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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est 1\\m6 d partir de I'engle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droits, et de heut en bes, en prenant le nombre d'imeges n .) (y^ "^^ ^ ^ hni i^J I fu 'S {/iiC^ \ '*' .4 1 : t r>. *X i^Hl'-t ( M>e^^^^t MEMOIMES or EUFUS CIIOATE WITH SOJIK CONhlUEHATIt.N OF HIS STUDIES, MKTIIODS, AND OPINIONS. AND OF HIS STYLE AS A SPEAKER AND WlilTEU BY JOSEPH NEILSON BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY New York: II East Seventeenth Street CtlK RiberfliUe Prrorf, CambnUoe 1884 lit V\\<^ .Cs4% CopyrlRhf, 1884, Br JOtiEl'H NillLSOX. ^11 rights reserved The Riverside Press, Cambridge t Elcctrotyped ana Printed b, U. 0. UouThton & Co. or 1290 To TriE MEMORY OF 'HIE l.ATE ISAAC GKANT TJIOAIPSON, AT WHOS£ SUaUESTfON IT WAS C.VDEBTABM, IS rJEUICATiJD. COjS^TRIBUTORS. JOSHUA M. VAN COTT. ALFRED P. PUTNAM, I). D. WILLIAM STIiONG. KICIIARD S. STOIIPS, D. D. MATT. IL CARPENTER. JAME.S T. FIELDS. HENRY K. OLIVER. W. C. BOVDEN. PROFESSOR WASHBURN. ENOCH L. FANCHER. GEORGE H. NESMITH. PROFESSOR SANBORN. EDWARD B. GILLETT. NATHAN CROSBY. ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK, D.D. EDWARD E. PRATT. OTIS P. LORD. WILLIAM W. STORY. GEORGE P. MARSH. JOHN WINSLOW. AND OTHERS. i Uiil I PREFACE. »'■' In this series of articles, I have sought to re- vive somewhat the love and reverence due to the memory of Rufus Choate. There was, in- deed, little hope of doing justice to his learning and genius. That had been attempted by abler hands. But I was led to believe that, with the aid of others, his gifts and services, the devotion, dignity, simplicity, and usefulness of his life might be so recalled and illustrated as to be useful to my professional brethren, and interesting to the gen- eral reader. It was also believed that facts and incidents, resting in the silent memories of his friends, might be called out and preserved ; and herein lay the motive for taking up the subject. With these views, I sought the cooperation of gentlemen known to have been intimate with him. The kindness with which my applications were treated left me no reason to regret the office which I had assumed. I received many letters approving of my purpose. But some of my correspondents, advanced in years and feeble PREFACE. in health, were not equal to the labor proposed. Their letters, written with tremulous hands, can- not be read without emotion. They refer to Mr. Choate in affectionate terms, and some of them express the hope — now known to be delusive — that returning strength might enable them to comply with my request. The writers whose contributions are now pub- lished held various relations to Mr. Choate, — his associates in the college, his students in the law office, his professional brethren, his friends, — those friends who were with him in hours of joy and of sorrow, and those who saw and heard him occasionally, and knew him in the supreme felicity and attraction of his genius and character. In respect to almost any other memory, those writers might not have been inclined to turn aside from their favorite studies or official labors to take part in a commemoration. But, in this instance, a loving spirit moved them, and presided over their work. With the loyalty of disciples, and the faith- fulness due to a trust, they give delineations of Mr. Choate. The poetical, the practical, the ear- nest, the loyal, the serious, the reverential traits of his character, as revealed at home and abroad, are set forth with freedom and fidelity. Mr. Edwin P. Whipple, who had written of Mr. Choate as early as 1847, was requested to take up I "4 •^1 PREFACE. XI hose side ake e, a leir ith. of ar- aits ad, VIr. up the subject again. After some time and prepara- tion, he wrote nie that — the materials having ac- cumulated on his hands to an extent not adapted to my use — he had concluded to send his paper to the Harpers, and was pleased to say, " I have taken great delight in your series of articles and communications." His recollections were published in the " Half -Hour Series," Mr. Augustus Russ, of the Boston bar, had the kindness to send me a list of all the cases — the titles, books, and pages — given in the law re- ports, in which Mr. Choate had appeared as counsel. I was much impressed by his courtesy, as the clerical force in his office must have been severely taxed in making that collection. I take special pleasure in expressing my grate- ful sense of the kindness of Mr. Brown, President of Hamilton College. In the Preface to the last edition of his '' Life of Rufus Choate," he makes favorable mention of the papers which I furnished to the "Law Journal" in 1877 and 1878, and ex- presses the hope that they " will be published in a form easily accessible to the many who would delight to read them." I am indebted to Mr. Edward Ellerton Pratt, Mr. Choate's son-in-law, for special and valuable information. My thanks are due to Messrs. Little, Brown and Xll PREFA CE. I ' ! Company for allowing me to use, in my Appen- dix, Mr. Choate's Remarks at the meeting of the bar on the occasion of Mr. Webster's death. Some of my articles were submitted to the late Emory Washburn. In a letter received from him, written a few days before his death, he said, " I am glad that Mr. Choate is taking his true position as the scholar, the orator, and the jurist, among the men of genius and learning of our country. I am glad that you have told the public, in cool- ness, candor, and discrimination, just what sort of a man he was, and his true claims up in their ad- miration and respect." It was gratifying to receive like suggestions from gentlemen of distinction, residing in differ- ent States, to whom I had not applied for help. I am induced to make an extract from one of these letters, as readers will be desirous of know- ing the opinion which the late William Cullen Bryant entertained of Mr. Choate. He says, " The lives of distinguished lawyers and great orators are peculiarly interesting ; and in the subject of your memoir you have a most remark- able man of that class, endowed with the gift of persuasion to a degree of which there are very few instances on record." An application to the late William Adams, D. D., LL. D., President of the Union Theological li I -I PREFACE. Xlll of en at Ihe k- of y Seminary, for his recollections of Mr. Choate, was made at a time when the burden of work and duty on his hands was too ^reat for his strenii-th. His lett eply contained the first information I To the sorrow which une had of his declining health, the fact of his illness gave me was added the regret that I had troubled him with such an ap- plication. But his letter was so genial and kind, the tone and spirit of it so cheerful — as if pres- ent troubles were chastened by hope and trust — that I almost ceased to regret my untimely inter- ference. As I valued highly the few words he was able to write about Mr. Choate, I was grateful for permission to use them as I might see fit. In the last clause of his letter, he says : — " I feel a profound interest in everything per- taining to Mr. Choate, and sincerely regret my inability to add anything to your own valuable recollections. It was not my good fortune to hear Mr. Choate in public assemblies, or at the bar, very often. My acquaintance with him was per- sonal and domestic, and my admiration for him unbounded. I heard his New England Society oration in New York (December, 1843), bein^ the chaplain on that occasion, and remember v ell his turning to me for an explanation of the extraor- dinary bursts of applause which prevented his ad- vance three several times, after he had uttered iill XIV PREFACE. what may have seemed to him very simple sen- tences. You will readily admit, my dear sir, the reasonableness of what I have stated as excusing me from a service which otherwise would have been a pleasure and an honor. Thanking you again for the enjoyment I have had, in hours of illness, in reperusing the brilliant oratory of Mr. Choate in the books you have so kindly sent me, and in reading your contributions to his fame in the ' Journal,' I remain," etc. When some of my articles, and of the letters received, were sent to the "Law Journal," this form of publication had not been contemplated. I have since rewritten parts of those articles, omitted parts, and have taken up some addit'onal topics. As it was not my purpose to dwell upon subjects which my correspondents had considered, I have had no occasion to speak of Mr. Choate's studies at Dartmouth College or at the Law School in Cambridge, little occasion to speak of his genius as an orator and advocate, of his learning as a jurist, of the wit and wisdom which characterized his conversation, or of the qualities which drew others to him in love and sympathy. Even his birthplace has been so described by one who made a loving pilgrimage to it that the " Hill by the Sea " seems as if visibly present. The reader will also find — it may be contrary PREFACE. X'V 'tt to expectation — that, owing to the nature and variety of Mr. Choate's gifts and pecuHarities, more than twenty correspondents have found material for their narrations without repeating each other. Mr. Choate's use of language has excited so much remark that I have deemed it proper to give that subject special consideration. I have caused his entire vocabulary, as found in print, to be collected, and so classified as to show its constituents. With a view especially to the rela- tive proportions of Anglo-Saxon and of classical terms used, I have also taken twenty notable papers, — arguments, orations, essays, — by minds of the first order within the last hundred years, in England and America, and have had them sub- jected to the same analysis. The illustrations — a likeness of Mr. Choate, and views of his birthplace and of his grave — have been approved by friends of the family. J. N. Brooklyn, N. Y. hi ■':n '# CONTENTS. ciiapti:r I. Ancestry ANr> Birth. — IIomk Influence. — Early I'uom- ISE. — Ad.mlssion to the Bar, — Practice at Danvkrs AND at Salem. — Choate and Weuster. — Criminal Cases. — Popular Fallacy. — Krskine. — Counsel in Criminal Casks necessary ; Familiar Instances. — Opinions ok Professors Washrurn and Parsons. — The Case of J'rofkssor Werster. — Statements of Mr. Pratt and Judue Lord. — Duty and Privilege of an Advocate PAGE CHAPTER II. The Study of Law. — Powers of Memory. — Inference OF Unknown P'acts, and as to the Characters of Jurors and Witnesses. — Silent Conference with a Juryman. — Opinions of Professor Parsons, Mr. Lor- ING, Mr. D.\na, and Judge Sprague. — The Number of Mr. Choate's Cases. — IIis Treatment of Witnesses . 23 CHAPTER III. Eminent Men misunderstood. — The Advocate and Mis- taken Critics. — As to creating a Taste for a Pecul- iar Style. — How readily Choate was understood. — Alexander H. Stephens and Professor Sanborn as to Choate. — The Born or Natural Orator. — The Office of the Orator 44 b !| i M xvm CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAOK Vacations for IIkahinc. — Stuuiks with Rooks and with- out TIIK.M. — CoNVKUSATIONS WITH Mil. I'UATT AM> Mlt. Caki-kntku. — Soi.icnx'DK as to Imi'Kovkmkxt. — Tasti;, IlI.USTKATIONS ok. — FuU.MATlON OF CUAUACTKU. — COLO- NIAL Exi'eiuf:nck 03 CIIAPTEll V. Classical Studies. — Anciknt Gueeck. — The Saxons.- The Latin. — Knolish in India. — Macaulay's Seuvke. — As TO Et^UIVALENTS IN SAXON FOU SoME OK OUK WoitDS 79 CHAPTER VI. The Study of Wokds. — The Pekcentage of Anglo- Saxon, Latin, and Greek used iiy Mk. Ciioate and OTHER Eminent Scholars. — The Methods ok Sharon Turner and George P. Marsh. — Tables as to Deriv- atives 90 CHAPTER VIL Style, Variations of. — Long Sentences. — The Metho- dist Church Case. — Hahits of Revising Speeches. — A Contrast. — The Importance of Rhetorical Dec- orations. — The Freedom of Discourse necessary to AN Advocate. — Long Arguments 112 CHAPTER VIII. Rev. Dr. Hitchcock's View of Mr. Ciioate. — Extracts from Journal. — The Comparative Advantages of Liv- ing IN the Old World. — Music — Vindication of Sir Walter Scott. — Intervention ; Kossuth's Visit. — Eulogy of Webster 128 CONTENTS. XIX CIIAPTKR TX. PAQC Prf.pauation for Servick in CoNURKSfl. — Rank A\rt Ac- CKi'TANci:. — Lost SrKK.Liii-.s. — Annkxation ok Tixas, — TiiK TAitii 1 . — IIoMi; Industry and tiik MKciiAMtAL Arts; rRouRiss. — Conclrrknt Vilws ok otiikr Statks- mkn l'>l CIIAPTKR X. T. ■: Indictmknt or McLkod. — Tiik Ilii.r, ok Imminitv ■jggkstkd hy Mr. Fox. — Tiik Coursk itrsi'kd iiy tiik yKCRK.TARY OF StATK. — DkHATKS IN CoNGRKSS. — Dk- kknsk, of Mr. Wkiistkr. — Tiiivi. of McLk.od. — Act as TO IvKMKDIAL Jl'STUK. — OtIIKR (QUESTIONS RKKORK TIIK 5SKNATK. — Thk Bank. — Mr. Clay's Intkrfkrknck in Deuate 173 . 112 CHAPTER XI. A Shout Term in Congress, a Sacrifice. — Resigns to return TO the Profession. — Modest Estimate ok his OWN Powers. — The Rewards of Puokessioxai. Work. — Continued until his Health failed. — His Last Case. — Cheerful to the Last A Sea Voyacje for Health too late. — His Death. — His Love of the Union. — Conversations with Mr. Pratt. — ArrRE- iiENDS Civil AVar. — In that War, after his Death, HE 13 WELL KEI'RESENTED 194 CHAPTER XII. RUFUS ClIOATE AND LORD MaCAULAY : A CONTRAST ii: 204 128 T XX CONTENTS. LETTERS. i i'l JosnuA Van Cott . A. P. PUTXAM, D. D. . Enoch L. Faxciier . Gkokge W. Xksmitii . William Stuoxg K. S. Stohrs, U. D. Matthkw II. Carpenter James T. Fields . Dr. lioVDEN Emory Washburn E. D. Saniu)r.v . Edward B. (;illett Nathan Crosry Henry K. Oliver William W. 8toi£y , George P. Marsh John Winslow . From Choate to Sumner . 229 2.32 . 255 2G1 . 270 275 . 29.'3 299 , 307 312 327 331 340 352 3G2 375 383 414 APPENDIX. Remarks before the Circuit Court on the Death of Mr \\ EBSTER INDEX . 433 453 . 229 2.32 . 255 2G1 . 270 275 . 293 299 , 307 312 327 334 340 352 3G2 375 383 4U . 433 453 ■HHMI II (i ill' It- .u ■ i "■% 1M %' ' ; I li i HJ MEMORIES OF RUFUS CHOATE. CHAPTER I. Ancestry and Birth. — Home Influence. — Early Promise. — Admission to the Bar. — Practice atDanvers and at Salem. — Clioate and Webster. — Criminal Cases. — Popular Fallacy. — Erskine. — Counsel in Criminal Cases necessary ; Familiar Instances. — Opinions of Professors Washburn and Parsons. — The Case of Professor Webster. — Statements of Mr. Pratt and Judge Lord. — Duty and Privilege of an Advo- cate. -.^^ ':■ ■>,^.- RuFus CriOATE came of Puritan ancestry. John Clioate, the first of the lineage who came over from England, settled at Ipswich, now Essex, in Massachusetts. Of some of his descendants in the next four generations we have interesting particulars. His son was for several years a mem- ber of the Colonial Legislature, juid died in 1G95. Thomas Clioate, born in 1G71, upheld his pastor, the Rev. John Wise, in opposing the tyranny of Governor Andros, and was so devoted to pidjlic affairs that he was commonly called " Governor Choate." Francis Choate, born in 1701, was a jus- tice of the peace for about thirty years, and was a :|it' gm :1 ? a »i 2 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. writer antl merit tjiat Mr. Choate should defend him on that ground. The Hon. Charles Sumner, also holding that view, urged Mr. Choate to undertake the defense, as he expressed it, in the interest of humanity, and was quite angry with him for refusing. At that time the testimony taken be- fore the coroner was known ; that taken by the grand jury, by whom the indictment had been found, was not publicly known. The question of the Professor's guilt or innocence was the absorb- ing topic, and the excitement in all classes of society was intense. " Mr. Dexter was determined to secure Mr. Choate's services, and, after much study of the case, called, by appointment, one evening to lay before him what he called its merits. Mr. Choate listened to him, as a juror might have done, for MR. DEXTER AXD MR. CIIOATE. 17 ;r *l Mr. the lo lay lioate for % nearly three hours ; and, as he afterwards told me, it was one of the most vigorous and per- suasive arsfuments he ever heard. That estimate may well be accepted, when we remember Mr. Dexter's ability, his friendship for Professor Web- ster, and his belief that, if Mr. Choate could be secured as counsel, the accused might be saved. " The argument having closed, Mr. Choate walked up and down his library several times, and then, pausing before Mr. Dexter, who was keenly observing him, said, ' Brother Dexter, how do you answer this question, and this ? ' I can- not now state the points thus presented, but my general recollection of the account given me by Mrs. Choate and Mr. Dexter is, that those ques- tions presented insuperable difficulties underly- ing the defense. Mr. Dexter, as if transfixed, sat musing deeply, his head l^ent upon his hand, for several minutes, and, finally, as if hopeless of find- ing an answer, and seeking relief, he arose sud- denly, and said, ' Brother Choate, have you read 's book ? If not, do so, and you will find it charming.' Mr. Choate accepted this changed mood, parted from him soon after with kindly expressions of interest, and the subject was never again alluded to between them." Judge Lord says, " I had a conversation with Mr. Choate on this subject. It was more than 2 .1(1 ::ii a lu ¥ ■ I 18 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. I !■ 'i! II twenty years ago, and, of course, it is impossible to reproduce precisely his language, but the inter- view w^as substantially this. I said to Mr. Choate, * Is it true that you refused to defend Professor Webster ? ' to which he rejilied, — not in direct terms, but by implication, — that he did not ab- solutely refuse, but that they did not want him. Pausing for a while, he added, * There w as but one way to try that case. When the Attorney- General was opening his case to the jury, and came to the discussion of the identity of the remains found in the furnace with those of Dr. Parkman, the prisoner's counsel should have risen and said, substantially, that, in a case of this im- portance, of course counsel had no right to con- cede any point, or make any admission, or fail to require proof, and then have added, ' But we desire the Attorney-General to understand, upon the question of these remains, that the struggle will not he there. But, assuming that Dr. Park- man came to his death within the laboratory on that day, we desire the Government to show whether it was by visitation of God, or whether, in an attack made by the deceased upon the prisoner, the act was done in self-defense, or whether it was the result of a violent alterca- tion. Possibly the idea of murder may be sug- gested, but not with more reason than apoplexy, MR. Clio ATE' S MODE OF DEFENSE. 