Burnside. He was a man
of considerable wealth and lived in a generous fashion, dispensing
an ample hospitality at his handsome mansion, still standing
in Worcester. He was a good black-letter lawyer, though without
much gift of influencing juries or arguing question of law
to the Court. He was a good Latin scholar, very fond of Horace
and Virgil, and used to be on the committees to examine the
students at Harvard, rather disturbing the boys with his somewhat
pedantic questioning. He was very nearsighted, and, it is
said, once seized the tail of a cow which passed near him
in the street and hurried forward, supposing some woman had
gone by and said, "Madam, you are dropping your tippet."
One of the most interesting characters among the elders of
the Worcester Bar was old Rejoice Newton. He was a man of
excellent judgment, wisdom, integrity and law learning enough
to make him a safe guide to his clients in their important
transactions. He was a most prosaic person, without sentiment,
without much knowledge of literature, and absolutely without
humor. He was born in Northfield near the banks of the Connecticut
River and preserved to the time of his death his love of rural
scenes and of farming.
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