Taylor of this place, and other kindred spirits. He
entered upon his professional career at a period when the bar of our
State was thronged with men of extensive learning and the highest order
of abilities. His success was not long a matter of doubt or speculation.
Unambitious of distinction, in the commonly received sense, and
unwilling to leave, even for a time, the comparatively humble field of
his habitual labors, yet when summoned away to some new or larger
theatre, (in the meridian of his fame it not unfrequently happened,) his
efforts were marked by extraordinary brilliancy and power. It was
universally conceded that, when roused upon such occasions to put forth
his whole strength, the more strenuous and stern the combat, the more
signal his triumph.
As was remarked of Lord Mansfield, so with Mr. Tazewell, the shackles of
a law education and profession, perhaps, formalized, and, in some
degree, repressed the splendor of his genius; still, whether in the
senate chamber, the hall of legislation, or the court-room, his
"speaking was the full expression of the mighty thought, the strong
triumphant argument, the rush of native eloquence.
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