He would
instantly rouse himself and seem to take the suggestion as
a challenge, and if it were possible for human ingenuity to
find a way to accomplish what I wanted he would do it. He
preserved the sweetness and joyous spirit of boyhood to the
day of his death. It was delightful to catch him when he
was at leisure, to report to him any pleasant story that was
going about, and to hear his merry laugh and pleasant voice.
He was a model of the judicial character. It was a delight
to practise before him at _nisi prius._ I have known a great
many admirable lawyers and a good many very great Judges.
I have known some who had more learning, and some, I suppose,
though very few, who had greater vigor of intellect. But
no better Judge ever sat in a Massachusetts court-house. Dwight
Foster felicitously applied to him the sentence which was first
uttered of Charles James Fox, that "his intellect was all
feeling, and his feeling all intellect."
Dwight Foster came to the Bar just a week after I did. But
I ought not to omit him in any account of the Massachusetts
lawyers or Judges of my time.
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