19 or other form of sudden death. As the prisoner himself cannot speak, the real controversy will probably be narrowed to the alternative of justi- fiable homicide in self-defense, or of manslaughter by reason of sudden altercation." ' " Having said this, he added, ' But Professor Webster would not listen to any such defense as that,' accompanying that statement with language tending to show that the proposed defense was re- jected, not only by the accused but by his friends and advisers. " He then said, ' The difficulty in that defense was to explain the subsequent conduct of Professor Webster,' and he proceeded with a remarkable and subtle analysis of the motives of men, and the influences that govern their conduct, to show that the whole course of the accused, after the death, could be explained by a single mistake as to the expediency of instantly disclosing what had hap- pened ; that hesitation or irresolution or the de- cision, ' I will not disclose this,' adhered to for a brief half-hour, might, by the closing in of cir- cumstances around him, have led to all that fol- lowed. Having concealed the occurrence, he was obliged to dispose of the remains, and would do so in the manner suggested, and with the facilities afforded by his professional position. He con- cluded, * It would have been impossible to convict 1!' 20 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. I ' Professor Webster of murder with that admis- sion.' " I suggested that the possession of the note by Professor Webster, as paid, was an awkward fact. He said, * Yes, but it might seem to become a necessity after his first, false step of conceahnent.' He added, ' Dr. Parkman was known to have been at the hospital. When, and under what circum- stances, and to explain what statements made by him, the Professor thought it expedient to say he had paid the note, or to obtain possession of it, would probably never appear. It was simply an incident whose force could be parried, if he could obtain credit for the position that the concealment was a sudden and impulsive after-thought, which took possession of and controlled him in his subse- quent conduct.' " We have, in these statements, the desired testi- mony as to Mr. Choate's relation to that case. We have also an illustration of his view of the duty and privilege of an advocate. It is apparent that, while accepting the theory that, in a crim- inal case, a lawyer is not at liberty to withhold his services absolutely, Mr. Choate did not think him bound to go into court, contrary to his own convictions, and assert what he did not believe to be true, or take a line of defense which he con- sidered untenable. Thus, for instance, as he was niGIirS OF CRIMINALS. 21 satisfiGcl that, at the time and place alleged, Dr. Parkinan had died in Professor Webster's pres- ence, Mr. Choate was not willing to act on the theory that Dr. Parknian was alive after that time, and to call and examine witnesses to testify, as they finally did, under a mistake as to identity, that they had seen him day after day in the streets of the city. That theory was set up on the trial and failed, as Mr. Choate had fore'-.een that it would fail. In taking leave of this subject, and recalling the fact that, in England, the right of the accused to speak by counsel in State trials was secured, as a national reform, long desired by the people and by the Ijest and wisest men in Parliament, we may well be grateful that our system of criminal prac- tice was, at an early day, framed on just and hu- mane principles. With us, the right of the accused to be defended by counsel has been respected, in- deed secured, by the Constitution ; and, if need be, counsel is appointed for that purpose by the Court. It is to be confessed, however, that, even with our improved methods of discovering tl.o truth and our humane administration of the law, mistakes have been committed. Instances have occurred where skill and learning could not un- ravel complicated circumstances, and the innocent have been condemned to die. So also, in the light u ss 22 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. 1 1 of newly discovered evidence, it has been seen that men have been unjustly consigned to the state prison ; and after they may have suffered the bitterness of death for years, we open the doors with a humiliation scarcely less than that inflicted on them. We are thus admonished to improve our methods, to give the accused every reasonable means of defense, and to accept cor- dially whatever aid can be properly rendered in determining the guilt or innocence of those who are tried as criminals. CHAPTER II. Tho Study of Law. — Powers of Memory. — Inference of Un- known Facts, and as to tho Characters of Jurors and Wit- nesses. — Silent Conference with a .Turyman. — Oi)inions of Professor Parsons, Mr. Loring, ^Ir. Dana, and Judge Sprague. — The Number of Mr. Choate's Cases. — His Treatmeut of Witnesses. ALTnorcii endowed with great in^'llectual pow- ers, Mr. Clioate was as careful, method ical, and sohcitoiis in regard to mental helps as any student who might have been less conscious of innate strength. He seems to have been mindful that excellence was attainable not only by those who could pass on swiftly and easily, but by those who, less favored of nature, were superior in diligence. Thus, regarding genius as the mere capacity to acquire knowledge and to use it, he gave himself up to habitual study. Some perils attend students who possess great intellectual gifts. From the time when such a one perceives how receptive he is to suggestions of truth and beauty, and how readily the barriers which impede others yield to his touch, he may become the victim of a delusive self-confidence, pi p.> ( 5 r ;i 24 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. and be led to accept the notion that the fruitful- ness of his life will be of spontaneous growth. As he seems to apprehend intuitively the less occult relations of things, he regards close and prolonged study as unnecessary. So, content with some ap- pear{uice of culture, he falls into easy ways, and ii-oes throuEfh life as the louno:er saunters throut»;h the streets. He is like the slothful miner who gathers up the bits of precious metal exposed to view, without acting on the hint nature gives of the wealth hidden beneath the surface. Another student, of like gifts, moves on earnestly, acquires knowledge, does some good work. Having found that what he should learn is easily acquired, he assumes that there need be no limit to his attain- ments. Like the student in " Faust," he confers with the evil spirit and is encouraged to inquire into mysteries too subtile for his comprehension. He takes to such studies, and thenceforth swims not with the current but against it. He is vain and unstable in proportion as he evades the influ- ence of natural laws, the checks and hindrances designed to hold him in restraint, and which are as necessary for his safety as the wall built at the side of the road by the river is for the protection of travelers. He undertakes to inform the school- men m their specialties, and his speculations on science and on the nature and relations of man MR. CIIOATE'S LONG-IIEADEDNESS. 25 partake of the artificial texture of his life. As he has done some good work in certain departments, his speculations secure respect and confidence. Thus his best eiiorts may have aii evil intUience. Rufus Choate escaped the perils which thus be- set students. He knew the need and the use of study ; he knew also the limitations that were to be respected. A conservative spirit held him in restraint, and repressed longings to slake his thirst at fountains beyond his reacli. In early life he refused to follow a friend into the labyrinths of German mysticism, or to explore the region which Swedenborg had made his own. This reserve be- came him, not simply because ho did not wish to be " shocked, waked, or stunned" out of settled convictions, but because the duties before him, with the studies they involved, would consume his time and strength. So he put aside as improv- ident whatever was remote from the purposes of his life. He never lost his balance hy reaching out too far, nor, like one of old, walked into the water while gazing at the stars. The special and seemingly alien qualities of Mr. Choate's nature were strongly marked. He was gentle, yet exigent ; simple, yet suljtile ; natural, yet artistic ; poetic in conception and tone, yet acute and logical. But his studies were so conso- nant to his wants, and his work so wisely chosen, il A i'i .^h 'i !' ^»^^ i I t 26 MEMORIES OF RUFUS C HO ATE. that those qualities of mind, acting in harmony, were moulded into perfect unity of character. In the record he has left, we can clearly discern his love of nature, and of all that is good and true and beautiful ; the loyalty, sagacity, and prudence that guided him in his public services, and the tenderness and cheerfulness that made his . lue- life as a perpetual summer. But, however we may indulge in speculations as to his peculiar gen- ius, he should finally be accepted as his own inter- preter. We owe a debt of gratitude to Professor Brown for havinti: collected the frao;ments that could be found of Mr. Choate's Journal. A part of it, writ- ten when he was traveling abroad, he no doubt intended for his family and friends. The other part, especially that which relates to his studies, may have been for the benefit of his son, then a student. But the Journal having, as we may as- sume, served its purpose, shared the fate of much else that he had written. How much of it was lost is not known. The parts of it which we have are rich in suggestion and instruction, the style exquisite in its unstudied grace and beauty. Mr. Choate's study of the law was extraordi- nary. I find in legal biography no instance of equal devotion. In speaking of his early course, he told Mr. Parker, the author of the " Reminis- 1 1 7/75 LEGAL ENTHUSIASM. 27 cences," that in studying law he gave his mind wholly to it ; that his habit was to read until two o'clock in the morning. After that early experi- ence, his legal studies became less exclusive, as he was seeking a broader and more generous culture than the law could give. But, even in his latest years, he sought inspiration from Coke on Little- ton, lest his legal taste should decline. That he might be in full communion with the spirit and philosophy of our language and institutions, and of our legal science, — the law of the law, — he studied, almost daily, other languages and other systems of jurisprudence and of government. He was wont to accept judicial determinations of important questions with jealous scrutiny. His modes of inquiry, adhered to long after he had attained great fame for his learning in the law, were peculiar and characteristic. He was in the habit of collecting the facts stated in cases reported in the books, and of preparing arguments for or against the decisions ; of criticising the authorities cited, and liuding others to confirm or to qualify them ; and of seeking to discover how far a doc- trine, underlying a series of adjudications, might be made to appear more or less just in the light of history, of reason, and of scientific principles. Equally special and exhaustive was his study of the cases in which he was to appear as counsel. IP. ... w II i fl^ i '^n ji 1 ii' \ i ( 28 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CHOATE. Each case was tested and tortured until every con- ceivable phase of strength and of weakness was re- vealed. His son-in-law and partner, the late Mr. Bell ; his student, the late Senator Matt. H. Car- penter ; and Judge Fancher, who was concerned in a case with Mr. Clioate, agree as to the thorough- ness of his preparation. He studied pen in hand. The facts and qualifying circumstances were en- tered in a little book. Books of this kind, with notes of decisions, were used by Erskine. Mr. Espi- nasse says that, aftej: great experience at the bar, Erskine used to bring his little book into court and read cases from it. On one occasion his opponent, affecting to ridicule the habit, said that he wished Erskine would lend him his Ijook. Lord Mansfield said, " It would do you no harm, Mr. Baldwin, to take a leaf from that book, as you seem to Avant it." Erskine thus used his book when he souo-ht to show that the impeachment of Warren Hastings was at an end, owing to mere suspension on the dissolution of Parliament. Edmund Burke, easily excited by opposition of any kind in regard to that impeachment, had a tling at " ideas that never traveled beyond a nisi j)rlus case," and a sneer for the book.^ Mr. Clioate had little need 1 In this ri'liUion it is grateful to recall the fact that, a short time before his death, Burke called on Erskine, and, holding out his hand, said. ' ^'ouie, Erskine, forgot all. I shall soon quit this stage, and wish to die at peace with everybody, especially with you." DAILY PRACTICES. 29 the lily to liat a led lime tLiid, and of his book in court, as what he had written was deeply, if not indelibly, impressed upon his mem- ory. But the book of facts, thus useful in prepa- ration, would be further useful to be revised and extended, should the case be put over to another term. So, too, in the multitude of cases, it might prevent confusion. It is said that Sugden once got hold of the wrong brief and argued in support of his opponent's side of the case, and that Dun- ning made a like blunder. No such mistake has been reported of Erskine or of Choate. In his Journal, Mr. Choate describes his studies ; tells how the early hour was employed. He had a few minutes with favorite authors, English, Greek, Latin, French, often a lesson from each, and then the genius of the law beckoned him away. Thus, for instance, he is in London, and after saying, " Mr. Bates called and made some provision for our amusement," he adds that he read the Bible, the Prayer Book, a half dozen lines in Homer and Virgil, and a page of Williams's " Law of Keal Property." It was a rule with him to read at least one page of some law book daily. All this to keep the simple elements of the law fresh in mind ; a ptirpose from which not even the delights of travel, of new scenes and associations could wholly divert him. Thus trained and strengthened, his vision could take in, as from a tower of observa- i:i ) ;f ii ^mm H t . Il k' 'i'i 1 Hi i 30 MEMORIES OF RUFUS C HO ATE. tion, the domain of the law. It lay before him as a familiar and inviting landscape. Hence it was that when, on a trial or an argument, principles apparently adverse or decisions not anticipated were cited against him, the countervailing doc- trine, if there was any, was in his mind ready for use. The study of law, thus pursued, leads to logic, to ethics, to metaphysics ; in a word, to the whole ran^^ of special sciences. Mr. Choate may have accepted the Justinian definition, " JurisjDru- dence is the knowledge of things divine and hu- man ; the science of what is just and unjust." If so, that may suggest some of the reasons which led him to adopt more liberal studies than are usually thought necessary to professional success. We all know that many men less studious and learned than Mr. Choate become distinguished and useful lawyers, and have great weight and in- fluence in public affairs. But it may be safely said that only those who are endowed with spe- cial gifts, as if set apart and consecrated to the service, can become great advocates. How some of these special gifts waited upon Mr. Choate and served him may be readily recalled. His power of memory was so marvelous and so useful that some further reference to it may be proper. The " Law Reporter," ^ in describing the 1 Vol. vl, p. 386. NOTE ON THE riKENIX BANK TRIAL. 31 trial of the Phoenix Bank cases (1844), in which Mr. Webster and Mr. Clioate were counsel for dif- ferent defendants, has the following note : — " In the cour.se of the trial, and in a mo.st excit- ing passage, when all the counsel appeared to be intent upon the case and nothing else, Mr. Web- ster wrote on a slip of paper the favorite couplet of Pope, and passed it to Mr. Choate : — ' Lo, whore Masotis sleeps, and softly flows The freezing Tanais through a waste of snows.' Mr. Choate Avrote at the bottom ' wrong ' — * Lo, where Ma^otis sleeps, and hardly flows The freezing Tanais through a waste of snows.' Mr. Webster rejoined ' riirht,' and offered a washer. A messenger was dispatched for Pope, when it ap- peared that the present Senator (Choate) had the advantage of his predecessor (Webster), and was right. Mr. Webster gravely wrote on the copy of Pope, ' Spurious edition ! ' and the subject was dropped. All this while the spectators were in the full belief that the learned counsel were in ear- nest consultation on some difficult point of law." In his " Reminiscences of Daniel Webster" (p. 358), Mr. Peter Ilarvey gives what would seem to be the same incident, thouuh referrinu: to another author. The title of the case on trial is not stated, nor are the lines of the poet. But it is said, " Mr. Webster sent an extract from Cowper, which Mr. ' I (1:^ 32 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. Clioate corrected and returned, intimating that there had been a misquotation. Mr. Webster re- peated his first version and chiimed that he was right. A messenger was sent for Cowper's ' Task ; * the place was found, and Mr. Webster saw that the sentiment was as Mr. Choate had corrected it. He smiled, and wrote with a pencil upon the margin of the page containing the disputed pas- sage, ' A spurious edition.' " Mr. Parker, in the " Reminiscences of Rufus Choate" (p. 183), relates how, at a special gather- ing in Washington, in the winter of 1850, the con- versation having turned upon " Young America," Mr. Webster referred to the lad in severe terms, but Mr. Choate, claiming that he was no new thing in the world's history, cited the following passage, as proof of the antiquity of the character : " Statim sajnunt, statim sc'mnt omnia; neminem verentur, imitantiir neminem, atque ipsi sibi exemjila simi." Which may be translated, less liberally than by Mr. Parker, At once they are wise, at once they know all things ; they reverence no one, they imi- tate no one, and follow only their own example. Mr. Benton thought that the quotation was too happy to be genuine ; and Mr. Choate referred him to the younger Pliny, where it was found in the twenty-third letter of the eighth book.^ ^ As felicitous as Swift's quotation from Virgil upon the injury of i^y :ed in of m mi i MR. CHOATE'S KEEN PENETRATION. 