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the great man of the nineteenth century, there is also mingled with our grief a selfish sorrow that his strong arm could not have been spared to assist in placing on a firm foundation the institution that was so proud to acknowledge his fostering care in early youth."

There is a fact connected with Mr. Webster's residence at Fryeburg, of a nature to encourage the young and aspiring, who have poverty to contend with, while it will convey instruction to all readers. On the books of the academy there is still this record:

"Voted, That the thanks of this Board be presented to Preceptor Webster for his services this day, and that he would accept five dollars as a small acknowledgement of their sense of his services this day performed.

"WILLIAM FESSENDEN, Secretary."

This was in 1802; and it is essential to state, that the ser vice here acknowledged, as the writer was once told by the late Hon. Judah Dana, of Fryeburg, a trustce of the academy at the time, consisted of extra exertions at the annual exhibition of the school, including a very fine address to the citizens and students. All this, then, was performed by Daniel Webster when unknown to the great world, for the sum of five dollars. At a later period, when known and appreciated at his true value, a similar amount of labor, perhaps not much better done, would have brought, as it has often brought, thousands to his purse. Such, youthful reader, is the worth of a reputation!

After making a brief tour through the most picturesque and important parts of Maine, whose scenery can scarcely be sur passed even in this country, Mr. Webster returned to Salis bury, and reëntered the law-office of Mr. Thompson. Having paid his board, and his other expenses, by his labors in the registrar's office, he was now possessed of more money than he

had ever had before at one time. It was all his own. He had earred it himself, and it gave him a feeling of self-reliance, which he had never felt before. But he did not keep his money. Ezekiel was still at school; and, after having paid the expenses of both, on their joint trip, he divided the remainder with his brother, when he was about starting off again for college. He had enough left, however, for all his own im mediate purposes. He boarded at home, and pursued his studies with Mr. Thompson nearly without cost.

He remained with Mr. Thompson about eighteen months, during which time he probably acquired more legal learning, than most young men would have acquired in three years. He was an exceedingly hard student. He was also a judicious student. He knew what to read, and when to read, and how to read. In this respect, as perhaps in almost every other, excepting the amount of learning in the law, he was even superior to his master. It was a habit of Mr. Thompson to put into the hands of his pupils the most difficult authors first, intending, as he used to say, in this way to break them in," and show them what they had to do. Mr. Webster dissented from

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this course. He told his patron, that, instead of breaking his pupils in, it was almost a sure way to break them down. teacher and scholar could not agree; but, as in all his future career, the scholar, perfectly convinced of his own opinion, would take his own way; and his example, together with what he has often said upon the subject, has done much to bring about the reformed method, the more inductive method, of studying the law, which is now almost universally pursued.

During this residence in the office of Mr. Thompson, in ad dition to the regular studies of his course, he undertook to re view the most important duties of the office, in college, and particularly such of them as pertained especially to the law. He read almost incessantly. From morning till night, every day for a year and a half, he read, thought, reflected, and thus filled

his mind with those facts and principles, which he was afterwards to use. When the office was crowded with clients, or visitors, or neighbors, he would sit by himself, silently perusing his author and taking notes, as if there were no other persons in the world, but the reader and the writer of the book. No matter what occurred, no matter what was said, unless he was himself addressed, there he sat, his huge eyes fixed in deep study upon the page, his mind lost in its profound, intricate, all-absorbing work. When thus engaged, he was an object of general observation to all who visited the office; and a picture of the scene, of Daniel Webster the law-student at his books, would be a picture, which any student might well wish to see on canvas, but might far better have imprinted upon his ima gination, his memory, or his heart.

After completing his year and a half with Mr. Thompson, during which time he had probably about reached the level of his master's knowledge in the profession, he began to look about him for a situation suited to his demands. He looked all over New Hampshire to find a man of exactly the charac ter to make him a fit instructor. There were several then there, whose abilities, whose acquirements, whose position, were of a very high order; but the more he thought upon the subject, and the more he compared the advantages of one man and one place with other men and other places, the more he was convinced, that he ought to find the best place and the best man, not of New Hampshire, but of the whole country. When entirely settled in this conviction, it required no great length of time to settle all that it carried with it. Boston, of course, was

the place; and, though there were several lawyers in the capi tal of New England of nearly equal fame, the talents and learning of Governor Gore marked him out as the most proper person for the business now in hand. In the month of July, therefore, in the year 1804, Mr. Webster removed to Boston, and began what may be termed his second course as a law

student, under one of the best masters, at the two.

In this office, at an age comparatively mature, Mr. Webster commenced a higher life, such as he had scarcely dreamed of before. The Hon. Christopher Gore was a man of great natural strength of mind, of remarkable versatility of talent, learned in every department of his profession, an able counselor, an eloquent barrister, familiar with the broader as with the narrower fields of the law, and a statesman of clear, positive, and rather comprehensive views. With all his lore, and all his native. abilities, he was no wayward genius, but a man of sound, sober, sterling common sense. Indeed, in every respect, he was truly a great man. His advice to Mr. Webster was always useful; his instructions added daily to the mass of the student's acquisitions; and his conversation was always so learned, so practical, so instructive, and yet so eloquent, that it was a continuous lesson, while it never failed to charm.

Though endowed with that wonderful power of concentration, which made him remarkable in the office of Mr. Thomp son, and for which he has been celebrated ever since, Mr. Webster often found the intercourse held between Governor Gore and the great men of the day, who used to visit him, more entertaining and more immediately instructive than his books. Apart, in a corner by himself, he would nevertheless sit with his eyes upon his author, but with his mind upon the men, who used to visit his instructor, whenever they came in to talk ; and, in this way, he began to look out upon the great world, into which he was soon to enter, through the free revelations of those remarkable characters, who, though a part of that world, still would thus abandon and betray it for a time. What a flood of light can be thus thrown, respecting all that more intricate and more important part of life, not known in books, upon the mind of a young man prepared and eager for it! And there never was a mind better prepared, or more eager, more in

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tensely eager, for every kind and degree of information, in re gard to men and things, than that of the young man, Daniel Webster; and scarcely ever was such a mi id so thoroughly, so constantly, furnished with what it craved. While yet unknown himself, he thus made an acquaintance, a sort of daily and familiar acquaintance, with many of the first characters of the age. In after life, as an example of his opportunities, in this regard, he used to tell how he became acquainted with a gentleman, whose reputation was then wide, and whose name will not soon die: "I remember one day," says the narrator, I was alone in the office, a man came in and asked for Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore was out; and he sat down to wait for him. He was dressed in plain gray clothes. I went on with my book, till he asked me what I was reading, and, coming along up to the table, took the book and looked at it. he, 'de Navibus et Nando. Well, I read that I was a boy;' and proceeded to talk not only about ships and freights, but insurance, prize, and other matters of maritime law, in a manner to put me to all I knew,' and a good deal more. The gray-coated stranger turned out to be Mr. Rufus King."

'Roccus,' said

book too when

From July, 1804, to March, 1805, Mr. Webster remained in the office of Governor Gore; he there read in the higher departments of the law altogether; he made himself well ac quainted with the common law, with maritime law, and with special pleading, reading for this latter purpose the old folio edition of Saunders. As an exercise of his skill in language, but more espcially to impress facts and principles upon his memory, he translated the Latin and Norman French into good English. What is still more remarkable, he made a manuscript brief of every case in the book; and these briefs were presented to his master for inspection, who, always ready with instruction, would pour out comment after comment, and explanation upon explanation, till everything was as clear as