colony, and 1.50 Ibs. in the country court. A fee of 500 Ibs. of tobacco, between 1680 and 1750 averaged about three guineas, and 150 Ibs. less than one guinea. Such fees did not offer a very great inducement to become a lawyer; nevertheless the profession of the law was built up in Virginia; the principal mem bers were the younger sons of wealthy plant ers, and the eldest sons of western farmers. Jefferson entered at once upon a good practice. He was the most methodical of men, and carefully recorded every case in which he took part. From these records we learn that during his first year at the bar, he was engaged in sixty-eight cases before the General Court of the province, besides the county court and office business. The second year his cases numbered one hundred and fifteen; the third year, one hundred and nine ty-eight; the fourth year, one hundred and twenty-one; the fifth year, one hundred and thirty-seven; the sixth, one hundred and fif ty-four; the seventh, one hundred and thirtyseven. From 1769, his practice before the General Court fell off on account of his pro nounced views on the great questions then beginning to agitate Virginia and the other colonies. But his practice in the other courts increased, as well as his general business. During his first two years at the bar, his fees amounted to 600 pounds, a sum equal to at least $6,000 at the present time. Jefferson's position at the bar of Virginia is shown by the fact that the distinguished lawyer, Robert Carter Nicholas, who was made the attorney-general of the colony at the age of twenty-one, intrusted to him all of his unfinished business. The compensation of lawyers at that time was small, and Jeffer son's fees did not average more than one pound sterling each. It has been estimated that, translated into the dollars of these days, it was as though a lawyer of the present day received fifty dollars for arguing a case be fore the Supreme Court of the United States, ten dollars for a case before a local court, two
dollars for a verbal opinion, and five dollars for a written one. Well might Daniel Web ster say that, in that age, "lawyers worked hard, lived well, and died poor." It was nec essary to make up for the smallness of the fees by the number of the cases. In seven years, Jefferson doubled his inherited estate by his law practice, his professional income averaging $3,000 a year. Add to this, $2,000 a year from his farm, and the young Virginia lawyer might be called a very prosperous young gentleman. He lived comfortably, but not extravagantly; his chief expense, out side of his household disbursements, was for books. He was what is now called a booklover, and he gradually formed a library, which, in the course of time, became the best private librarv in the United States. To wards the close of his long life, when finan cial troubles overtook him, he was com pelled K offer his books for sale en bloc. The valuable library was secured by the United States; the price paid was $23.000; and Jefferson was allowed to retain the books at Monticello for his use during his life-time. These books were the nucleus of our magnificent Library of Congress, which is one of the great libraries of the world. Jefferson loved his professional work, and devoted himself to it with his characteristic zeal, energy and intellectual ability. The printing press was late in being introduced into Virginia and the early laws of the colony had been preserved in manuscript, copies of which were supplied to the different counties at the public expense. When Jefferson en tered upon the practice of the law. he found it difficult to get copies of some of the early laws, while others had perished. "I set my self, therefore, to work," he says, "to collect all that were existing, in order that when the day should come in which the public should advert to the magnitude of the loss in these precious monuments of our property and history, a part of their regret might be spared by information that a portion had been saved
