less strife, noise, and confusion. His dream of contentment, as he wrote to his brother, was to live " near you in the country, sur rounded by quiet, books, fields, garden, and my lovely wife and daughter." And there after a tour into the country during vacation became as necessary a part of his life as that of law or private study. It was his habit to write of the details and incidents of such excursions; the natural scenery of the country, the special physical features of each settlement, and the names and manners of the men he met, with com ment thereon. The following excerpt from a letter writ ten to his brother in 1795 is a fair example of his method and style : " I visited the President at one of his public levees. They are every Tuesday from 3 to 4 o'clock P. M. You enter and make a bow. The President and company all stand with their hats in their hands, and after exchanging a few words you retire sans ceremonic. I saw Mr. Adams, the British Minister, Mr. Hammond, and several members of Congress. The President was dressed in a full suit of plain cloth of a snuff color, with silk stockings, and a sword by his side. His manners were easy, but distant and reserved. His eye was expressive of mildness and reflection. His person was tall and full of dignity. No per son can approach him without being pene trated with respect and reverence. Without the brilliancy of Caesar's talents or the dar ing exertions of Frederick, such has been his steadiness, good temper, and integrity that no man ever attained a greater ascend ency over free minds, or ever reigned so long and so completely in the heart of a sober and intelligent people." Professional advancement soon came to Kent, however, and some time in December, 1793, he was appointed professor of law in Columbia College. His office practice in creased also, and this, together with the pre paration of his law lectures, absorbed his entire time. " I read a course in 1794-95,
he writes, " to about forty gentlemen of the first rank in the city. They were very well received, but I have long since discovered them to have been slight and trashy produc tions. ... I dropped the course after one term, and soon became considerably in volved in business, but was never fond of nor much distinguished in the contentions of the bar." This passage from his pen illustrates what his correspondence and con temporaries abundantly prove, namely, that his most characteristic personal trait was frankness. Hypocrisy, deception, or subter fuge he vigorously detested, and all that he did, thought, or experienced, he communi cated to his fellow-men with the unreserved simplicity of a child. In February, 1795, he had prospered to such an extent that for the sum of fourteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, he pur chased a house on Pine Street, that narrow thoroughfare which is now a part of the financial and legal centre of New York City, and is hedged on either side by the modern lofty office-buildings. The law lectures which he delivered were afterwards published, but the sale of them was small and unprofitable. It was his earliest effort that contained the promise of great future achievement along this line of endeavor, though the result somewhat dis couraged the author. The first public office he held was that of Master in Chancery, to which he was appointed by Governor Jay in February, 1796. "This office," he records, "promised me a more steady supply of pecuniary aid, and it enabled me in a degree to relinquish the practice of an attorney, which I always extremely hated. It came upon me entirely unsolicited and unex pected." In reply to Jay's private letter to him, stating that the office was vacant, and asking whether he would accept, he writes that he " was content to accept of the office, if appointed." A brief answer, but it brought the appointment on that day. Afterwards he was astonished to learn " that there