33 It is obvious that, with such power of memory, Mr. Choate could readily recall the proofs peculiar to a case on trial and apply thcui to instant use. In special cases, he might not know, often could not know, upon what proofs his adversaries relied. But he could, by an intellectual and redoctive process, infer much that belonged to the other side of a case. This power of reasoning from the known to the unknown, of judging how men would act, was possessed by him in a remarkable degree. Of this an esteemed correspondent gives an illustration. He says, " In my early experi- ence I had a complicated case of some importance, in which Mr. Choate was retained as counsel. There had been no consultation, and I was to pre- pare a full statement of the facts. With the aid of my client, I arranged the points, more than thirty in number, with the proofs as to each, in their apparent order and relation. I then went to Mr. Choate and read the paper to him. He said, ' Please repeat numbers 2G and 27.' I did so. He said, ' There is something Avanting ; the human mind does not work in that way. The case drifts on naturally enough down to 2G, but there a peculiar complication comes up, and your state- ment does not meet it. At that juncture, the par- a violin by fire communicated from a lady's garment hanglnn 1(1 le la I Icctcd, and when witnesses, strangers to him, -were called, and been told what he thought of each of them in turn, and I cannot remember an instance in which ho was mistaken. Nearly allied to that was his ability to judge of ciicumstances in their relation and bearing. I have been with him in the trial of cases when the party and the attorney for whom he acted had little conception of the difficulties to be encountered, and have often witnessed the ease and readiness with which he met and unraveled complications which threatened defeat. In this relation, an action I had brought to recover the price of a cargo of goods which my client had sold on credit may be worthy of notice. The defense set hp w\as fraud. The defendant claimed that my client had represented the goods to be sound and mercliantnl)le when he knew that they were not ; that, relying on that representa- tion, he had purchased and shipped the goods to a foreign market and had suffered ixreat damage. My client denounced the defense as a scheme to put off the payment of an honest claim, and was too indignant to confer aljout it. Accepting his views, I assumed that there would bo no attempt to prove the defense, and on the day of trial at- tended with him and a witness to prove the ac- count. Brooks, the broker who had acted wdth us in making the sale, had recently died. (I pause 1 II! I ; I 1 :ll!i M "P li. »i I ! 36 MEMORIES OF IIUFUS CIIOATE. a moment to state some facts of which we were then ignonint. In the same month and before my chent's .sile, the defendant had pnrchascd of an- other person and shipped to tlie same marlvet a hke cargo of goods, and had, it seems, been de- frauded as in his plea alleged. Brooks, the broker, had also acted with that person in making the sale.) At court, the defendant and his counsel met us ready for trial *, my client still had his ' Pshaw ! pshaw ! ' as to the defense. But I got nervous, and sent for Choate to help me, and hap- pily he came. " Our formal proofs were put in. The defend- ant's counsel then opened the defense, and pro- ceeded to prove it. My client was in great wrath. Choate said to me, ' He is honest, and we shall find our way out of the scrape.' Tlie last and principal witness for the defense appeared to be a sensible, substantial sort of person. He spoke to the whole case, and explained how he knew that the >,oods Avere made of bad materials, not fit for use. He was employed on the ship that had taken the goods, and was the only witness to prove tli« false representations alleged. I said to Mr. Choa ' He is inventing that.' He replied, ' No, he m truthful, but mistaken ; ' and went on to cross- examine. He and the witness were soon on the most friendly terms. I never saw Mr. Choate A TRUTHFUL BUT FALSE WITNESS. 37 1 -« appear so simple and 8low of apprehension. Tiie ■witness, not thinking that he was mnch of a law- yer, took to him kindly, and was anxious to have him understand the whole matter. Mr. Choate, seeniiiiij^ to admit that the representations had been made and were false, was very solicitous about the party making them. The witness was quite clear that the name was that of the plaintiff, and was disposed to argue the question on the ground that Brooks, whom he had known, was with us, as we had admitted. He described the seller of the goods; his size, complexion, whiskers, dress. When all that had been fixed beyond recall, and my client had come forward to be identified, Mr. Choate, turning to the witness, with changed man- ner and terrible emphasis, said, ' Can you, on your oath, say that this is the man ? ' The likeness which had been given was so unlike, ^o Jlagrant, as to excite roars of laughter, in which the jury joined. The witness answered, ' You know that's not the man ; what do you want to make fun of me for ? ' Mr. Choate assured him that ho was not responsible for the blunder of charging fraud on the wrong person, and said he would like to have him repeat the name of the ship in which tlie goods had been taken and state positively the mne of sailing. These facts having been given, Mr. Choate said to the Court that he would prove in '>r^ mh > D' H' ■ !m 38 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. more fully that our goods wore sold two weeks later, and were sent by a dii'ferent vessel. On that having been shown, the defendant's counsel abandoned the defense. '"' Without assuming to judge of the defendant's integrity, I am satisfied that his counsel Avas no party to the trick ; had not dreamed of the mis- take. But I can say that Mr. Choate was the first to suspect that there had been some real transac- tion as to which the witness was speaking truly. He discovered the blunder when we were blind to it, and dealt with the witness accordingly. My client was very grateful. Mr. Choate made light of his services, and accepted only half of the fee I brought him. My client refused to take the otliei' half back, and it was sent as a gift to Dr. Adams's church." Another correspondent says, " I went into court to see Mr. Choate, and found him addressing a jury. The proceedings having been suspended lor a few minutes, I said to him, ' We Avant an inter- view in B.'s case ; how long will you be v.\ closing your argument ? ' He said, ' I don't know. That red-headed juror on the back seat docs not seem to ujiderstand the case yet, and I must feel of him, and put some points in a new light.' I went back to my seat, and he remained looking at the jury, without apparent concern. When the Chief Jus- I PROFESSOR PARSOXS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 39 tice came Ou the bench agahi, Mr. Choate, rismg, said, ' li' your Honor please, I detain you no longer. Gentlemen of the jury, that is our case.' He had a verdict. As we walked to his office, I told him how amazed I had been, and asked why he had changed his plan. He said, ' When you mentioned B.'s case, 1 was conferring with my red-headed juryman, and, after some further conference, I saw I had him.' " In his address before the Law School of Harvard University, to which I have already referred. Pro- fessor Parsons, after speaking of his long-continued intimacy with Mr. Choate and of a trial in which they had been opposing counsel twenty-four years before, says, '• I have the more right to make this use of his memory, Ijeoause b.e was one of us. It vas in this school that he laid the foundations upon which he afterward Ijuilt up his great knowl- edge of the law. And we have the right to say that they were ample, deep, and strong, when wo remember the vast and l^eautiful structure which rested upon them." He also says, '' I have, in- deed, no hesitation in savinu" that he was one of the most learned lawyers 1 have ever met with. And his learning was excellent in its kind and quality." The proceedings of the Suffolk bar, on the oc- casion of Mr. Choate's deatl;, fitly illustrate the 'ill f : LUJ ff^ 40 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. i . i ! ! i i.1* i r f estimation in -which he was held as a scholar, as an advocate, and as a citizen. It would be diffi- cult to find in modern biography anything more touching and impressive. In presenting the resolutions at the meeting of the bar, as instructed by the committee, Mr. Charles G. Loring, among other things, said, " Having been, for more than twenty years after Mr. Choate came to this bar, his antagonist in forensic struggles, at the least, I believe, as fre- quently as any other member of it, I may well be competent to bear witness to his peculiar abilities, resources, and manners in professional services. And having, in the varied experiences of nearly forty years, not infrequently encountered some of the giants of the law, whose lives and memories have contributed to render this bar illustrious throughout the land, — among whom I may include the honored names of Prcscott, Mason, Hubbard, Webster, Dexter, and others among the dead, and those of others yet witli us to share in the sorrows of this hour, — I do no injustice to the living or the dead in saying that, for the peculiar powers desir- able for a lawyer and advocate, for combination of accurate memory, logical acumen, vivid imagina- tion, profound learning in the law, exuberance of literary knowledge, and command of language, miited with strategic skill, I should place him at I 'fl'U VIEWS OF MR. DANA AND JUDGE SPRAGUE. 41 the Lead of all whom I have ever seen in the management of a cause at the bar." Mr. Richard H. Dana, Jr., other parts of ^vhose address have been often quoted, said, '' The world knows how he electrified vast audiences in his more popular addresses ; but, sir, the world has not known, though it knows better now than it did, — and the testimony of those better compe- tent than I am will teach it, — that his power here rested not merely nor chicily upon his eloquence, but rested principally upon his philosophic and di- alectic power. He was the greatest master of loo:ic we had among us. No man detected a fal- lacy so quickly, or exposed it so felicitously as he, whether in scientific terms to the bench, or popu- larly to a jury ; and who could play with a fallacy as he could ? Ask those venerated men who coin- pose our highest tribunal, with whom all mere rhetoric is worse thr ^ wasted when their minds are bent to the single purpose of arriving at the true results uf their science, — ask them wherein lay the greatest power of Rufus Choate, and they will tell you it lay in his philosophy, his logic, and his learning." When the resolutions wxn-e presented at the District Court of the United States, Mr. Justice Sprague made some inter3sting remarks from which I quote a few words. '' Others have spoken ;-'i 42 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. » *.' fully and eloquently of his emiuence and excel- lence in various departments. We may here at least apj)ropriately say something of him as a law- yer and an advocate. His life was mainly devoted to the practice of his profession, and this court was the scene of many of his greatest efforts and highest achievements. I believe him to have been the most accomplished advocate that this country has produced." Mr. Clioate was, year by year, engaged in the trial and argument of cases more continuously than any other memljer of the bar whose name I can recall. But tiie extent of his work cannot, at this late day, be stated. Of the causes in which he was counsel and argued questions of law and equity, in the State and Federal Courts, three hun- dred and thirty-three have appeared in the regular Reports, and are familiar to the profession. Many of them were of grave importance, and called for the application of principles in special and novel relations. But, as other counsel were often con- cerned with Mr. Clioato, it cannot be said how much of the work should be ascribed to him. The number of his trials before juries is not known. Many of them were described in the public prints, and parts of some of his arguments were given. But, as the reporters had not the skill men of that class now have, the reports were EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES. imperfect. Owing to the same or a like defi- ciency, I cannot find a fair report of his cross-ex- amination of witnesses. A correct report would be worth preserving as a model. His fairness in the treatment of witnesses often secured their favor and the good- will of the jury. If the wit- ness was timid, he was encouraged ; if nervous, soothed ; if eager, repressed ; if honest, protected; if crafty and adverse, exposed. Witnesses who wished to tell the truth found him patient, cour- teous, helpfulj considerate. He knew that they often err from want of memory, perhaps from ina- bility to distinguish what they know from what they have heard. So, having the sanctity of an oath in mind, he cared for the witness as he cared for himself. Such witnesses often remembered him with gratitude, while dishonest witnesses learned to fear him. Herein Mr. Choate was the friend of the Court. Judge Sprague must have thought so wdien he said of him, " His skill in the examination of witnesses was consummate. I have never seen it equaled." What Mr. Choate said of this kind of Daniel Webster's work may be fitly applied. " His efforts in trials by jury compose a more traditional and evanescent part of his pro- fessional reputation than his arguments at law ; but I almost think they were his mightiest pro- fessional displays, or displays of any kind, after all." ' i ■f !;,-:. ■J " ^ I ■ ! ; j'lr ■■,■; 'I "■ 1;' jl 1! f) r I r 11 ill CHAPTER III. Eminent Men misunderstood. — The Advocate and Mistaken Critics. — As to creating a Taste for a Peculiar Style. — How readily Clioate was understood. — Alexander H. Ste- phens and Professor Sanborn as to Choate. — The Born or Natural Orator. — The Oirice of the Orator. The power of making good jokes and telling good stories, if exerci.sed in public by a man of eminence, may detract from the proper estimate of his character. Sydney Smith has won lasting reputation as a wit ; and his wit w\as often used in the interest of truth and right, but it stood squarely in the way of his ecclesiastical prefer- ment. President Lincoln had a quaint humor that relieved the terrible gloom of his darkest hours, but he is credited with jokes and stories that never fell from his lips. It was somewhat thus with Mr. Choate. Those who had no personal intercourse with him, and who formed hasty judgments from his peculiarities, adopted erroneous views. To that error he may have casually contributed. In legal contentions, he was so happy in his retorts that an adversary seldom gained anything by interrupting his arguments. But the reports of those retorts A SHARP RETORT. 45 (and they wore sure to be reported) wanted the spirit and grace that had charmed his opponents. I can recall but one instance in which his retort gave olTense. In answering a lawyer who had .ad- dressed the Court in a loud tone, Mr. Choate play- fully referred to his " stentorian powers." To his surprise, his opponent rose, and hotly replied that nothing in his mode of address would justify such a stricture. As he went on thus, his voice rose again to a high key, and rang through the court-house ; Mr. Choate half rose, and said, in the blandest tones, " One word, may it please the Court; only one word, if my brother will allow. I see my mistake. I heg leave to retract what I said.'* The effect was irresistible ; the court was convulsed with laughter. Mr. Choate's witticisms in court had their in- ception and growth at the moment, had strict re- lation to the exciting cause, and were generally helpful and for practical purposes. But he used occasionally an expression so whimsical as to create great amusement. It was caught up and passed from one person to another, as current coin. The more grotesque the utterance, the better for the gosr"ips; but the more certain was it to give the public a wrong conception of his method and style. Yet it was well to expose a fallacy by some inci- sive word, some epithet or epigram. Time was 'I V ii'l 46 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. m>' thus saved, and the error made more apparent. Thus, when a State line to which he objected was of unstable character, it was pertinent to say, " The Commissioners might as well have defined it as starting at a bush, thence to a blue-jay, thence to a hive of bees in swarming time, and thence to five hundred foxes with fire-brands tied to their tails." But the people remember that, and repeat it still in various forms ; while of the argument made by him on that occasion, however valuable or characteristic, they remember nothing. It would seem that a knowledge of Mr. Choate's quaint use of words has been treasured up in gentle minds. I give extracts from the letters of two correspondents, women of culture, who took an interest in his peculiarities. One extract is called " A Bit of Persiflage." " When Mr. Choate was in Washington, the ladies were anxious that Mrs. Choate should be there, and often beset him about it. On one oc- casion, when they asked if he thought Mrs. Choate would come, he answered, * Yes, I now think she may ; I have wantten her to come, and have of- fered to pay half the expenses.' " The other extract is entitled " A Rebuke," and relates to the cross-examination of a new-light preacher. " Mr. Choate. What are you, sir ? sARCAs^f OF A wtt:^ess. 47 " Wlt)iess. A candle of the Lord. *' ChUf Justice. A what, sir ? " 3fr. Choate. A dipped candle of the Lord, if your Honor please." My correspondent reminds me that " a clipjjed candle is of the cheapest sort ; one that gives next to no light at all," and says that " therein lies the sarcasm." In a letter from the late Professor "Washburn, he objected to " the blazing, comet-like creation of fact and fancy in which several writers had been disposed to picture Mr. Choate." He may have had in mind writers whose infelicitous inventions had been taxed to fasten upon Mr. Choate jests and gibes which he never uttered ; or those who, not content with treating Mr. Choate as a man, had sought to depict him as a magician. The work of such a writer is before mo. I turn the leaves of the volume, and collect some interesting reminiscences of Mr. Choate's special powers and methods. Thus we have, as to his active brain, " his head expanding with a thousand thoughts ; " as to his rapid study and apprehension, that '- he grasped the thoughts of a book like lightning ; " as to the impression he made upon a jury, that he '• dashed his view into their minds with all the illuminating and exaggerating lightnings of his portentous passion ; " as to his exhaustive argu- 1 ( ;. ...i I 1 ' ;;^Li rl ■tl 48 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. m r. mentation, that he " advanced with a diversified but long array, which covered the heavens ; thun- der-bolts volleying, auroras playing, and sunlight, starlight, and gaslight shooting across the scene in meteoric radiance ; " and as to his power to excite an audience, that " It was literally almost as if a vast wave of the united feeling of the whole mul- titude surged up under every one's armpits." These quotations may suffice ; and yet I am strongly tempted to refer to other statements equally worthy of respect ; and especially to no- tice how Mr. Choate would " hurl his argument home in solid, intense mass that crushed upon the ear ; " how he would " launch a fiery storm of logical thunderbolts ; " and how, " If a witness lay athwart his verdict, he was crushed down and crushed up and marched over." But that author is not always so complaisant. He says that in 1855 Mr. Choate was injured by a fall ; and that "After the consequent illness, his oratory underwent a marked revolution; he no longer tore a passion to tatters." Somewhat akin to this, and equally unjust, is a statement which the author quotes with approba- tion. " The jury advocate must, to a certain ex- tent, be a mountebank, if not a juggler and a trick- ster." A more miserable conceit was never ut- tered. Was Mr. Webster, while before a jury, a i *!ii ^ "■ m SPIIUT AXD TONE OF AN ADVOCATE. 