The year 1883 also marked the retirement from the school of Hon. Henry W. Paine, who for eleven years had filled the chair of Lecturer on Real Property. "So thoroughly was he master of his subject, difficult and intricate as it confessedly is, that in not a single instance, except during the lectures of the last year, did he take a note or scrap of memoranda into the class-room."[A] In 1884, owing to the receipt of several large legacies, the University was enabled to provide new quarters for the Law School. A large and well-built house, No. 10 Ashburton place, was purchased by the corporation, and was at once remodelled in accordance with a careful plan which one of the best architects in the city had devised. This house was formerly the residence of the late Mr. Augustus H. Fiske, the well-known lawyer, who died many years ago. Mr. Fiske was a remarkable man. His practice was very extensive throughout Suffolk and Middlesex counties, and he is said to have been in the habit of entering more cases at the terms of the courts than any other lawyer of his day. He made it a point to reach his office before seven o'clock in the morning, and he generally remained there till late in the evening. The consequence was that he broke down rather early in life, and died in his prime. His early death, however, was not expected by the Bar. A short time before his last sickness he appeared as a witness in a certain case in Suffolk County, and at the conclusion of a long cross-examination at the hands of Henry W. Paine, Mr. Fiske inquired if Mr. Paine had any further questions to ask. "No, Brother Fiske," said Mr. Paine, "I think not,--but stay; you have just told us when you began practice; now, what your brethren of the Bar are more concerned in, is, when are you going to leave off?"--"Not till the last nail is driven in my coffin," was the answer. Soon after this Mr. Fiske fell sick, and Mr. Paine called on him at his house. Mr. Fiske was sitting up in bed taking a deposition in his night-gown, with the parties gathered about him. The next day he died.