Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/365

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rich and poor,' bear witm-ss that he was not only respected, but be- loved by his family, by his friends, by the bar over which he so long presided, and by the surviving members of the bench of which he

in ornament."

I have some faint recollection of Judge Brockenbrough. I saw him in Tappahannock when I was a boy. He was a tall, dignified and commanding person, but not particularly handsome. He had something of a cross in his t-yrs, which gave them a peculiar expres- sion. This may have had something to do with an anecdote which is related of him whilst he was holding a court at Tappahannock. A man, too much under the influence of liquor, annoyed and dis- turbed the judge, who kept his eyes upon him, hoping thereby to stop him. At length he rebuked him and told him to behave him- self. He, too, had been watching the judge, and found that he could not escape his look. So he mounted a chair and exclaimed:

" The ancients did old Argus prize, Because he had a hundred eyes ; But much more praise to him is due Who looks a hundred ways with two."

The judge was so nonplussed and surprised by the offender's smartness, as well as audacity, that he let him oft" without fining him. He was the renowned, but unfortunate, Billy Pope, orator, poet and wit.

I have, too, some recollection of the members of the bar of that period. Thomas Gresham and Wm. A. Wright lived in Tappahan- nock; John Gaines, two Upshaws (Horace and Edwin), and Muscoe Garnett, came from the country; Phil. Branham and Chinn came across the Rappahannock; Richard Baylor from the upper part of the county, and John L. Marye and Carter L. Stevenson from Fred- ericksburg. Mr. Marye had lived in Tappahannock, where he served in the store of Mr. Robert Weir. Whilst I was at school in Fred- ericksburg, I became well acquainted with him and Mr. Stevenson, and intimate with their sons. My last Essex county teacher, James M. Garnett, was a member of its bar.

Judge Brockenbrough married Judith White, daughter of John and Judith White. One of their sons, John White Brockenbrough, married Miss Mary C. Bowyer, and became distinguished as judge of the United States Court for the Western district of Virginia; as founder and head of his own law school at Lexington, and after-