the squire's susceptible nature. He continued to study, then to practise
a little without fee, and finally was admitted to the bar in 1836.

Judge Davis, once on the Supreme Bench of the United States, a man
spotless alike upon the throne of justice and in his daily walk, was
upon intimate terms with Lincoln for upwards of twenty years, and during
more than half of that period sat upon the judicial bench before which
Lincoln most frequently practised. No one is abler than he to speak of
Lincoln as a lawyer,--a lawyer who became one of the first of the
Western bar,--a bar that can proudly point to its Carpenter, its
Trumbull, its Ryan, and its Davis. He says:--


"The framework of Lincoln's mental and moral being was honesty; and a
wrong cause was poorly defended by him. The ability which some eminent
lawyers possess of explaining away the bad points of a cause by
ingenious sophistry was denied him. In order to bring into full activity
his great powers it was necessary that he should be convinced of the
right and justice of the matter which he advocated. When so convinced,
whether the cause was great or small, he was usually successful.

"He hated wrong and oppression everywhere; and many a man whose
fraudulent conduct was undergoing review in a court of justice has
writhed under his terrific indignation and rebukes. He was the most
simple and unostentatious of men in his habits, having few wants, and
those easily supplied."


In 1837 Mr. Lincoln removed to Springfield, Ill., where he entered into
partnership with his old friend, John T. Stuart; and this partnership