Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/390

 PROMINENT PERSONS

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Court House, Virginia. His person and ad- aress were attractive, his abilities shining and precocious; fortune smiled upon him from the start. After two years in Culpeper, he removed to Albemarle county, where his practice increased. He married the daugh- ter of Dr. George Gilmer, of "Pen Park," v/ho introduced him to Mr. Jefferson and the leading men of the state. Being natur- ally of a vivacious disposition and an agree- able personality, he was gladly welcomed. He obtained the reputation of a ban vivant among his professional brethren, and was somewhat wild. Before it was too late Wirt saw the error of his course, and breaking away from the temptations to which he had been exposed, settled down to a sober life, and a course of reading, which in great measure supplied the deficiencies of his early education which, especially in law, was ex- ceedingly meagre for one who had to meet •^uch opponents as Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. In 1799 he went to Rich- mond, was presently made clerk of the house of delegates, and in 1802 chancellor el the eastern district, and moved to Wil- liamsburg. In 1803 his "Letters of a British Spy" appeared in the Richmond "Argus" and as a volume, added much to his repu- tation; the tenth edition (1832) had a sketch of the author by P. H. Cruse. After six months in Williamsburg he went to Nor- folk, where he staid till 1806, when he re- turned to Richmond. In 1807, by President Jfiferson*s appointment, he was a counsel in the trial of Aaron Burr; one of his speeches, which lasted four hours, was vastly admired and was among the finest el^orts of his life. The speech greatly ex- tended his fame, and is perhaps the one which has made him best known to succeed-

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ing generations, as its florid periods and its occasional pathos made it a prime favorite for academic declamation, and although it may be said to be worn to shreds by the constant repetition, it yet has the power to charm even a critical reader. His essays collected as '*The Rainbow," were first print- ed in 1808 in the Richmond ''Enquirer," as was, two years later, "The Old Bachelor," gathered in two volumes (1812). To the latter several writers of less fame contrib- uted; J. P. Kennedy called it Wirt's best book, but other critics were not of that opinion. His **Life of Patrick Henry" (1817) was widely circulated; it had all the gorgeousness of his earlier oratory. His cnly experience as a legislator was in 1808. In 1816 he was appointed by President Mad- ihon United States district attorney for Vir- ginia, and in 1817, by President Monroe, United States attorney-general. This post he held with great repute until 1829, resid- ing at Washington. Judge Story ranked him "among the ablest and most eloquent of the bar of the supreme court." He took part in many leading cases, among them that of Dartmouth College, 1819; in this he was not at his best, and the honors went to Webster, who won the case. His most noted extra legal addresses were — that of October 19, 1826, on the deaths of Jefferson and Adams, and one at Rutgers College in 1830, which was reproduced in England, Germany and France. In 1829 he removed to Baltimore. In 1831 appeared his letters and those of J. Q. Adams on the anti-Ma- sonic movement; the next year he was the candidate of that party for the presidency and received a popular vote of 33.108, and the electoral vote of Vermont only. Har- vard g^ve him the degree of Doctor of Laws

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