Discourse of the Life and Character of the Hon. Littleton Waller TazewellGrigsby, Hugh Blair
History
Discourse of the Life and Character of the Hon. Littleton Waller Tazewell
Grigsby, Hugh Blair
Tazewell, Littleton Waller, 1774-1860
Thus a very great man has passed away from our midst--a man who was long
and justly honored for his profound learning; surpassed by few, if any,
in any country. His mind was an immense and well-stored intellectual
repository, whence intelligence, varied, rich, and valuable, was drawn
at pleasure or as occasion required. Powerful as an orator, brilliant as
a writer, scarcely equalled in his knowledge of the great principles of
law, his irresistible grasp of intellect astonished thousands in former
days--bright and clear as "the cloudless azure of the upper sky."
The proceedings of the meeting of the members of the bar were very
appropriate. All the addresses were eloquent and impressive. The
speakers aptly mentioned his splendid and successful career as a lawyer,
his wonderful legal acquirements, and irresistible eloquence. One of the
gentlemen alluded to the fact that the merchant princes of London and
the priests of Rome were among those who sought his opinion upon great
and important questions, that had puzzled the astute statesmen of other
countries.
The last survivor of a noble intellectual triumvirate, of which Norfolk
could boast for a time, surpassing the models of antiquity in power and
splendor of forensic triumph, has passed away. That triumvirate is now
demolished. Taylor, Wirt, and Tazewell have all passed away; this last
and most polished shaft now dimmed--Tazewell--just now gone to the
grave, "venerable with the ivy of age, and eloquent of greater than
classic memories."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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