Litchfield enquirer., 1860-03-08
Sketches of the Early Lights of the Litchfield Bar.
 No TIT
TAPPING REEVE.
NEW MILFORD, Jan. 25

NEW MILFORD, Jan. 25, 1855.
 Dear sir: The request contained in yours of the 22d inst is of kindred nature, and has much of the same influence upon me and my nclna- tions, with your former one. lovo to think and talk of former times, and of the men whose char acter, capacities and conduct were the ornaments and blessings of those times, and should love to write about them if writing had not become somewhat laboriOus and difficult for me-
 I saw much of Judge Reeves practice at the bar for nearly five years, during which time he was engaged in almost every case of importance tried in the Superior Court at Ltchfeld, and never failed to argue every one in which he was engaged if argued at all. In the County Court, after became acquainted with him, he did not practice. His school had become numerous and he gave up his practice in that Court because q suppose) it too much interrupted his course of daily lectures, and knowing as he did that he should have a part in every cause expected to be tried in the Superior Court. And, by the way, trials were then managed and got through with
  ged out to the abominable and shameful length which they now are, to the disgrace of the Pro- fesson for indulging in it and of the Courts fer permitting it.
 joined Judge Reeves school in the fall of l793, and he was not placed on the bench till the spring of l796, so that saw him at the Bar during nine sessions of the Superior Court, and never failed to listen to him, if l could avoid it, with unqualified love and admiration through every speech he made, to it's conclusion. l say aciM lore, for no Instructor was ever more gene rally beloved by his pupils and indeed entirely 50 except it was by those whose love would have been a reproach to the object of it. As reason CT, he had no superior within the compass of my observation of forensic performances. mean true. forcble and honest reasoning. In sophis- try, he was too honest to indulge, and too dis cerning to suffer it to escape detection in the argument of an adversary. .a,4.s
 As a spcakex~he WIS usually exceedingly ar dent, and the ardsr he displayed appeared to be prompted by conviction of the justice of the cause he was advocating. His ideas seemed oft en, and indeed, usually to flow in upon him fast CT than he could giveu1tterance to them, and sometimes seemed to fore, him to leave sen tence unfinished, to begin another,-and in his huddle of ideas, if may &, express it, he was careless of grammatical accuracy, and though a thorough scholar, often made bad grammar in public speaking Careless as he,was of his die ton and thoughtless as he was of ornament r ordinary cases, yet some elegant xhessions and fine sentences would seem, as if by ascident to escape him in almost every speech. Bug such cases as afforded the proper field for the dhplay of eloquence, such actions of islander, maci rls prosecution, etc, and in that part of such case, as usually prompt to exertions of the kind, his hurried enunciation and grammatical inaccura cies, all forsook him, and then he never failed tc electrify and astonsh his audience. Many o these used to be recited to me by those who haC often heard him and it fell to my lot to witness one such occasion. In an action for malicious prosecution, in closing the argument, on entering upon the subject of damages, he burst forth into such stra'n of dignitied and soul-thrilling elo quence as neither before nor since, has .evn,...v' my ear. The first sentence he uttered thrile, through every nerve of my entire frame to tn, very ends of my fngerss' and every succeedin. sentence seemed t,o increase in overwhelmip, effect. was perfectly entranced during its de livery and for an hour afterwards I trembled S, that I could not speak plain. His manner wa as much changed as his language, and to me h looked foot taller than before. The next da Iwent to him and asked him to commit to writ ing the concluding part of his speech to whic request he said in the simplicity of his nature "Why, if should do that, perhaps should mak it better than it really was, and that would no be fair.' We told him tMr. Bacon was wit mel there was no danger of that, for we knew could not be bettered. We'll, he said he would try but he did not know whether he could recall it t memory. for there was not word of it writte before hand A day or two after he saw me il Court behind his seat, and beckoned me to hin and said he had tried to comply with my request but It was so gone from him that he could mak nothing of it.
 fbelieve have said enough in regard to Judg, Reeve as on advocate, and that is the extent O your enquiry. As Judge you are acquainted with his reputation, historically, though you prob ably never saw him on the bench, as he left i; nearly thirty-nine years ago. to wit. in May, 1916 to the regret of all admirers of legal learning and lovers ofimpartial justice. aes '