It was impossible to behold Mr. Tazewell--his majestic form and massive brow--without a vivid impression of the superiority of his intellectual powers; and this impression was invariably deepened whenever a suitable occasion called for their exercise. It may be truly said that he was coeval with the outburst of our Revolutionary struggle, the period of his birth having preceded but a year or two the Declaration of Independence. After a thorough preparatory discipline, we find his name inscribed on the catalogue of William and Mary College, contemporary with those of John Thompson (Curtius) of Petersburg, John Randolph of Roanoke, Robert B. 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." His calm dignity and colossal strength, his luminous masculine and searching logic, the vast extent and variety of his research, the large stores of his affluent knowledge, marshalled and arranged with consummate skill and judgment, together with the fascination of his purely unaffected, earnest manner, the magic power of his unstudied action, and the thrilling intonations of his deep rich voice, rendered him, in his best days, "before public assemblies, almost irresistible." He managed his strength to such advantage, that few men dared to grapple with him "in a pitched field of long and serious debate." His general tone and style in debate were marked by an intense earnestness, whilst his narrative, possessing, from its striking naturalness and simplicity, a high degree of dramatic interest, was occasionally relieved with splendid passages of impassioned and stirring eloquence. Intrepid self-reliance, unwearied activity, far-reaching sagacity, clearness, and fulness, were the prominent characteristics of Mr. Tazewell's mind. Comprehending with intuitive glance the whole field of argument, he "launched into his