Some Virginia Lawyers of the Past and Present. Judge T. R. B. Wright calls him " the great Mansfield of Virginia. A man whose splen did genius, eminent services to the republic and transcendent legal attainments have been the theme of every tongue." John Esten Cooke says: "He was of royalist origin and lived and died the most
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is said at first to have opposed the violent measures pursued by his colleagues. In 1742 an Act was passed in Virginia to prevent lawyers from exacting or receiving exorbitant fees. John Tyler, father of President Tyler, was born near Williamsburg in 1748. He was
HOUSE OF BURGESSES, AT JAMESTOWN.
uncompromising of churchmen. He was tall, with blue eyes, which seem to have been common in the revolutionary leaders. A man of great sweetness, his face was of the first order of manly beauty; his voice was clear, silver-toned and under perfect control. A lawyer of the first ability and, Thomas Jefferson said, ' the ablest man in debate he had ever met with.' " He was head of the " Committee of Safety " in the House of Burgesses at the beginning of the Revolution and such a prudent man that he
an intimate friend of both Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. He was governor of Virginia, judge of the United States district court and of the first court of appeals. Campbell says : " His talents and integrity commanded the confidence of all." He was a distinguished soldier of the Revolution. As judge of admiralty he decided the first prize case which occurred after our inde pendence was declared, holding his court under a large golden willow tree which stood in the yard of " Greenvvay," his residence