49 mountebank, a jiifr^lor, or a trickster ? "Was Er- skine, or Dexter, Piukney, Parsons, or Curtis, Wil- liam Kent, Daniel Lord, or Marshall S. Bidwell? Uncharitable things have been «aid of many great advocates ; but, as an illustration, one of the worst things ever said of Mr. Choate was, that he could play the art fid dodfjer in reading a deposi- tion. This is a rude description of fine, forcible, and effective readinijr; reading which gives .signifi- cance and character to vital passages, discloses their latent sense and spirit, aids the apprehension, and insures a certain and, it may be, a favorable interpretation. Such a reader, natural, yet artis- tic, " tells the great greatly, the small subordi- nately ; " and thus we have heard Macready play the artful dodger ; thus Fanny Kemble Butler ; thus the gentle Melancthon may have read ; thus every pulpit orator, from Wliitefield down. A merely clever man, with no high aims or love of truth ; a wordy, sharp, false man, however adroit and plausible ; the artful dodger, the moun- tebank, juggler, trickster, he who tears a passion to tatters, can never be a jury advocate. With all his gifts and acquisitions, the advocate must be a high-toned, moral man, not a harlequin ; a vital utterance, not a mere sham. Jurors are repre- sentative men and are practical, sensible, and often sagacious men, as fond of fair dealing in 4 i-i !• !»t| w i ill SI i \ 1, ; 50 MEMORIES OF liUFUS CIIOATE. connsol as in suitors. Hence, in cases involving life, liberty, or character, an able advocate goes to the jury in a spirit akin to that with which Esther went in before the king to plead for her people. At such an hour, he indulges in no mere fancies, his style becomes a reflex of his own mind and heart ; if, as in Mr. Clioate's or in Mr. Pinkney's efforts, a flash of poetic thought or beauty gleams forth, it is merely because the vision is in his spirit, and reveals itself as naturally as the simplest conception. He is not the less dealing with reali- ties after his fashion. He would be adventurous indeed who should attempt to correct or reconcile much that has been written about Mr. Choate. Failing in such a pur- pose, he might be driven to adopt the plea of the poor fellow under constraint, " I am not mad, but numbers have prevailed against n e." Yet I ven- ture upon some corrections. In ti»'^ first place, it may be said that attention has been diverted from Mr. Choate's real character by some not unfriendly writers. For this there was neither necessity nor excuse. His views and principles, his habits and manners, his daily life, were well known; in effect he had lived as one with all doors and windows open ; no disguise, no conceal- ment, no reservation. But Mr. Choate was a genius, as they all de- ^ tW< jBa^iK-"-iWar pi SOME FORMAL CORRECTIONS. 51 claro, and tliat fact was suflicicnt to inisluacl, and stinuilate the invention of some critics. They discovered that he was a man of words, whereas he was a man of ideas fitly represented by his words ; that his style is florid, whereas his style is clear and unconstrained, effective in its simplicity. Those who think that prose should have no alliance with poetry, for<;et that a poetic spirit enters into the growth of language, into the prattL' of children, and into the eloquence of sav- age tribes; forget that the beauty which sparkles and flashes over the natural world was intended to give tone and color to the world of thought, the outer glory to become an inner experience ; forget that he who, uniting the wisdom of the past with the sagacity of the present, absorbs the power and grace of other languages into his own, gives to old theories a modern aspect, and to later dis- coveries their best application, making the truth appear more truthful, the beautiful more beauti- ful, becomes a benefactor to his age and people. Those who doubt this, who do not perceive that a spirit of poetry, of w'it and humor, may be helpful to culture in thought, language, and style, and may be held in such subjection and mellow use that we recognize the poet, though he build no rhyme, the wit though he excites tears rather than laughter, will consign Edmund Burke, Syd- ;• i V l!i lii. »f' I ,1 ili .»■!■ II: Iffii 52 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. ney Smith, and Riifus Clioate to the upper shelf. Such spirits, though in a different guise, are, in effect, near of kin to the Gradgrind school. In inquiry and argument, they always profess to go down to what they call the hard-pan. For aught we know, the mole does that, and without being the wiser for it. They insist upon the facts ; will be content with no^iiing less. I connnend Mr. Clioate to theui, a very high-priest of their order, a most relentless inquisitor after facts. He would know the facts in history, what m fact had jjeen the rulings in the Year Books, and by judges of later times ; the facts as to the policy, dates, a3id modifications of statutes ; the facts stated in the pleadings in a cause ; and, in a trial, he was so pertinacious in his quest for the facts thnt wit- nesses who began to testify with certain mental reservations were led, as by gentle compulsion, to make full and circumstantial disclosures. It must be confessed, however, that the facts as discovered by the Gradgrinds ma}^ have been dry, inert, and wanting in relation ; the facts as used by Mr. Choate may have been essential to an exposition of vital force, instinct with demonstration. We have been told by one ' entitled to great respect, that Mr. Choate created a taste for his peculiar style. Was the impression made on his first appearance before Chief Justice Shaw excep- y i''i J' i MR. CIIOATE IX CONGRESS. 53 tional ? We learn from Professor Brown that tlie Chief Justice said, •' I had an opportunity to see Mr. Choate and witness his powers as an advocate, very early, when he first opened his office in Dan- vers ; and when I had scarcely heard his name mentioned." "As he was previously unknown to us by reputation, and regarding him, as we did, as a young lawyer just connnencing practice in a country town, we were much and very agreealdy surprised at the display of his powers. It appeared to me that he then manifested much of that keen legal discrimination ; of the acuteness, skill, and comprehensive view of the requirements of his case, in the examination of witnesses ; and that clearness and force in presenting questions, both of fact and of huv, by which he was so much dis- tinguished in his subsequent brilliant professional career." It further appears that the taste, which it is said Mr. Choate created for his peculiar style, must have been of sudden growth. His first juries un- derstood him, his early trials, triumphs ; and the people, when he appeared before great assenddies, a stranger, hung upon his lips with breathless in- terest. He was master of the pathetic in oral discourse, and by that power the world has been moved. He always adapted liii iself to the oc- casion, and went to tlicf marrow of the business in ( I ■M f if f' 54 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. lijind. Professor Brown mentions the favor with which liis first speech in Congress was received. Thus, Benjamin Ilardin, member of Congress from Kentucky, indisposed to hear others upon the side of a question he intended to advocate, was about to leave as Mr. Choatc rose to speak, but having lingered a moment, and noticed the tone of his Yoi.e, was constrained to stay, and said, " I was captivated oy the power of his eloquence, and found myself wholly unable to move until the last word of his beautiful speech had been ut- tered." So, as Mr. Everett has it, a AVestern member said, " He was the most persuasive speaker I ever heard." After hearing: Mr. Choate in the Senate, James Buchanan, replying to him, said, " It is the first appearance of the Senator in de- bate here, and, judging of others l)y myself, I must say that those who have listened to him once will be anxious to hear him again." He was heard quite early before the Supreme Court at Washington : Mr. Webster was with him ; Randolph and Whipple opposed. Mr. Choate's argument is said to have made a strong impres- sion upon all the judges. Judge Catron said, " 1 have heard the most eminent advocates, Ijut he surpasses them all." A member of the New York bar, speaking of the address of which Mr. Van Cott and Dr. Adams have written, said, " The peo- fr. UXCONSCIOUS A PPL A rSE. 55 pie coiikl not keep their seats, but kept ckipping and applauding without being conscious of it." Under date of March 1, 1852, Mr. We])ster, writing from New York to Mr. Havens, said, " Mr. Choate must l)e here Friday evening. The idea of hearing him is universally received with the greatest enthusiasm. He must con\e ; do not fail to persuade him to do so. If he should not, there will be a disappointment not to be appeased." Mr. "Weljster knew that Mr. Choate could speak without special preparation ; that the people would understand him ; and that no one could fill the place which hiul been assigned to him. Before attempting to correct an error which confronts us in book form, touching Mr. Choate's natural gifts for oratory, as compared with the gifts of some others, I cite the opinion of a compe- tent critic, Hon. Alexander H. Stephens. In 1843, when Mr. Stephens was a member of Congress, he heard Mr. Choate in tlio Senate for the first time. He was speaking on the question of terminating the joint occupancy of Oregon. Mr. Stephens says, '' Every one was enraptured with his eloquence." He adds, '•' Ever after this speech I never let an opportunity go by to hear Mr. Choate. I consider him the most interesting man for impassioned oratory I ever heard. He had a faculty which few men possess, of never tir- ■:'|ir I Hi . 5G MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. ing his hearers. Several years after, I heard him in the Supreme Court argue the case of the boun- dary hne between Rhode Ishmd and Massachu- setts. It, was as dull a case as any ordinary land- ejectment suit. I was at a loss to understand how Mr. Choate could interest an audience under such circumstances. The court had been occupied five days by some of the ablest lawyers. The room was thronged to hear Mr. Choate's reply. From the moment he commenced, he enchained the au- dience and enlivened the dull subject by apt his- torical allusions and pleasing illustrations. The logical connection of his argument was excellent, and so well-arranged that in two hours he had finished a thoroui2;li arii;ument which w;is inter- spersed throughout with sublime imagery. K\ery paragraph was as the turning of a kaleidoscope, where new and brilliant images are presented at every turn. At the conclusion of that speech, I was confirmed in the opinion that he was the greatest orator I ever heard, — in this respect greater than Calhoun, Clay, or Webster." A correspondent, long intimate with Mr. Choate, and having the best means of forming opinions as to his natural gifts, calls my attention to a work with an auriferous title which I had overlooked.^ ^ In his letter, Professor Sanborn says, " Colonel Parker, in his Golden A ^■0 ^ // 1.0 I.I 1.25 IM 22 :■ ii£ IIIIIM 6' U IIIIII.6 a V] <^ /i C>1 c^l '>. *;, /(^ '^ o / Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 :%' .iii i ■- \i 1 i ! 1 i !l t I ■■ ■ 111 ^ E liili 64 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CHOATE. K^ in the Greek Testament, a few lines in Virgil, in Bacon, or in Burke, and go out to his walk repeat- intr these lessons in their order and turns. I do not know that he ever advised others to adopt this method, but it was wisely chosen for nimself. He could thus lessen the burden of study by so chani2:infj; its forms as to combine intellectual and physical exercise, and, in passing from one form of study to another, find relaxation. Such may have been his habits when he was young, and in practice at Salem. A correspond- ent of Mr. Parker says that, in Mr. Choate's long, solitary walks in the pastures, his " full and melodious voice was sometimes heard by other strollers in those solitudes." In his " Recollections of Mr. Choate," Mr. E. P. Whipple refers to this habit of out-door study, and says that, when he met Mr. Choate in one of his contemplative moods, he made it a point of honor not to interrupt his meditations. In the last conversation I had with the late Matt. II. Carpenter, Mr. Choate's special studies with his books and without them were mentioned. Among other things, Mr. Carpenter said, " It was one of the efforts of Mr. Choate's professional life to extend and perfect what he called a lawyer-like memory. In his view, a mere every-day memory, left to take care of itself, would not enable an CULTIVATION OF MEMORY. 65 advocate so to hold in mind as instantly to recall, for use, the facts disclosed in a long trial l^efore a jury, and the name, appearance, and manner, the speech, too ready or too reluctant, of each witness examined." He also said, *' Mr. Choate had found that special kind of memory improved by reading fragments of authors on divers disconnected sub- j(*cts, and recalling and repeating them after his books had been laid aside." As Mr. Choate's faith in study was unqualified, we can well believe that, to one who spoke of a line, intellectual performance as the result of acci- dent or inspiration, he said, " Nonsense ! you might as well drop the Greek alphabet on the ground and expect to pick up the ' Iliad.' " I am indebted to Mr. Edward I^llerton Pratt for some interesting particulars. He says, " Mr. Choate was the most imtiring worker I ever met. He was up by five o'clock in the morning, as a rule, made a cup of tea for himself, worked a while over his books, went out for a walk, came home to breakfast, went to business at nine, worked all day, and perhaps was before some legislative com- mittee for an argument in the evening ; and I have known him to be all that time without taking any food. Indeed, I have seen a check for half a dollar which he had given at the close of such a day, when, having no money with him, 5 ^ ■wi' ! 1 66 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. he had become conscious of the need of refresh- ment. " When the late James T. Fields was collecting and editing Thomas De Quincey's works, he showed Mr. Choate an article which had appeared in some magazine, with no external evidence as to the au- thor. On looking over it, Mr. Choate said it was written by De Quincey. Mr. Fields then wrote to De Quincey, who answered that he had not written the paper, had never thought of the subject-mat- ter of it. With some exultation, Mr. Fields showed that letter to Mr. Choate, who said, ' Never you mind ; let me have the article again, and I will go over it more carefully.* He did so, and the next day Mr. Choate wrote him, ' De Quincey did write it, De Quincey to the contrary, notwithstanding.' After a time, De Quincey sent to Mr. Fields the original manuscript of the article, with a letter stating that he had found it among old papers ; and, as it was the work of his pen, he must confess the authorship, though all recollection of it had passed away. " In his studies, Mr. Choate kept pace with the colleges, and with modern thought as there illus- trated. He used to buy the text-books of Harvard and Yale, beginning with the Freshman year, and, in effect, graduating with the students. I once asked him why he did this. He said, * I don't like !i ! MODE AXD METHOD OF TRANSLATION. 07 to have those young fellows come out of college crowing over me ; they fresh and bright, I dull and rusty ; we must habitually go back to the elements, first principles, and note new applica- tions of them by those whose special business it is to teach." In his zealous striving after higher culture, Mr. Choate had a steadfast belief in the value of trans- lation as an intellectual discipline, and as a means of testing the power and spirit of our words as equivalents for the words of other languages. Speaking of Mr. Choate's method in tra^'-slating, Professor Parsons says, " He would return day after day to the same passage, until he had ex- hausted the resources of the language in giving to the sentence exactness, strength, and elegance." In the " Reminiscences," Mr. Parker reports Mr. Choate as saying, " Translation should be pur- sued to bring to mind, and to employ, all the words you already own, and to tax and torment invention and discovery, and the very deepest memory for addition." 1, rich, and admirably expressive words. In translating, the student should not put down a word until he has thought of at least six syno- nyms, or varieties of expression, for the idea. I would have him fastidious and eager enough to go, not unfrequently, half round his library puUing down books to hunt up a word — the word." « V- 11 I '. "y ; i u ;;H !H 'i % ! i 1! 