There is an old Spanish proverb which says, "Tell me whom you live with, and I will tell you who you are." We can infer what manner of man he was from the fact that through life, he was held in the highest esteem by the enlightened men of the day. From the ranks of the virtuous and wise came his friends, and what a source of happiness it must have been to him. It has been well said: "There is no blessing of life that is in any way comparable to the enjoyment of a discreet and virtuous friend. It eases and unloads the mind, clears and improves the understanding, engenders thoughts and knowledge, animates virtue and good resolutions, soothes and allays the passions and finds enjoyment for most of the vacant hours of life." If this be true, and who can doubt it? how much greater the happiness to be blessed, not with one, but with many friends, and those friends, themselves worthy of every honor and praise. The steadiness and devotion of his friends is worthy of mention in this connection, they never deserted or betrayed him--on the contrary, through life, they gave him innumerable evidences of their appreciation. Some of his youthful college friends, they were not simply companions, among them Professor Comfort and the late John Yates, of Jefferson county, Virginia, visited him at Montgomery Hall, forty years after they parted at Princeton. And Mr. P's papers disclosed a correspondence with numerous others, such as John Sergeant, Joseph R. Ingersoll, Richard Rush, William Gaston, J. M. Berrien, of Georgia, and others of his earlier friends, all of whom became prominent men. For clearness of thought, force of reasoning and statesmanlike views on all questions of moment he had no superior, and such was his sense of justice and his impartiality, his powers of judicial analysis and insight, or the judicial character of his mind, that we have often heard the most gifted of his contemporaries regret that he had never sat upon the Justice Seat, where in their opinion, he would have equaled, if he did not surpass, the greatest judges who had adorned the bench of Virginia. * * * * * Notwithstanding his refusal to stand as a candidate for a Judgeship, he was voted for, in the General Assembly of Virginia in 1831-32, and came within a few votes of election. The result gave him satisfaction, for had he been chosen, he must have resigned, as unceremoniously as he was elected. He always explained to his supporters that he could not give up his extensive and lucrative practice, on account of his large and expensive family, for a poorly paid judgeship--and besides he preferred the active and exciting life of a lawyer, to that of a judge, or in a word, the bar to the bench. MR. PEYTON'S LETTER ON THE CONVENTION OF 1829-30.