engaged with Mr. Tazewell in the case of Shannon (1804), which was tried
in Williamsburg, and which excited the most intense interest in Eastern
Virginia. Of Mr. Tazewell's speech on the trial Mr. Wirt always spoke in
terms of enthusiastic admiration, which was not the less glowing as
until that time he had looked upon Mr. Tazewell only as a severe
logician, and incapable of the loftier flights of eloquence. The
buoyancy of Wirt's spirits is exhibited in his admirable letters
published in the memoir of Mr. Kennedy; and his gentle courtesy and
generous nature are yet freshly remembered in our city. As a proof of
his playfulness, I have heard Mrs. Tazewell say that when Wirt would
call at her house, on his way to court, he would beg her for a bundle of
newspapers to stuff in his green bag, to make a show of business as he
passed into the court-house. When the Old Bachelor appeared, a series of
essays in imitation of the Spectator, which Wirt published after leaving
Norfolk, he delineated at full length the character of Tazewell, under
the name of Sidney, and of General Taylor under that of Herbert; and I
refer to the number as a gratifying evidence of the estimate which he
placed upon the genius and acquirements of those eminent men. And now
that the grave has closed above Wirt and Tazewell, it is refreshing to
contemplate the cordiality of their friendship, and the substantial
welcome which Tazewell extended to Wirt; and it is proper to say that,
but for the revelations of Mr. Wirt himself contained in his published
letters, and in the statements of his nearest friends, the recollection
of the generous kindness of Mr. Tazewell to Wirt, as may be said of many
other cases, would have remained unknown to his surviving friends.

In tracing the career of a great lawyer, we should follow him through
the courts in which his life was spent; but here, unfortunately, no
records appear which can throw any light upon the subject. The grandest
efforts of counsel are made in the presence of the court and of the