1 ' t 1 1 68 Af EMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. By this kind of work, Mr. Choatc sought to per- fect hi.s knowledge of things as well os of words. Thus, he says, that, in translating Cicero's " Cati- line Orations," he had in view the matter and the manner of a great master of speech, and a remark- able portion of history. So, also, he translated Thucydides for the purpose of deducing lessons of history and applying them to America. In his Journal, Mr. Choate recalls with fidelity, as if for his own encouragement or admonition, his studies in various departments. At times he seems hopeful, almost glad in view of what he perceives he may attain ; at other times, he ap- pears sad, as if his studies had been partial and inadequate. As an instance, after lie had gar- nered up in his mind and heart such wealth of learning as only one so devoted and receptive could acquire, we find him saying : — " I have written only this translation of Quin- tilian since Saturday ; professional engagements have hindered me. But I have carefully read a page or two in Johnson's Dryden and a scene or two of ' Antony and Cleopatra ' every morning — marking any felicity or available peculiarity of phrase — have launched Ulysses from the Isle of Calypso, and brought him in sight of Phteacia, kept along in Tacitus, and am reading a pretty paper in the * Memoirs ' on the old men of Ho- h., SPECIAL STUDIES. 69 mcr. 1 read Homer more easily and with more appreciation, thougli "svith no helps but Cowper and Donneiran's Lexicon. Fox and Cannin tltiiiii WW h 78 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. those who labored in obscurity with no embellish- ment to their lives, save such as came from the performance of humble yet important duties. He loved to dwell upon and illustrate such examples, and may have found strength and encouragement in the conviction that the toil and service which conferred benefits upon others would most surely enrich himself. CHAPTER V. Classical Studies. — Ancient Greece. — The Saxon-;. — The Latin. — p]nglisli in India. — Macaulay's Service, — As to Equivalents in Saxon for Some of our Words. By way of review, and as a solace in weary hours, Mr. Clioate's communion with the chissics was continued to the end of his hfe. He found therein some of his chief delights and consola- tions ; and, in final token of his appreciation of them, the " Iliad " and the " Georgics " were among the books selected as companions in his last voyage. It may be thought that such studies were not wisely chosen or pursued. Such, no doubt, is the popular impression. Indeed, some authors of re- pute have declared that an acquaintance with what is called the dead languages need not be sought by those who wish to excel in the use of English. In support of this opinion, reference is made to instances of good, exceedingly good, English, written by men without classical train- ing, — Franklin, Erskine, Shakespeare, Bunyan, and some others. •fc ! ■ i - ! Hi ^CF 1* i 11 l! 80 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. Of tliese authors, Bunyan alone is well cited. He was, indeed, exceptional. In a divine frenzy, lie could look into his heart and write. It is to be remembered that the style of Frank- lin was formed by the study of " The Spectator," and that of Erskine by intense devotion to Mil- ton and Burke ; and that, in seeking to acquire the spirit and diction of authors whose English was the representative and outgrowth of classical study, these men reaped the benefit at a single remove. The reference to Shakespeare, as an example, is not fortunate. The saying of Ben Jonson's that Shakespeare possessed '• small Latin and less Greek," may be taken as proof that he knew something of those languages. Of his early youth and studies, we know nothing; and, where much is left to conjecture, one supposition is often as good as another. In speaking of " Love's Labour 's Lost," Coleridge refers to the strong presumption which the diction and allusions of that play afford of Shakespeare's scholarly habits, and Mr. Charles Knight suggests that his happy employment of ancient mythology lends countenance to the sup- position. As to the " Comedy of Errors," Knight says, " The commentators have puzzled them- selves, after their usual fashion, with the evidence this play undoubtedly presents of Shakespeare's SHAKESPEARE ASSISTED BY OTHERS. 81 ability to read Latin, and their dogged resolution to maintain the opinion that, in an age ot gram- mar-schools, our poet never could have attained that common accomplishment." In a loving and profound estimate of the ele- ments of greatness peculiar to Shakespeare, Em- erson notices the fact that, Avhen he came from Stratford to London, '"A irreat body of stage- plays, of all dates and writers, existed in manu- script," and that Shakespeare altered and made them his own. He says, "In 'Henry YHL,' I think I see plainly the cropping out of the orig- inal rock on wliicli his own finer stratum was laid. The first play was written by a superior, thought- ful man, with a vicious ear. I can mark his lines, and know well their cadence." Emerson accepts Malone's laborious computations in regard to the first, second, and third parts of '• Henry VL," in which "out of 0,04.3 lines, l.TTl were written by some author preceding Shakespeare ; 2,o73 by him, on the foundation laid by his predecessors ; and 1,899 were entirely his own." Thus, in working upon materials, excellent in themselves, the outcome of many other minds. — the minds, it may be, of students in history, in law, in medi- cine, and in the classics, — Shakespeare adopted parts of the plays which now bear his name. His genius enabled him to make mellow music of what 111 i^ll lii =^^ m. 82 MEMORIES OF RVFUS CIIOATE. had been discordant. In the mass of preexisting phiys and tak's from which he drew, there must have been the work of some minds of classic lore, so tliat if we were compelled to .suppose that he had none of it, yet his works, being eclectic, are not fair specimens of the results attainable with- out the aid of classical studies. The theoiy as to the value of such studies which contrasts the practice of the ancient Greeks in the use of their language with the treatment given to the Saxon and the Eni-'lish need not here receive much attention. It is said that the Grc ks studied no lanujuai'-e but their own, and, reirarding other tonu'ues as barbarous, did not borrow from them. The inference souii:ht to be drawn would seem to be that a like course should have been pursued in the culture and use of the Anglo-Saxon. It is to be remembered that, when Ancient Greece became known to the modern world, her hmguage had been so perfected that aid from other peoples was not needed ; and that the contributions and the culture which, in ante- Homeric times, had given supernal grace and beauty to her speech cannot be stated or defined. It is also to be remembered that after the facts and fables found in Homer had been considered, after such scholars as Person and Choate, in the spirit of their studies, standing face to face with 77//; GREEKS OF DUAL ORIGIN. 83 5 the Greek, could in;ike his felieitie.s of speech their own. an nnappeasable curiosity as to the early progress of the race remained, as it will remain forever. Much curious research and ingenious specula- tion have been displayed in the endeavor to trace the early history of the Greeks, and to determine their origin. All the tests afforded l)y philology,' ethnolo'gy, and geography have been applied. On philological grounds mainl}', Mr. Gladst(mc ascribes a dual origin to the Greek people like that of the English. The f!:eneral belief of his- torians is, that a race known as Pelasgians. at a period antecedent to -written history, spread from the .south over Greece and Italy. They are de- scribed as a dark-eyed, dark-haired, swarthy, heavily-built race, industrious, patient, excelling in agriculture and architecture. These character- istics lend force to the supposition that they came from Egypt ; and that those of them who went to Italy, more remote from the early centres of population, developed the best capabilities of that race, and. by their substantial qualities, ^ iIJ. the foundation for Roman greatness. Pat, as to Greece, another race, the Hellenic, was infused among the Pelasgi, and grafted upon the stock. They were tall, light-complexioned, light-haired, blue-eyed, enthusiastic hunters and warriors, and II' i. I , ■ i ! ■hi lltl I1" nil ^r |::i"i: 1 ^m [\ I ■ 84 MEMORIES OF RUFUS C HO ATE. came probably from a mountainoii.s country, by northward-lying paths, through Thrace and Mace- donia, into Northern Greece, forcing themselves among the Pelasgi, and by their active and aggres- sive qualities becoming dominant in public atfairs. This infusion of new blood would seem to have given rise to what, properly speaking, may be called the Greek people, which thus arose from the mingling of dili'erent tribes on Grecian soil. To this admixture are to be ascribed the differ- ences which subsist between the Greek and the Latin tongue, and the wide divergence of the Greek from that earlier speech, the foundation of both, of which the Sanskrit is believed to be the nearest representative. The Greek would ap- pear to be a composite language. In later times, fixed by custom or prides, it became intolerant of foreign words. This was a departure from the principle on which it was formed ; — to say other- wise is to beg the question against both evidence and probability. Although it is impossible to trace the develop- ment of the Greek tongue, it must be assumed that in its inception and growth it was governed by universal laws. From a rude state it was car- ried forAvard to a more perfect condition by cen- turies of tasteful culture, and, during all that long probation, the Greeks, as other aspuing people ACQUIRED WEALTH. 85 ■ft have done, profited by external and available means of improvement. As the cultivation and refinement of a people ma}' be known by its lan- guage, laws, and works of art, it may be worth noting that the early memorials of the Greek race, as lately brought to light by the researches of Schliemann and others, show a primitive, al- most barbarous, condition of the arts, which it is fair to suppose was accompanied by a similar condition of their speech. It is evident that the growth from the rude conception and clumsy ex- ecution of early days to the exquisite grace, sym- metry, and freedom of later Greek art must have consumed centuries, — time for perfecting and unifying the language, that most enduring token of their civilization. Mr. Choate had intended to write a history of Greece, and to that end his special studies were for a time directed. But, constrained by profes- sional and other duties, he abandoned that design. How reluctantly he did so may be inferred from the fascination which afterwards held him to the study of the Greek genius and character. In his Journal he makes significant suggestions as to the origin and progress of that people, but he does not seem to think that they had rejected foreign aid until their language had risen to a higher de- gree of perfection than that of any other nation. i \^ m ■i* .• ! ■i| ■ti Wl!! i'iii i ii' lii i ! fjii 86 MEMORIES OF nUFUS CIIOATE. TIio English - speaking people have not yet reached such supreiiiaey. Their only iiope of ever reaciiing it has been inspired by the use that could be made of wealth derived from alien sources. They have borrowed from almost every other peo- ple. The work of verbal adoption might have been easy, if, as has been said, the Anglo-Saxon tongue had had a craving appetite, had been ra- pacious of words. But it required many years of preparatory training to create that appetite. The inlluence came from without rather than from within. Indeed, the natural characteristics of the early people of Britain were not favoral)le to an improvement of their accustomed speech. The Saxons had no conceptions of beauty or grace, of harmony in thought or in expression ; and, when they could make their wants and wishes known, had little aptitude to find and use other and bet- ter words. As an offshoot of the Teutonic lan- guage, the Saxon dialect inherited the rough, hard, inflexible qualities of the parent stock. Need we wonder that in working upon such materials, in infusing life, variety, and refinement into a semi-barbarous tongue, it was necessary to sift out and cast away many rugged and fruitless forms of speech, and to weave in words more melodious and articulate ? Would it have been well if all the uncouth terms that came from UXTVEnSALITY OF LATIN. 87 Saxon lips liad boon rotninod ? Wlint if wonls exi)rossive of our (iiKM' feelings nnd aspirations, of our sense of i^raco. hcautv. and liarnionv — words of progress, rernuMncnt. and civilization — had not Ijeen borrowed I Those who regret that wo are largely indebted to the Greek, Latin, and French must be conscious tiiat the improvement of our language has kept pace with the growing intelli- gence of the people, and that attempts to (pialify or dissolve that relation would be unwise and fruitless. The Latin, spoken of as a dead language, sur- vives in the s})eech of many nations, with whom we and our mother-country have intimate com- mercial relations in the Old and in the New World. It has been justly said that in his travels the Latin scholar would find few cities, however strange and remote, where he could not make himself understood by some of the inhabitants. The variety and the fertility of the Latin in form- ing compounds are important, as this quality the words retain when brought into other lanixuau-es. An idea of this maybe formed by counting the de- rivatives from a few Latin v>'ords. Thus, the terms derived from the verb nascor, in various forms, are 17 in number ; from vcrto 22, from tenco 23, tendo 29, ccdo 21, duco 20, curro 18, speelo 19, video 14, lego 22, mitto 22, ven'io 17, rego 15, from m\ I ■! lit I t r. . ;■ i ■ i:il iil.i 1 88 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. caj)io more tlum 27, and from sumo, which has nearly tlie same nioan'mg, U more: — 10 roots yielding 285 distinct terni.s by tlio n.sc of prefixes and sndixes. The aid to co[)iousnes.s of exi)res- sion thus afforded is self-evident, and justifies Mr. Choate and all others who have the taste, time, and opportunity for the study of that language. But the Saxon tongue, not thus fruitful, never had, and of itself never could have had, Avidely extended life and relations. Had it wholly sur- vived, working out its destiny in exclusive use, it would have made England as insular as could the sea itself. AVhen Macaulay was in the public service in India, he luul occasion to consider what system of national education should be adopted. Mr. Tre- velyan, in his life of Macaulay, gives the particu- lars. The Committee of Public Instruction, com- posed of ten able men, were divided in opinion, and for some time "All educational action had been at a stand." " Half of the members were for maintaining and extending the old scheme of encouraging oriental learning by stipends paid to students in Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic, and by liberal grants for the publication of works in those languages. The other half were in favor of teaching: the elements of knowledn-e in the vernac- ular tongues, and the higher branches in English." i:.\GLisif ran natiosal kducatwx. 89 The advocates of both sjstoins wore heard before the ISupreine Council, of ^^hi('ll Macaulay was a member. In duo time he hiid his opinion before the Council, and urged that the people should be tauL!:ht in the Knuiish lani:iia' of detestation than Byron used with reference to Horace, or than Gray, as noticed hy Moore, ai)phed to the enforced duty of reading Virgil. Lamartine, speaking of his choice of authors, says, " Among the poets the ones that I preferred were not the ancients, whose classic pages h.ad too early been bedewed with my sweat and tears." But we need not seek for ex- amples. It is obviously unjust, it is bad economy, to prescril)e such tasks for a student without re- gard to his taste, or to the course of life he is to pursue. Whatever his calling is to be, he nmst, study his own language closely, critically, pro- foundly, and be conversant with the best authors in it. Especially must he study the Bible daily, and cultivate a love for its words and style. lie may thus become a good English scholar. He must master many sul)jects of practical importance also, and in the history, life, and contentions of the world be well informed. In all this he will be following Mr. Choate's example. There is no reason to fear that too much atten- tion will be given to classical stud}'. From lack of taste and inclination, of early training and agreeable association, or by reason of the nature and variety of studies soliciting his choice in the iH , I Hi ■i:li!^ Mi i\ - ; i 3 '■■ I i 92 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. curricula of our higher schools, the student is likely, rather, to undervalue the claims of Latin and Greek. But he who looks forward to a life of literary leisure, and to the highest intellectual enjoyments attainable, or aspires to one of the learned pro- fessions, must take up the ancient classics. Such studies, however, are to be vigorously pursued. In its early stages the work is difficult and full of discouragements. Only after much devotion, ^'er he has passed the region of toil and pain, does uie student enter into the spirit of the language, and take delight in the literature. Of that delight he who abandons the study early feels and knows nothing. It is as when two travelers attempt to climb a mountain. In the morning mist they see only the steep and stony path under their feet. After much effort, one becomes weary and turns back. The other pushes on and reaches the top. The rising sun illumines the summit, chases the shadows from the valleys, and gradually takes pos- session of the earth. lie sits bathed in a flood of glory never before conceived, never to be for- gotten. We are reminded of the advice, '' Soak your mind with Cicero," — advice often repeated by Mr. Choate, and illustrated in his early life. Classical study trains the memory, the inven- EFFECT OF CLASSICAL STUDY. 