ber many more of its generations among the poor than among the rich. If, therefore, you wish to provide for the greater number of your own descendants, provide now, permanently, for the poor."-Parsons' reply to a rich man who did not want to contribute to Public Schools: Memoirs, 271.

Webster's Tribute to.

"The characteristic endowments of his mind are strength and shrewdness; strength, which enables him to support his cause; shrewdness, by which he is always ready to retort the sallies of his adversary. His manner is steady, forcible and perfectly perspicuous. He does not address the jury as a mechanical body, to be put in motion by mechanical means. He appeals to them as men, and as having minds capable of receiving the ideas of his own. Of course, he never harangues. He is never stinted to say just so much on a point, and no more. He has no fondness for public life, and is satisfied with standing where he is at the head of his profession."-Harvey's Reminiscences, p. 81.

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Josiah Quincy's Tribute.

"Wherever Judge Parsons was, he was regarded somewhat as an oracle, particularly on legal questions, and in shaping the course of political measures. In his character as mathematician, and as a classical scholar, he stood quite as high in the popular opinion, as in that of a lawyer."

His Erudition.

Knew everything of his case, and was a great scholar in everything. Five years after leaving Harvard he wrote to his brother in French.

Last Words.

His last words were delirious: "Gentlemen of the jury, the case is closed, and in your hands. You will please retire and agree upon your verdict.”— Memoirs by his son, p. 354.

Robert Treat Paine's Toast.

"Theophilus Parsons, the oracle of law, the pillar of politics, the bulwark of Government." To which Judge Parsons replied: "The town of Newburyport, may the blessing of Heaven rest upon it as long as its shores are washed by the Merrimac." -At farewell dinner when Parsons left Newburyport in 1800 for Boston at the age of fifty: Memoirs, p. 135.

Opposed to Notoriety.

"He never published anything under his own name and as his own production, unless the decisions of the Supreme Court may be so considered. Had a positive dislike for, and disgust at, notoriety.”—Memoirs, p. 76.

Taught Three Years.

"Taught school three years at Falmouth (now Portland) Maine, and studied law at the same time.” -Memoirs, p. 23.

Three Provisions of Federal Constitution Due to Parsons.

"Judge Parsons offered, or rather wrote up, three amendments to the Federal Constitution when it came to Massachusetts for adoption or rejection, although John Hancock has always had the credit of them, viz: First, All powers not expressly delegated by the aforesaid Constitution, are reserved to the several States; second, the amendment securing a trial of issues of fact in certain cases by a jury; and, third, that no one shall be tried for a capital or infamous crime except upon indictment by a grand jury. These three provisions were added by Massachusetts, returned to Congress, incorporated into the Constitution, ratified by the States, and now form a part of that instrument."-Memoirs, pp. 74-5-6.

Had a Poor Opinion of Oratory.

Chief Justice Parsons used to say that eloquence was an unfortunate gift for a lawyer, as it prejudiced the jury against him, and thus hindered his success. "A jury will determine beforehand,” he used to say, "that an eloquent talker shall not hoodwink them, or exercise a mastery over their minds. Consequently, they set themselves to resist the power of his persua

sion." Judge Parker used to tell a capital anecdote in confirmation of Judge Parsons' opinion:

When Parsons was a young lawyer, he was retained to argue an important case in a Maine court. He was unknown to the people, and even to the lawyers. Parker had heard of him as a rising man, and was drawn to the court room by curiosity to learn the secret of his power. Parsons began his plea by putting one foot in a chair; then leaning one elbow on his knee, he talked to the jury as a man would tell a story at his fireside. "Pretty soon I thought I understood him," said Parker. "He was winding the jury round his fingers. He made no show. He treated the case as if it were a very simple affair, of which the conclusion was obvious, and inevitable; and he did not talk long. He got a verdict at once; and after the jury were dismissed, one of them, whom I happened to know, came to me and said, 'Who is this Mr. Parsons? He isn't much of a lawyer, and don't talk or look as if he ever would be one; but he seems to be a real good sort of a man.'”

Overmatch for Alexander Hamilton.

"He was an overmatch for Alexander Hamilton, whom he once astonished by the promptness with which he demolished one of his strongest points. But when beginning his practice, he had mastered a law library, making briefs of the most important causes, among which were several involving the point in question."-Mathews' "Getting on in the World,” p.

254.

law."

Judge R. B. Curtis' Tribute.

"He sounded all the depths of public and private

Contemporaries at the Bar.

The four most eminent contemporaries at the bar with Judge Parsons, according to his son, were Sullivan, Dexter, Otis, and Prescott.-Memoirs, p. 181.

Some of His Eminent Students.

Rufus King, John Quincy Adams, Samuel Putnam, Charles Jackson and Benjamin Gorham, among others, read law with Judge Parsons.-Memoirs, p. 180.

Few Citations.

"In his opinions as a judge," says his son, "he cites fewer cases than any judge reported in our language, with the possible exception of Chief Justice Marshall."-Memoirs, pp. 140-1.

Made Counsel State What They Were Going to Stand On.

"He generally required the counsel to state to him his points before he began. If they were in his judgment wholly untenable or insufficient, he permitted no argument, and allowed the case to go no further than was requisite to present to the whole court the question of law, if there was one, by which

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