but two or three o
his judgments were evcrrcyersed, aud about equa
e number of Instances occurred in which any OF hi
brethren differed in opinion from him. With sue
believe that the superior literary accomplishments
= Mr.. Legare were likely to prove hudrancc to hir
y in the path of professional reputation and success,
: to prevent him from fulfilling his destiny, in bccom
= ing one Of the chielest gores of the American bar.
4 AS Statesman, the merits and talents of MIR liz
. gare Of the very first order He early conccil
q ed the noble ambition of useluly serving his country
= not TO crafty selfish vanity, to promote any pr
= personal end, but from true flial devotio
4 TO her glory, and from generous and magnanimou
- desire to bear his part in UNFOLDING the honor an
- In his letters on the study of History addrc sse
: 20 Lord Cornbury the great grandson of the Earl
% Clarendon, Bongbroke, after speaking of the pre-
e fes ion Of the law ITS nature the nobest am
J most beneficial TO mankind, in its abuse and debase
" ment, the most sordd and the most pcrnclous,
% makes the following remarks, admirable alike 70
their eoquence and truth. " There have been law
ts yers that were orators philosophers, historians
,r there have been Bacens aud Clarcn ons, my lord
- There will be none such any more TILL in some bel