93 tion, the imagination, the judgment, taxing them all in a high degree. It furnii^hes thoughts, which yield themselves up to patient lal)or and ingenu- ity. But before they can be expressed in trans- lation they must be grasped and subdued. The student thus becomes habituated to the thoughts of great minds, in a sense makes them his own, and acquires a power for profound inves- tiu'ations. It cannot be denied that the ancient classics, properly pursued, compel the highest dis- cipline of which the intellect is capable. In the seminaries to which students from other institu- tions are admitted, some of whom have had classi- cal training, while others have not, it is found, after years of dilficult study, that the former show a marked superiority. This has been proved in the German schools, and the statistics are given in the government reports. It has been proved in schools of our own also. A critical knowledge of Latin, not difficult to attain, is the best preparation for the study of the French and other modern languages. E(|ui2)ped with this, the acquisition of the other tongues be- comes easy. Latin and Greek are also great helps in perfecting a knowledge of the English lan- guage. Nowhere else do we find reflected the exquisite grace and beauty of the Greek mind ; and, ■when compared with the works of the great it M i.'; f ! i ^ A' f: I V'l tx ■• ii i i!i m ir— !!! • m ; 94 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. Greek and Latin authors, those of the French and German appear crude and immature. It would be kimentable indeed if the study of the ancient classics in our higher schools were un- duly discouraged. It would, moreover, be illogi- cal to accept as proof that such studies are no longer necessary, the fact that good English has been written by men ignorant of Latin and Greek, men to whom translations of classical productions have given aid not easily estimated. Such men may not owe much directly to the classic writers, but who can compute their indirect indebtedness, since their ideals have been writers whose style has been formed upon the great models furnished by Athens and by Rome ? The reader may have noticed that some authors, while objecting to the elements of Greek and Latin in our language as excessive, habitually use words of classic derivation, and praise Saxon words for their brevity, simplicity, directness, manly vigor, and moral purity as if these words had been lost ; and claim that to relieve our poverty the stu- dent should go back to the days of Chaucer to find them. Yet these and other like words, treasured up with a wise economy, are in actual use and have intimate relations with the affairs of every-day life. But they are wanting in scope and variety. It is to be observed that scholars and critics, like Professor 1 1 . . ;| BORROWED TERMS. 95 Hunt, who agree with Sharon Turner in oxtolhng the extent and power of the Anglo-Saxon lan- guage, have not told us how to find therein equiv- alents for sueh familiar words as rc/ifjlon, line, face, relation, conunon, animal, nature, jja^/e, and for hundreds of other words. Nor have they shown us why, now that we have such words, we should not use them, rather than search in ancient mounds for roots from which we might possibly cultivate their equivalents. With a grateful appreciation of our language, we believe that on the grounds of harmony, of ex- pressiveness, of variety, of convenience, the bor- rowing of terms from classic tongues was wise ; and that English reduced to Saxon, if such a de- cline were possiljle, would not be a gain or a bless- mg, but an nnspeakable calamity. Standing as the English language does to-day, with its wealth of derived words, its acquisition is made easier to millions of our fellow-men, and its usefulness to ourselves is thereby greatly increased. i :i ■: M ■i 1 m •if I "5 t 'I \ ■ {S; .; ' .*. CHAPTER VI. The Study of Words. — The Percentage cf Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Greek used by Mr. Choate and other Eminout Scholars. — The Methods of Sharon Turner and George P. Marsh. — Tables as to Derivatives. Mil. Ciioate's solicitiulo as to the choice and use of words was very great. Professor Parsons says, " With all his variety and intensity of labor there was nothing; he cultivated with more care than words." That he was not peculiar in this branch of study appears from familiar instances. Cicero had taught that the orator's style must be formed by the choice of words and the skill- ful arranuemcnt of them in sentences. That in- struction has been repeated by great teachers from Quintilian down. Dr. Johnson and Dean Swift refer to a perfect style as proper words in proper places. When Gibbon wrote, several times over, the first chapter of his history, and Brougham the close of his speech in the Queen's case, they were striving by choice words to im- prove the style. That Byron found it difficult to satisfy himself is shown by notes to an ap- I f THE STUDY OF WORDS. 97 proved edition of his poems. Many changes were made. In one instance which I recall, he erased a word and substituted anoiher ; then rejected the substitute and restored the original ; still in doubt, he wrote below, " Ask GilTord." Emer- son regarded Montaigne's choice with favor, as he says, " Cut these words and they would bleed ; they are vascular and alive." Of some of Mil- ton's lines, Macaulay says, '• Change the structure of the sentence, substitute one synonym for an- other, and the whole effect is destroved." Pitt thought verbal study important when he went twice through Bailey's Dictionary, carefully con- sidering every word. So also did Choate when he formed the habit of reading the dictionary by the page, and when he said to a student, '• You want a diction whose every word is full freighted with suggestion and association, with beauty and power." To acquire such a diction was a work calling for intense and continuous application. But to master the words which Mr. Choate needed was a preparatory study. The question as to their best use remained, and appealed to a large and ripe experience. Writers and speakers differ in that use, as they differ in culture and taste, in percep- tion and judgment; but they would agree that the grace, beauty, and power of the words used I, V W; : m t ■ til ! '1 ill 98 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. il) ifei I' P if itr depend on the harmony of their relations to each other and to the thoughts expressed. Mr. Choate valued highly those synonyms which are useful in denoting distinctions, however slight, and in enabling a speaker to avoid a wearisome sameness of expression. His use of adjectives is a noticeable feature of his style. They were chosen with especial reference to the effect desired, and each furnishes a new outline. Used thus, adjec- tives are important for precision and definiteness. It is by them chiefly (and by their cognates, the adverbs) that qualification, so necessary to exact statement, can be attained. Mr. Choate once said to a friend of mine that the value of adjectives could be learned by studying botany. On taking up this study, one finds that the descriptive lan- guage in it is largely composed of adjectives ; and that to outline each tint, form, and garniture of leaf and flower is an admirable instance of what can be done by the use of such words. Mr. Choate was in full communion with the spirit of our language. He knew how strong, yet how flexible, the words are ; he knew their line- nge and their history. He did not attempt to coin new words, or to reclaim those rejected because violating the anaiogies of the language, or to re- vive those that hod become obsolete. Nor did he, when writing or speaking, pause or turn aside to THE USE OF WELL-ACCEPTED WORDS. 99 find or to avoid Saxon words or words of foreign derivation. In a conservative spirit he accepted our language as nourished and developed to its present strength and maturity. Believing that its wealth is as precious in the realms of thought as coin and credit in the world of commerce, he sought to evolve and quicken its power to express with grace and precision every shade of sentiment and doctrine, however delicate or ahstruse. No one who has considered the nature of lan- guage, or the poverty of which he is conscious wdien some of his emotions cannot be described, and yet believes that the development of lan- guage attends the growing refinement of the peo- ple, will doubt the wisdom that guided Mr. Choate in his studies, even when he was seeking a perfec- tion not yet attainaljle. Much has been said in vague and general terms as to the qualit}'- and extent of his vocabulary. Some not unfriendly critics have thought that he gave an undue pref- erence to words of foreign derivation ; and that his classic studies had perverted his taste and judgment in respect to our strong, homely, and simple native words. Such suggestions have had weight in confirming my wish to ascertain the rel- ative proportions of native and foreign words used by Mr. Choate and by some other distinguished scholars. ^11 Mt^ ;, ii: ir III I i i i :i J^ 100 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. In his history, Sharon Turner gave some atten- tion to such a question for the avowed purpose of proving " the copiousness and power of the Anglo- Saxon language ; " but his method, though sugges- tive, was partial and inadecjuate. lie quoted a few lines from fourteen authors, and marked the Saxon words, — marked some of them many times. The particulars appear in the table at the end of this chapter. In his lectures on the Eniirlish language, Mr. George P. Marsh gave the subject more attention, but his collections and estimates include repeated words. That distinguished philologist. Dr. Weisse, followed a different method. As the more weighty words, those upon which the sense of an author largely dej^ends, are of classic derivation and not often repeated, and as some of the small words, the Saxon, do recur many times in every sentence, it is obvious that to include the repeated words in an estimate un- duly augments the percentage that should be as- signed to the Anglo-Saxon. The vocalnilary of a speaker or writer cannot thus be determined. When told that Milton used 8,000 words and Shakespeare 15.000, one need not be told that in these estimates repeated words are not counted. In treating of Mr. Choate's vocabulary, I have caused all his words found in print, found by dili- MR. CIIOATE'S VOCABULARY. 101 gent srarcli, to l)c urittoii dcnvii, and classified ac- cording to their derivation, and the percentage of the whole "which each class furnishes ascertained. But dates, proper names, and ((notations have been omitted, and repeated words avoidctl ; the question really heing as to his total vocabulary, and not as to the frequency with which any class of words reappears in his writings. I lind that Mr. Choate used 1 l,(»l)o unrepeated words. Of these, 3.421 are Teutonic; 7,223 ai-e Latin; "30 are Greek ; 123 arc common or Indo-European ; and 187 are scattering. The percentage of the •whole number which the Teutonic furnishes is, therefore, .2')3 ; the Latin, .618; the Greek, .002; the Indo-European, .011 ; and the scattering, .016. A like test has been applied to twenty other au- thors, ten American and ten British ; — the unre- peated words used by each of them in one paper or more, on some subject or occasion of grave im- portance, have been classified and counted. That these authors dili'er from each other and from Mr. Choate in the percentage of Anglo-Saxon used may be ascribed in some measure to the varied nature of the subjects discussed by them, and to the number of words considered. The subject discussed in each instance, and the derivations of the words used, are given in the tables at the close of this chapter. These authors, I am persuaded, ■i I ;;! i iii 102 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. will 1)0 regarded as fit exponents of tlio English language at its best estate. It is evident that, if they could have expressed their views with equal freedom, fidelity, precision, and force in Anglo- Saxon and had done so, our indc^pendence of the classic elements in our language would be gen- erally confessed. My purpose, at first, was merely to learn the percentage of Anglo-Saxon used by these authors and by Mr. Choate. But, on further consideration, it seemed proper to extend the incpiiry to words from other sources. In doing this, the words seemed naturally to fall into these five classes : — Fh'st. The Teutonic. By this I mean princi- pally, and almost exclusively, Anglo-Saxon. But, in all the writings examined, there is a slight sprinkling (1) of Norse, or Scandinavian, words ; (2) of old, middle, or modern High - German words ; and (3) of Dutch words. These, too few in number to justify separate classification, and not strictly Anglo-Suxon words, though near of kin to them, coiiiri properly be classed with such, under the generic heading Teutonic, and so have been. Secondly. The Latin ; including, of course, the words coming into the English through the French, the Italian, the Spanish, and the Portu- guese. !, { CLASSES OF DERIVATIVES. 103 Thirdly. The Greek. Fourllthj. The Indo-European. This class em- braces words which belong to most or to all of the seven great members of our family of languages. Belonging to most or to all, they could not be classed with any one of them. Flffhlf/. Scattering. Of the words of this class by far the larger part are purely Celtic. But oc- casionally there was found a Hebrew or an Arabic word, one distinctly Russian, or Persian, or Indian, or one from some other source, and a separate classification of these in the tables was not called for. It should be said, further, that what was evi- dently the most essential part of any compound determined the classification of the word. Where there were prefixes or suffixes, or both, the rooi settled the class to which the word was assiij^ned. Where the parts were still independent words, that part modified in meaning or limited in scope by the other part or the other parts was allowed to determine the class.^ In a letter from the late George P. Marsh, to be found in another part of this work, he says that ^ The classification of the wordsi, the (lotcrniination of the per- centages, and the preparation of the tables are, with little of my help, the work of my learned friend, Brainerd Kellofrg, Professor of English Language and Literature ia the Collegiate and Poly- technic Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. II '1.1 104 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. ■ ': i -mm he had thought Mr. Choate's vocabuJary consisted of more words than I have given. As some of my readers may have a hke impression, it is proper to speak of the rigorous excision practiced by the Professor, — an excision by which great niunbers of words standing alphabetically in the columns prepared for him were cut out. No word in any one author, occurring as a single part of speech, was counted more than once, though used often bv him in the same form, or in diifercnt forms. As, for instance, (jrow, grows, (jrew, (jrowing, groicn, found many times in the same author, were regarded as one word ; and taller or tallest was not counted if tall had been ; nor was the plural of any noun, if the singular had been. Let me, however, illustrate a seeming exception to this guiding ride stated and exemplified above. Is, teas, and been are parts of one verb. But they are from different roots ; consequently, when found hi an author, they were called three differ- ent words. For the same reason, heifer and worse, comparatives of the adjective good and the ad- verlj hadly, were counted, though the positives had been. So were the forms, thus differently de- rived, of all other parts of speech. The number of Mr. Choate's words as first col- lected, 15.559, was thus reduced to 11,G93. With these explanations of the principles by COMPARA TIVE PERCENTA GES. 105 which the learned Professor was governed in the preparation of the tables, the lessons taught may be readily understood. As a summary of the less obvious teaching of the tables, Professor Kellogg has had the khidness, at my request, to write what follows. He says, '•• It will be seen by a glance at the tables, that eight of the twentj^ authors with whom Mr, Choate is compared use a smaller percentage of Teutonic words than he does ; that two use the same ; that the ten who exceed his percentage of Teutonic exceed it about as much as the others drop below it ; and that these relations would not be essentially disturbed if the percentages marked common (Indo-European, or Aryan) were added to the Teutonic. It will be seen, also, that thirteen of these twenty authors use a larger percentage of Latin words than Mr. Choate does ; and that these thirteen exceed his percentage much niore than the remaining seven fall below it. If, with some, we add the Greek words to the Latin, and call the resulting list classical, ten of the twenty would exceed Mr. Choate's percentage of classical words; one would have the same ; and the remaining nine would fall below his percentage much less than the ten would stand above it." Mr. Choate's vocabulary, the unrepeated words, is not in any material degree disturbed by the 11 i ■■ .< ! i!ll V i t ii ill ^....-* ii, mm m 'I ^.' '„^ I Sj 106 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. fact that many of his speeches and arguments were not published or preserved. He used in them, no doubt, words not found in the papers before me, but the number of unrepeated ad- ditional words would be much less than might bo supposed, while the percentage of Anglo- Saxon, of Latin, and of Greek, would be substan- tially the same. jU^, SOME PARTICULARS OF SIIAROX TURNER'S WORKS. Authors. Number of ; Wunls ciiusiil- ereil. Of whic'li arc Angl(j-?axou. 1 1 iif wliich (An- i:lii-."-u.\nii) are Ui-liftitiuU5. Kei'f'titionof Woiil.-i fniiii other juurces. Sliakesijeiuc . . . 81 GS 31 - Milton 89 71 23 - Cowley 76 C8 IG 1 Thonisou .... 78 G-t 22 1 AJdison .... 79 64 20 2 Speuser 72 58 18 6 Locke 95 75 23 3 Pope 84 56 17* 1 Young 96 73 18 1 Swift 87 i i 2G 1 Robertson .... lU 79 33 1 Humo 101 63 35 2 Gibbon 80 47 23 - Johnson .... 87 GO 23 3 1,219 923 333 22 ■t !! ' t i \ ■ w 108 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. !i I 1 ]• ii m Tur Ccut. > r. ^ ^ >^ ■£> J c -> => i .2-= " "5 S Ct ♦J s^ O •p^+J u '5 ._ 3 t. 'M II Oi C to o o •< Number cv rj.. n r.^ I.-I of Word.s. ,_ •<1> ^^ ,_, o I'CT Cout. Numljer o r>4 o o CI o 00 Ift (?) tr CI ^ iif >Vorc.ls. o ct 1, ■* u Per Cent. fM o c 3 3 UJ • Niiiiilicr in 1~ CI CI 00 of W orils. 1— 1 to CO ■* CO '^, "cr "cut. CI 1- CO «o CO -1> :c o to >— < NunibiT l>\ i.« ^ •" 'JO CI I-) ;£ — oi ^ p— I o -o »^ l-l ■^ . Z- ^ -M to a?5;3 - f- _, — Tl — • U *- -^ a ." — ■*-> ^ ««t; - ■~ -^ . ci i a -u CO si- e 3- < Oi - CI — HO .--' - i> a » a o a c I. ^ en:* ;! iij n Nil I i ■ .1 1<, 110 MEMORIES OF RUFUS C HO ATE. M 6 V, 3 Cl O U3 CO CO Per Cent. o o o o o o 8 H Xiinilwr ■T - Tl t O If. o( Words. ■M Tl 1- t ^^ o Per ("ent. c 'M o o o CI o K • 5 Numlii'r — . C-. rr, ifS Tl n Tl Tl t CO ^ Kt Per Cent. o '£ o § 8 • • Nunilicr ci ci 00 o of Words. CH r^ -r X 1^ CO •r| Per Cent. 1^ in Ti O o ,- CI Tl ,__, o Nunilier i~ Tl g ^^ m of Words. CO !