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Rh and was already engaged in Sunday School work. He also took an active part in the Washington and Jefferson Societies and represented one of them at a public celebration in Charlottesville, on the 22nd of February. In 1837 the Society of Alumni was formed, and he became a member of it. His collegiate course of five years was finished at venerable William and Mary, in 1837-'8. There he obtained another diploma in moral and political science under its distinguished president, Thomas R. Dew, and the degree of LL. B., under Judge N. Beverly Tucker, and also a license to practice law. But not being of "lawful age," he spent the next year in writing in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Fredericksburg and attending sessions of the legislature and other things in Richmond.

In October, 1840, he settled in Petersburg and commenced the practice of his profession, also taking some part in the exciting presidential campaign. In the spring of 1841, he removed to Richmond. May 26, 1842, was married to Virginia Maury Otey, eldest child of the Right Rev. James Hervey Otey, Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee.

His literary tastes were very decided, and in July, 1843, he purchased The Southern Literary Messenger, and owned and edited it for more than four years.