Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/336

 The

Vol. III.

No. 7.

Green

BOSTON.

Bag.

July, 189 1.

JAMES TOPHAM BRADY. By John Freeman Baker. MR. ADDISON, in the "Spectator," devotes a chapter to the three great professions, — divinity, law, and physic. He divides lawyers into two classes, the litigious and the peaceable. Under the first are comprehended " all those who 'are carried down in coachfuls to Westminster Hall every morning in term time. " Martial de scribes this species of lawyers humorously: Iras et verba locant, — " men that hire out their words and anger," who " are more or less passionate according as they are paid for it, and allow their client a quantity of wrath proportionable to the fee which they receive from him." A looker-on in the courts of our day may find food for the opinion that Addison's characterization of the litigious lawyers of nearly two hundred years ago is not entirely inapplicable to that " prodigious society of men" of to-day. However this may be, the fact remains that the lawyer who confines himself exclusively to the practice of his pro fession is circumscribed, and his reputation is ephemeral. Though he be known and re spected by the people of his city or county whom he edifies in the court-room, when he dies he is usually forgotten within the lapse of a generation. If a man would be remembered beyond the period. that the bell rings and the widow weeps, says Shakspeare, he must erect his own tomb. If this be not an axiom, there is certainly philosophy in it. The most astute lawyers of the last generation are hardly heard of beyond the immediate precincts of the neighborhood in which they lived. Those 40

who by patriotism and wise counsel have given the world a direction toward the good, may have their names inscribed on the bright page of history and be enduring. It is always pleasant and elevating to dwell upon the character of men who have enno bled their calling, — who have struggled, perchance, against untoward fortune, and finally reached the goal for which they labored. Although it is true in the general sense that a man is the architect of his own fortune, still there are occasionally fortuitous cir cumstances that largely conduce to a man's success. Most lawyers in active practice come .to realize, sooner or later, the pain as well as the pleasure of adversity; for, as we read in " As You Like It,"— "Sweet are the uses ot adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head." To rescue from forgetfulness and to cherish with just pride the names of lawyers who have elevated and ennobled their calling, ever tends to raise us to a higher level of thought and action. We recur with pleasur able recollection to a lawyer who did all that lay in his power — and his bounty was large — to alleviate the condition of theunfortunate, and to adorn the profession to which he was wedded, — James T. Brady. He was for many years the bright particular star, the Curran, of the New York Bar. In the social circle he was peculiarly attractive, possessing at the same time in a liberal degree the better and more generous amenities of our