>■ o o> — Tl -t Ct, Cfj t ^N ^ Per Cent. c? CI CO 00 Tl CO i~ — c^ ,_, 00 N'Mnit'cr IM CT .— I Ol H of Words. '•'• -f O C5 1« 'J. „^ tn in o Numl 3er of Vnre- CO CI 1- o Tl in in pea ted \\ ords. -• CO »-H « • 6 P. • c is • o .4-1 t* a • :^ • cT — o • U • s • o . u • c: H • ^ • c • «4-4 ■n &• • J-' --2 02 o s : u g u a O g • H B hj 2 "' pi PS • i s 2 Td g H » o 4-> -w tc Ph s )£ a • J— « C4-* O c >~» < Sj2 K (J t >< < 9 . 5 o O ■rt in a 2 • Cd U. 1— ( o •< .25 > US P5 >< i: Tl t(.%D S - a U e 1.1 ^ S C a 2^" c o ^■'B o .2 H ^S o v-5 §3 "c y Ui u^ J? F— • cS" ^1 S2 II c o la 1*^ < ^•s Ih •cf^ = a) 1" o H CO o BRITISH AUTHORS. Ill ffl'f *6 •N Cl h« 1—* 5 e o o 3 o o aj "o" 00 CI •r f '^ c^ CI CI f^ CI o o o o o s o 1^ I- -r e>i CI CI 1- o -* •t X -r c z^ c^ -f o o o X ^ o a ^ 1- o o o 'f in 1- — ^^ ^iTT r- o in 1-^ i~ in o to o o ti L*^ •«■ Cl n in o c 1^ 5 00 C5 i» X 1*1 m "^ o in "^-f^ p«ri CO o in 1- « CI CI CI CI IN CI ~~c^ ^N t •«f CI in o CO •* t ■* CI rt n ..^ n CI 1^ 00 CI 't w^ ^ 't, t^ Cl_ " " !—< 1— < " «*H • rt , M • . tfi o" 2 ■ S 4-1 -^ CI _ "tc c • • ^ K a t^ ^ . 1^ • o • • H 1 < > ■tJ . s • >5 «M u .■S Ji H ^ 1— 1 d u. o o o . H S s 13 J " a: i3 D Ct o £ 3 • o , kj , (5 < o . 1^ CI t-2 > B3 • C ^H >'. ."^ «-^ o 1- i' y< »! •-^ , S ^ o K £ a s O 2 1^ tc qT o 'f b . ^D O H > S Ol V- *-' 'in sr 3 ?s .2 w b 'T^ K^ p > 2 ^ ►^ ■ = 3 .2^ C 4-J C rr. >i 4J a ,2 *7 O •A -t" £ I— 1 J3 u ■/i ■ s S 2 Tc s o ^ 4-^ O 1" -u 1 'r. — .£ _rt > a ■4J u a Hi e 4 ii «3 c "S --■ s CC ** a ? li 3 •4-> 11 1^ 4-H O GO ra cc "s; h; I ■ f m -. ! i.'ll! I r I ;(! rrr i CHAPTER VII. Style, Variations of. — Long Sentences. — Tlio ^lethodist Church Case. — Habits of Revising Speeches. — xV Con- trast. — The Importance of Rhetorical Decorations. — The Freedom of Discourse necessary to an Advocate. — Long Arguments. The reader who believes, with Lord Karnes, that to have a specific style is to be poor of speech, will appreciate Mr. Choate's varied meth- ods. As a speaker he was copious, reiterative, and much given to illustrations useful in an ar- gument ; as a writer he was more simple and severe. But, however widely his methods differed, the same delicate and touching sensibility, the same vivid and picturesque beauty, the same wealth of thought and power of expression appeared in what was spoken and in what was written. In neither was his brilliant imagery used as a mere embel- lishment ; the visions of beauty in his mind be- came articulate without effort ; the musical flow and rhythm as inimitable as the melody of the murmuring brook. He evidently believed that from the harmony that could exist between a sub- \ik LONG SENTENCES. 113 ject and the tone of its discussion might arise a sense of ideal and emotional beauty, pleasing to the mind; that a brilliant style was consistent with directness of thought and simplicity of speech ; and that rhetorical and illustrative imagery, em- ployed with taste and judgment, — pictures to the eye and to the mind, — might add to the spirit and force of an argument. Mr. Clioate wrote with great freedom, and often spoke with vehemence and rapidity ; the words waiting instantly and submissively on the thoughts. When the subject moved him strongly and was to be compressed within the limits of a single dis- course, he sometimes rushed through one of those long sentences thought to be peculiar to him. However easy it may have been for him, — and it appeared to be easy, — the work in its nature was unique and difficult. To one not having a powerful memory, great command of language, and discrimination in the use of words, the achieve- ment w^ould have been impossible. A long train of thought and the related parts of the discourse were to be held in mind, and the particulars so ad- justed as to be in harmony with each other and with the argument. Mr. Choate thus gave, in compact form, extended views of the matter in hand, without prolixity, confusion, or ambiguity. The longest sentence he is knowm to have used was 8 1 14 5-f; f • 'ill ■ I h' '>'(* .:l!'" 'i!t i^i 114 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. in his eulogy of Webster. In that instance and in other instances of the kind, he was heard with such unbounded dehght that no one would have thought of suggesting the common objection that long sentences tend to weary and perplex the hearer and the reader. In reading those sen- tences, as in reading the sovereign examples of Demosthenes, Cicero, and Milton, the student has a vivid conception of the argument. In a letter to Mr. Brazer, referring to a work on Logic, Mr. Webster accepts what is said of " argumentative repetition," and of " the effect of particularization," and says, " The skillful, and apparently natural, enumeration of particulars is certainly, in its proper place, one of the best modes of producing impressions. All the stand- ard works are full of instances of this sort of composition." In closing his letter, Mr. Webster adds, " ' After all,' says Cobbett, ' he is a man of talent that can make things move ; ' and after all, say I, he is an orator that can make me think as he thinks, and feel as he feels." Was not Mr. Choate such an orator ? From one of my correspondents I cite a few words relating to an occasion when Choate was speaking upon a familiar topic, "As Choate approached the climax, Webster's emotions became uncontrollable ; the great eyes were filled with tears, the great frame INFLUENCE OF THE PATIIETTC. 115 shook ; he bowed his head to conceal his face in his hat, and I ahnost seemed to hear him sob." Was not Mr. Choate's a style that could make Webster think as he thought, and feel as he felt ? When, in listening to any other orator, speaking in whatever style, was Webster so moved ? Those tears, that emotion, prove and illustrate his judg- ment, and blot out forever some of the loose and casual chat about Choate's style which Mr. Harvey reports in his '* Reminiscences." If Webster ever did find fault with Choate's style, it would be in- teresting to know in what mood he was. If he talked of Choate's pile of flowers, and praised his logic rather than his style, Webster must have forgotten the care and patience with which he had cultivated his own flowers of speech, and the in- terest which they gave to some of his discourses. But he really differed from Choate, in the use of such forms of expression, less than may be com- monly supposed. In his popular addresses, Web- ster employed them more freely than when speak- ing to legislative bodies or in the courts. He used them, however, in each kind of seivij.?, when moved by passion, or when anxious to awaken or quicken the attention of his hearers. Yet, in re- vising his speeches for publication, he plucked away the flowers whose bloom and fragrance then pleased him less than when they had been adopted. n m % i •i- i ■'; l.l\ ■^% m !i.' 'J! WTr> 116 MEMORIES OF RUFUS C HO ATE. But Mr. Choate's flowers of speech, of spontaneous growth and use, were left with his other words, in their original relations. In his essay, introductory to his selections from Mr. Webster's speeches, Mr. Whipple takes special and favorable notice of several figurative expres- sions which had been retained. They have great merit. I refer to one of them, illustrative some- what of the dehberation with which such embel- lishments were sought. Mr. Whipple gives the history. When Webster was once on the heights of Quebec, at an early hour of a summer morning, he heard the drum-beat calling the garrisor duty. It flashed upon him that England's mu^.. ing drum would go on beating elsewhere to the hour when it would again sound in Quebec. In his speech in the Senate, on the " Presidential Pro- test," after noticing the fact that our Revolution- ary fathers went to war in respect to mere taxa- tion, Webster said, " On this question of principle, while actual suffering was yet afar off, they raised their flag against a power, to which, for the" pur- pose of foreign conquest and subjugation, Rome, in the height of her glory, is not to be compared ; a power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts; whose morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping company wdth the hours, circles I) THE REVISIOX OF ARGUMENTS. 117 the earth witli one continuous and unbroken f^train of the martial airs of En<^"lan(l." As indicating the attention which that rlietor- ical ilhistration excited, Mr. Wlii[)i)le notices the report that, at the conclusion ol' this speech, John Sergeant of Philadelphia came up to the orator, and eagerly asked, " Where, Wel)ster, did you get that idea of the morning drum-beat ? " Mr. "Webster evidently believed that the idea of an unbroken circle of power, extending round the globe, originated with him and at Quebec. Mr. Whipple, however, refers to a passage in Goethe's *' Faust" for the same idea, but says that Webster never read " Faust." He could also have referred to the ''Odyssey," which We))ster had read in the original and as translated, for a passage equally suggestive : — " Hear nic, Xi'ptune ! thou whoso arms are hurled From shore to shore and gird the solid world." The idea was old. Mr. Webster gave it a new form and office. In respect to the final improvement of their speeches, the difference between the habits of Webster and those of Choate is not less striking and significant. As a consequence, it may be said that he who would know iliese orators from their printed pages should remc iber that while one of them appears as in state-dress, every part care- ^iM imm iai. I . t'1" 'f < i I ,; miiu ' Misiiua aassi.'. 118 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. ! f i W^ fully arranged, the other appears in the unstudied dress of e very-day life. An interesting statement, by the Hon. Enoch L. Fancher, as to Mr. Choate's relation to the Methodist Church case, appears in another part of this work. I am indebted to Judge Fancher for a copy of the report of that case which con- tains the arguments of counsel. I turn the pages of the book with conllicting emotions, — pleasure, in recalling what interested and impressed me many years ago ; sadness, in remembering what the country and the profession have since lost. On that trial, Judges Nelson and Betts presided, and liufus Choate, Daniel Lord, George Wood, and Iieverdy Johnson were of counsel, not one of whom is now living'. The reader will learn, from Judge Fancher's paper, that he sought in vain to have Mr. Choate revise his argument for publication. The refusal was in keeping with Mr. Choate's habit. The work in hand having been performed, he turned to other labors or to his favorite studies, free from the ambition of appearing well in print. Ho al- ways sought to master his subject before under- taking its discussion. In this he was unsparing. But, in speaking, he could use appropriate terms, and be content to leave his words as they fell from his lips. It would, I think, be admitted by m 1, A CONTRAST. 119 those \vlio have often hoard him and have studied hiin cloxely, that, owing to the character and ex- tent of his studies and the inliuence of his natural gifts, — memory, taste, judgment. — the words that would best express and illustrate his views were present to him as they were wanted, even when he was in the free and rapid current of discourse. Professor Parsons was sensible of this when he said that Choate '• was never at a loss for ihe word." In contrast with such command of words and such indisposition to revise what had been said on a trial or in an argument, the reader will (ind in Mr. Whipple's essay, to which I have referred, a circumstantial account of the manner in which, by changing words, definitions, and illustrations, Mr. Webster " tormented reporters, proof-readers, and the printers who had the misfortune to be en- gaged in putting one of his performances into type, not because this or that word was or was not Saxon or Latin, but because it was inadequate to convey perfectly his meaning." Mr. Whipple mentions, also, jMr. Welister's re- vision of discourses whicli had been delH^erately prepared. Thus he says, " On the morning after he had delivered his J^'vilogy on Adams and Jefl'er- son, he entered his office with the manuscript in his hand, and threw it down on the desk of a 'if t i 'I ' i ■ I ,i ; ;l '4 !!;' li > ii •II (!! > 1 i I ; M m 120 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. I ll' mi m 'M ' ffi-' ' 11 ' m „.i- wm\^ i i' ml •a m ^'1 p ::f r '■ ll:'; young student at Law, whom he greatly esteemed, with the request, ' There, Tom, please take that discourse and weed out all the Latin words.' " The puhlicatiou, in pamphlet form, of Mr. Web- ster's Plymouth oration of 1820 was delayed for about a year. Mr. Whipple says, " It is probable that the Plymouth oration, as we i ssess it in print, is a better oration, in respect to composi- tion, than that whicli was heard by the applaud- ing crowd before which it was originally deliv- ered." Mr. Webster's taste was so exacting and severe that he was not easily satisfied with his own work. In that he was fortunate. He was fortunate also in his close communion with the great masters of speech. In the Eulogy, Mr. Choate refers to sev- eral writers from whom Mr. Webster had souiirht inspiration, and says, " To the study and compari- son, but not to the copying, of authors such as these ; to habits of writing and speaking and con- versing on the capital theory of always doing his best ; — thus, somewhat, I think, was acquired that remarkable production, ' the last work of combined study and genius,' his rich, clear, cor- rect, harmonious, and weighty style of prose." Mr. Richard Grant White has like views upon such an acquisition. After suggesting that style cannot be taught, and that the student will derive W ^ CONVERSATION WITH MACKINTOSH. 121 little benefit from mere rhetoric, he says, " It is general culture — above all, it is the constant sub- mission of a teachable, apprehensive niincl to the influence of minds of the highest class, in daily life and in books, that bring out upon language its daintiest Ijloom and its richest fruitage." In using picturesque figures of speech and ar- gumentative illustratioi:-!, Mr. WeJjster and Mr. Choate were following the examples of great mas- ters of speech from Cicero down to their own times. But some critics, not able to conform to these standards, commend plainness of style, and object to rhetorical embellishments. Those who condenni what they cannot emulate deserve little attention. But it would seem that views occasion- ally ascribed to distinguished authors may have given such critics some encouragement. I m»ke special mention of one instance. Sir James Mackintosh is reported to have said, in a conversation with Alexander II. Everett, " Eloquence is the power of gaining your purpose by words. All the labored definitions of it to be found in the diit'erent rhetorical works amount in substance to this. It does not, tlierefore, require or admit the strained and false ornaments tliat are taken for it by some. I hate those artificial flowers without fragrance or fitness. Nol)ody ever succeeded in this way but Burke. Fox used to i .1 'A ft iillill . j: \] m V\ m 'ill ;( 11 'If p Si! 122 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. say, ' I cannot bear this thing in anybody but Burke, and he cannot help it, it is his natural manner.' Mr. Wilberlorce's voice is beautiful ; his manner mild and perfectly natural. He has no artificial ornament, but an easy, natural image occasionally springs up in the mind that pleases very much." ^ In some respects, the contrast between Wilber- force and Burke was very great. Yet there is no reason to suppose that images sprang uf) in the mind of one of them more naturally than in the mind of the other. Mackintosh cites Fox with ap- probation, and could do so properly, as Fox knew Burke by heart. But when Fox, speaking of the abundant and gorgeous imagery of Burke, says that he could not help it, it was his natural man- ner, he recognizes Burke's genius, and, in effect, denies that he emploj-ed strained and false orna- ments or artificial flowers. In his definition of eloquence. Mackintosh could have said that the speaker who seeks to gain his purpose by words must be true to his nature, and that to check or to stimulate his powers by limit- ing himself to the use of a plain style, or by striv- ing after ornamentation, would betray great weak- ness. How far he would have tolerated Choate's and Webster's flowers of speech it would be haz- * North American Review, 1832. I 1 1^- It CLE FOR THE FOUEXSIC SPEAKER. 