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 Some Virginia Lawyers of the Past and Present. kin, but once in court he astonished the judge and the bar by his wonderful powers of analysis." William Wirt says: "He had an almost supernatural faculty of developing a subject by a single glance of his mind, and detect ing the very point upon which every contro-

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roundabout and shorts, with his hat under his arm, from which he was eating cherries, when he stopped in the porch of the Eagle Hotel, indulged in some little pleasantry with the landlord, and then passed on. Mr. P., a gentleman from the country then present, who had a case coming on before the court

TOMB OF THE RANDOLPHS.

versy depended. He comprehended the whole ground at once and wasted no time on unessential features. All his eloquence consisted in the earnestness of his manner, the close connection of his thought and the easy gradations by which he draws his lights upon the attentive minds of his hearers." The following anecdote is told of him : — "He was one morning strollingthrough the streets of Richmond, attired in a plain linen

of appeals, was referred by the landlord to Marshall, as the best advocate for him to employ, but the careless, languid air of the young lawyer had so prejudiced Mr. P. that he refused to engage him. On entering the court Mr. P. was a second time referred, by the clerk of the court, to Mr. Marshall, and again declined. At this moment entered Mr. V., a venerable-looking gentleman in a powdered wig and black coat, whose digni