123 ardous to surmi.se. But lie could not think it more feasible or just to apply a law of repression to the luxurious diction of a man of genius than it would be to add " lead and ballast to the under- standing " to bring it down to the level of connnon minds. Either course would be as reasonable as to clip the wings of eagles, formed by nature to cleave the upper air. It is obvious that he who would l)y words secure the assent of others must be allowed to speak as the spirit moves him, with no other sense of restraint than his culture, taste, and judgment, the character of his hearers, and the nature of his subject may impose. Such free- dom is most essential to the advocate. It has been suggested as the rule for the foren- sic speaker that he should pass over inferior mat- ters, and concentrate his efforts upon the more material points in a case ; whereas, it was charac- teristic of Mr. Clioate that he did, in some sense, just the opposite. It is to be rememljered, how- ever, that with great freedom of suggestion, of illustration, of argument, his discourse was tem- pered by a keen and steady watchfulness of the effect he was producing. He peered, as it were, into the very souls of the jury to read the stage of conviction to which they had been brought. He knew that the less important points of a case may give the jury trouble, may even prevent ^^M ii \ s^^^^^^E 1 J i i ■ 1 1 ) . i i'tl '. ;f 'h I' ^ w ' ' ■, ' »■., u ' i;! n ^: i D ^iili Jii ill! 124 MEMORIES OF IIUFUS CIIOATE. their agreeing upon a verdict. Then, too, mat- ters which, as first considered, ajopear to be of little moment, may in combination, or in their re- lation to unexpected developments on a trial, be- come important. It would, indeed, be interesting to know^ by what prevision, in cases like those of Tirrell, where a* life was at stake, and of Dalton, where a woman's honor was in peril, counsel could sif^ out what might be passed over in silence as immaterial. It has been sui2:fi:ested, also, that Mr. Choate's arguments before juries were long, with the im- plication that they were too long. The objection might be reasonable if it had been observed that in any case he did not keep the attention of the jury to the end of the discussion. We can recall no instance of such failure. He often tried ques- tions of fact with the brevity for wdiich Sir James Scarlett and Judge Curtis have been commended. But in desperate cases, the testimony conflicting and doubtful, such economy of time and strength would not have been proper. In his Recollections of Mr. Cboate, from which I have permission to quote, Mr. Whipple saj-s, " On one occasion I hap- pened to be a witness in a case where a trader was prosecuted for obtaining goods under false pretenses. Mr. Choate took the ground that the seeming knavery of the accused was due to the ri ARGUMENT IN A TRYING CASE. 125 circumstance that he had a deficient business in- telligence — in short, that he unconsciously rated all his geese as swans. He (Choate) was right in his view. The foreman of the jury, however, was a hard-headed, practical man, a model of business intellect and integrity, but with an incapacity of understanding any intellect or conscience radically differing from his own. Mr. Choate's argument, as far as the facts and the law were concerned, was through in an hour. Still he went on speak- ing. Hour after hour passed, and yet he con- tinued to speak with constantly increasing elo- quence, repeating and recapitulating, without any seeming reason, facts which he had already stated and arguments which he li.ad already urged. The truth wos, as I gradually learned, that he was en- fj^aijred in a hand-to-hand — or rather in a brain- to-brain and a heart-to-heart — contest with the foreman, whose resistance he was determined to break down, but who confronted him for three hours with defiance observable in every rigid line of his honest countenance. ' You fool 1 ' was the burden of the advocate's ingenious argument ; ' you rascal ! ' was the phrase legibly printed on the foreman's incredulous face. But at last the features of the foreman began to relax, and at the end the stern lines melted into acquiescence with the opinion of the advocate, who had been storm- 1:! H> ' -' ' « m fwr> Hi: m 12G MEMORIES OF RUFUS C HO ATE. ing at the defenses of his mind, Ids heart, and his conscience for five hours, and had now entered as victor. lie compelled the foreman to admit the mipleasant fact that there were existing human bein\ It 1 i 1 ( , i ■ ■ . i I 1 I ......liii uy^ m :r>:-:v ni- mn w> S % v il lif *!■ 134 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. nothing, and seemed architecture of heaven — pa- vilions — the tents of a cavalcade travehng above the earth. " Berne, Wednesday, 7th. We left Lucerne at seven, in our own hired voiture, and with one change of horses, treating ourselves to two long pauses, arrived here at eight o'clock — the hist two hours through a thunder-shower. The way gave me much of the common and average life of Switzerland, lying through two of its great can- tons. What I saw of Lucerne disappointed me. The soil, I should think, cold and ungrateful, and the mind of the lal)orer not open. Crucifixes everywhere, and all over everything, — weeds in corn and grass. Once in Berne all changes. Man docs his duty. Excellent stone bridges ; good fences ; fewer weeds ; more wheat and grass ; more look of labor; better buildings; better, newer, larger houses and barns ; no crucifixes ; express the change. Throughout I find a small- ish, homely race, and pursue the dream of Swiss life in vain. Yet in these valleys, on the sides of these hills, in these farm-houses, scattered far and near, though all is cut off from the great arterial and venous system of the world of trade and in- fluence, — though the great pulse of business and politics beats not — though life might seem to stagnate, — is happiness and goodness too. Some- BERXE. 135 times a high Swiss mind emerges, and, speaking a foreign or dead tongue, or migrating, asserts itself. Berne is full of liveliness and recency, as well as eld. I have run over it before breakfast, and shall atjcain before we 0:0. " I saw at Berne the place of the state bears, and two of the pensioners, the high terraced ground of vie\v, the residence of the patricians, and the Cathedral, containing, among other things, tablets to the memory of those who fell in 1708, enumerating them ; and the painted windows of Protestant satire. Our journey to Vevay had little interest, a grim horizon of cloud and a con- stant fall of rain wholly obscured the Alps. Frei- burg is striking, its suspended bridge sublime, and it holds one of the best organs of the world. We arrived here (Vevay) at ten, and I have this morn- ing looked out on the whole beauty of this part of the lake, — from Ilautevillc, and from a point on the sho. above it, and towards the direction of Chillon, — and admitted its supreme interest, and its various physical and associated beaut3\ The day is clear and warm and still. Tlie slight- est breeze stirs the surface of the lake ; light clouds curl half-wa}' up the steep shores, float, vanish, and are succeeded by others ; a summer's sun bathes a long shore and inland rising from the shore, clad thick with vines ; yonder, looking to Ifii \'i H 1 \v\\ w :».Mii Mi' ■ 136 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. I' •■ \ W^~ \.\ r! i : r 1 - !■ the southeast upon the water, in that valley, sheltered by the mountahi, nestling among those trees, eniljraced and held still in the arms of uni- versal love, is Clarens, — fit, unpolluted asylum of love and philosophy ; before it, on its left, is the castle of Chillon, more directly before it the mouth of the Rhone, here resting a space in his long flight from his glacier-source ; far-off, west, stretched the Lake of Geneva, at peace, here and there a white sail, — the home, the worship, the inspiration of Rousseau and De Stael ; the shelter of liberty ; the cradle of free-thinking ; the scene in which tlie character and fortune of Puritanism were shaped and made possible ; the true birth- place of the civil and religious order of the north- ern New World. " Geneva, 9th August, Friday. The lake was smooth and bright, and our voyage of five hours pleasant and prosperous ; and we had the extraor- dinary fortune to witness what we are assured was the best sunset on Mont Blanc for years. Long after the sun had sunk below our earth, the whole range of the mountain W£ls in a blaze with the descending glory. At first it was a mere reflec- tion, from a long and high surface, of the sun's rays. Gradually this passed into a golden and rosy hue, then all darkened except the supreme summit itself, from which the gold light flashed, li I MONT BLANC. 137 beamed, some time longer ; one bright turret of the building not made with hands, kindled from within, self-poi.sed, or held by an unseen hand. Under our feet ran the Rhone, leaping, joyful, full, blue, to his bed in the Mediterranean. Be- fore us is the city of thought, liberty, power, in- fluence, the beautiful and famous Geneva. More than ail in interest was the house of the father of Madame de Stael, and the home of the studies of Gibbon. " I went on Saturday, August 10, to the nearer contemplation of Mont Blanc, at Chamouny. Most of that journey lies through Savoy, of the kingdom of Sardinia, even as far as St. Martin, and beyond somewhat, a well-constructed royal road. AVithin the first third, I should think, of the day's ride out from Geneva, and long before Mont Blanc again reveals himself (for you lose sight of him wholly in a mile or two out of the city), you enter a country of much such scenery as the Notch of the White Mountains. An excellent road ascends by the side of the Arve, itself a mad, eager stream, leaping from the mcr Je r/Iace, and running head- long, of the color of milk mixed with clay, to the Rhone, below Geneva, on each side of which rise, one after another, a succession of vast heights, some a half mile to a mile above you, all steep, more than even perpendicular, and even hanging i ■: t 'M >\ ■ I 1 1 i! ' 1 % i i- 1 ■ i 1 1 .1 . i.1... jiii 0: w.i..i I'.. /' V;||.; 1 138 MEMORIES OF ItUFUS CIIOATE. over you, as projecting beyond their base. Theso are so near, and our view so unoljstructed, and they are all of ,a height so comprehensible and appreciable, so to speak, so little is lost by an un- availing elevation, that they make more impres- sion than a mountain five times as high. It is exactly as in the Notch, where the grandeur, in- stead of being enthroned remote, dim, and resting in measurement, and demanding comparisons and thoughts, is near, palpable, and exacting. Down many of these streamed rivulets of water, sil- ver threads of hundreds, perhaps of thousands, of feet long from source to base of cliff, often totally floating off from the side of the hill, and the bed in which they had begun to run, in a mere mist, which fell like rain, and farther down, and to the right or left of the original fiow, were condensed again into mere streams. These have no character of waterfall as you ride along, but discharge a great deal of water in a very pictur- esque, holiday, and wanton fashion. This kind of scenery grows bolder and ^vilder, and at last, and suddenly, at St. Martin, Ave saw again, above it, and beyond it all, the range of Mont Blanc, covered with snow, and at first, its summit covered too 'vith clouds. Thenceforth this was ever in view, and some hours before sunset the cloud.^ lifted themselves and vanished, and we looked till I COMPARA TIVE ADVANTA GES. 139 all ^vas dark upon the unveiled siunniit itself. Again Ave had a beautiful evening sky ; again, but this time directly at the foot of the mountain, we stood and watched the survivin% \ ' », i »i> ■ f. • ,.tB ■ i jit f * 1 -^ 1 I' I 1 } - "; •I 'M I ( i • f ^ : ; ^ J ., ■ ' 1 * ■ !-»». ' t * Ml [i t i M-' 140 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. " On how many European minds, in a genera- tion, is felt edueationally the inthience of that large body of spectacles specifically European, and which can never be transferred ? Kecollect, first, that all her books we can have among us perma- nently. All her history we can read and know, therefore, and all things printed. What remains ? What that can never be transferred ? Picture, statue, building, grounds ; beyond and above, a spirit of the j^lcice ; whatsoever and all which comes from living in and visitinii; memorable places. How many in Europe are influenced, and how, by this last ? The recorded history affects us as it docs them. In which hemisphere would an imaginative and speculative mind most enjoy itself? In America, land of hope! liberty, — Utopia sobered, realized, to be fitted according to an idea, with occasional visits to this picture- gallery and museum, occasional studies here of the objects we can't have ; or here, under an in- flexible realization, inequalities of condition, rank, force, property, tribute to the Past, — the Past ! ! ! " Looking to classes : 1st. The vast mass is happier and better in America, is worth more, rises higher, is freer ; its standard of culture and life higher. 2. Property-holders are as scarce. 3. The class of wealth, taste, social refinement, and irenius, — how with them ? OUR ADVANTAGES THE GREATEST. 141 \C' i = *' Mom. The enjoyment of an Americjin of re- fined tastes and a spirit of love of man is as high as that of a European of the same class. He has all but ^vhat visits will give him, and he has what no visits can give the other. " What one human being, not of a privileged class, is better off in Europe than he would be in America ? Possibly a mere scholar, or student of art, seeking learning or taste for itself, to ac- complish himself. But the question is, if in any case, high and low, the same rate of mind, and the same kind of mind, may not be as happy in America as in Europe. It must modify its aims and sources somewhat, live out of itself, seek to do good, educate others. It may acquire less, teach more ; suck into its veins less nutriment, less essence, less perception of beauty, less relish of it (this I doubt), but diffuse it more. " What is it worth to live among all that I have seen ? I think access to the books and works of art is all. There is no natural beauty thus far beyond ours, — and a storied country, storied of battles and blood, — is that an educational inllu- ence ? " Those who have thought that Mr. Clioate had little taste for music may wish that they had stood by him in the Cathedral of Strasburg, "where mass was performing, and a glorious 1 : ■ ,1 ^t ^ I ;• 1 t ' r !i -^ i i { . m !^i 142 MEMORIES or nUFUS C HO ATE. organ was lilling that iinboiinckHl interior with tlio grandest and the sweetest of music, tlirough whose pauses you heard the muttered voice of the priest, and the chanting of a choir wholly out of sight." Or, at St. Deni.s, where " The organ was played just enough to show what oceans and firmaments full of hai'inony are there accumu- lated. Some drops, some rivulets, some grandest peals we heard, identifying it, and creating long- ings for more," Mr. Clioate had a fervent admiration for Sir Walter Scott. In his lecture on our '• Obliga- tions to the British Poets," delivered in 1S56, he defends Scott and his novels against one of the detractors. The following will illustrate the moderate tone which was peculiar to Mr. Clioate when indulging in controversy. He says, '• It has pleased Mr. Thomas Carlyle to record of these novels, — 'The sick heart will find no healing here, the darkly struggling heart no guidance, the heroic that is in all men no divine, awakening voice.' These be sonorous words assuredly. In one sense I am afraid that is true of any and all mere romantic literature. As disparagement of Scott, it is a simple absurdity of injustice. In any adequate sense of these expressions, Homer and Shakespeare must answer, * These are not mine to give.' To heal that sickness, to pour that light GEXTLK TONE IN CONTROVERSY. 143 on that gloom, to awaken that j^lcop of ;^rontness in the soul in the lii|j;hest sense, iar other pro- vision is demanded, and is given. In the old, old time, — Hebrew, Pagan, — some found it in the very voice of God ; some in the visits of the angel ; some in a pilgrimage to the beautiful Jerusalem ; some in the message of the prophet, till that snccession had its close ; some sought it rather than found it, like Socrates, like Plato, like Cicero, like Cato, in the thoughts of their own and other mighty minds turned to the direct search of truth, in the philosophy of speculation, in the philosophy of duty, in the practice of public life. To ns only, and at last, is given the trne light. For ns only is the great Physician pro- vided. In our cars, in theirs whose testimony we' assuredly believe, the divine, awakening voice has been articulately and first spoken. In this sense, what he says would be true of Homer, Shake- speare, Dante, Milton, but no more true of Scott than of Goethe or Schiller. Neither is, or gives, religion to the soul, if it is that of which he speaks. But if this is not his meaning, — and I suppose it is not, if he means to say that by tlie same general treatment, by the same form of suf- fering humanity by which Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare heal the sick heart, give light to the darkened eye, and guidance to blundering feet, 11 uV.W I j' ' i I ■: 't| U: ii> ,nll ( • w :'i 144 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CIIOATE. {111(1 kindlo the heroic in man to life, — if ho ineanH to say that as they have done it he has not in kind, in supreme degree, — let the millions whose hours of unrest, anguish, and fear he has charmed iiway, to the darkness of whose despond- ing he has given light, to whose sentiments of honor, duty, courage, truth, maidiness, he has given help, — let tliem gather around the capitol and answer for themselves and him. I am afraid that that I)eli)hic and glorious Madame de Stael knew sickness of the heart in a sense and with a depth too true only ; and she had, with other con- solation, the fisherman's funeral, in the * Anti- quary,' re.'ul to her on her death-bed ; as Charles Fox had the kindred but unequal sketches of Crabbe's ' Village ' read on his. " And so of this complaint, that the heroic in man finds here no divine, awakening voice. If by this heroic in man he means what — assuming religious traits out of the question — Ave who speak the tongue of England and hold the ethics of Plato, of Cicero, of Jeremy Taylor, and Ed- mund Burke should understand, — religion now out of the question — that sense of obligation, pursuing us ever, omnipresent like the Deity, ever proclaiming that the duties of life are more than life, — that principle of honor that feels a stain like a wound, — that courage that fears God and ft APPEALS TO HEROIC SPIRITS. 145 f knows no otlicr fear, that dares do all that may become a man, — truth on the lips and in the inward parts, — that love of our own native land, comprehensive and full love, the absence of which makes even the superb art-world of Goethe dreamy and epicurean, — manliness, e([ual to all ofhces of war or peace, above jealousy, above in- justice — if this is the heroic, and if b}^ the divine awakcnin ^illl^ ''. ! miL '^iinr>K mi Ml I m f i' 148 MEMORIES OF RUFUS CTIOATE. where he has held all, with a charm as absolute as that with which the Ancient Mariner kept back the bridal guest after the music of the marriage feast had begun. " The trilmte of tears and applaudings ; the tribute of sympathy and of thoughts too deep for applaudings, too deep for tears, have attested his sway. For the first time since the transcendent gi'nlus of Demosthenes strove with the downward age of Greece ; or since the prophets of Israel an- nounced — each tone of the hymn grander, sad- der, than before — the successive footfalls of the approaching Assyrian beneath whose spear the Law should cease and the vision be seen no more ; our ears, our hearts, have drunk the sweetest, most mournful, most awful of the words which man may ever utter, or may ever hear — the elo- quence of an expiring nation. " For of all this tide of speech, flowing without ebb, there was one source only. To one note only was the harp of this enchantment strung. It was an appeal not to the interests, not to the reason, not to the prudence, not to the justice, not to the instructed conscience of America and Englani i ; but to the mere emotion of sympathy for a single family of man oppressed by another — contending to be free, cloveri down on the field, yet again erect ; her body dead, her spirit incapable to die ; I THE SYMPATHY KOSSUTH AWAKENED. 149 the victim of treachery ; the victim of power ; the victim of intervention ; yet breathing, singing, lingering, dying, hoping, through all the pain, the bliss of an (Kjony of