energies. Here was his ambition, and it cannot be doubted that at last he stood without his peer, princeps inter principes.

Quintilian tells us that a successful lawyer must be a good man. By this I suppose is meant that he must have a character for integrity which will inspire confidence. Mr. Peck had this in a remarkable degree. Everybody believed not only in his ability, but also in his honesty. His word was law. Hence his opinion was sought from far and near. Every client he ever had was sure to return in new emergencies, and, when again he departed it was with renewed and enlarged confidence.

His kindness and patience in listening to the tedious and almost senseless recital of imaginary wrongs by moneyless clients is also worthy of remark. In the very height of his professional reputation, I doubt if he ever refused to counsel a client, however poor he might be, or however small the controversy, and I need hardly say in this presence that such controversies are sometimes as intricate and difficult of solution as they are petty and insignificant in magnitude.

He was seldom, if ever, angry; never abusive. I can safely say that I never knew him to speak ill of any person. I do not doubt he had his dislikes, but if he had he kept them to himself. He had no petty jealousy of his brethren at the bar. He never believed it necessary to success that it should be built upon the ruins of his fellows. "With malice toward none and charity for all," his ambition was to rise by his own merit, and give others the same opportunity.

His courtesy, too, to the younger members of the bar was proverbial. For many years his position was commanding. His opinion was therefore sought by those younger than himself. Who of us does not remember his forbearance and patience?

Mr. Peck was slow in forming his opinions. Every loophole in a question was revolved over and over in his mind before any definite conclusion was announced. A leading,

though homely, maxim with him was, "Be sure you are right, He believed in the advice of Polonius

and then go ahead!"

to his son,

"Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel: but being in

Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee."

He was peaceful in his habits, and for many years before his death was more inclined to advise settlements than to bring suits. His friends were few, but, as a general rule, very select. These he bound to his heart with hooks of steel. In this connection I cannot refrain from speaking of his reticence. By those who did not know him well this has been taken for coldness. But it was very far from that.

Mr. Peck was one of the most sensitive men I ever knew. Hence he was not obtrusive. His sensibilities were delicate and his apparent reserve was the result of a retiring modesty, rather than coldness of heart. He was, on the contrary, I confidently affirm, one of the kindest hearted men I ever knew. If he did a favor, it was quite as apt to be behind your back as to your face. If he bestowed charity it was with no ostentation. If done at all, it was because it was proper and right, not because it might or might not be talked about.

I have already alluded to the force of habit upon him. When once the wheels were in the groove, it was difficult to get him out of it. I remember well when we moved into our new office about 1860. Many a time have I known him to pass on to the old office, and never discover his mistake until he had arrived at the stairway or the door. It was many months before he felt at home in our new quarters, and I believe his old sign never came down from over the old office until a year or two before he died.

Mr. Peck never pressed a debtor. I never knew him to dun one, even. But while he never troubled others, he was always prompt in his engagements, and they were fulfilled. with no quibbling, no misunderstandings. In short he had a

homely, old fashioned honesty, and he was particularly attracted towards one who had the same. His dealings with other members of the bar were of the same character. He was open, frank, straightforward, and he was never found in any different position to-day from what he was yesterday. Hence his word was a bond.

He delighted in the practice of the law; not so much in the contentions of the forum, as in the law as a science. His mind, whether in or out of court, was ever dwelling upon it. He thought of nothing else, cared for nothing else. Here was his heart, and here was he also. He had a mind and temperament peculiarly adapted to the scientific investigation of legal principles. For his mind, being active and strong, gave him great power of analysis, and his temperament being slow and cautious, no conclusion was announced until the analysis was complete. His chief excellence consisted in his power to separate and distinguish things essential from things of circumstance, and here he himself could only be his parallel. His clear discrimination easily penetrated the small clap-trap with which some lawyers attempt to conceal rather than elucidate the truth, and having a clear understanding himself he could make it clear to others also.

Mr. Peck was not a man of great general learning or high scholarly culture. His reading was generally, though not always, confined to the leather bound volumes of our office. There he revelled in perfect contentment. And as each new volume was issued he drank from the clear fountains of the law, and renewed again his acquaintance with old and familiar principles as applied to new cases.

He never indulged in satire or sarcasm; at most it could only be called a pleasantry. His kindness of heart forbade that he should wound the feelings of others.

He never ventured upon flights of imagination or sketches of fancy. He considered them as but small aids in the elucidation of truth, and when these arts were opposed to him.

they faded away into the thin air of nothingness as he exposed their worthlessness. For want of these arts it has sometimes been said that he was not a great jury advocate. If by this is meant he was not brilliant in his conceptions, and swift and rapid in that kind of imagery which captivates the fancy and pushes the mind momentarily from its true balance, I agree to it. But if the art of good advocacy consists in convincing the understanding and riveting the mind upon the vital and centralizing points of a case, then I think he was a great jury advocate, and his great success in this regard is the best proof of the truth of it. It should always be remembered that after the advocacy is over comes the rigid, unbending charge of the court. The minds of the jury quickly regain their equanimity and return to the pivotal points in the case.

But however this may be, his pre-eminence in the supreme court for more than than twenty years has never been questioned. It was remarked by Chief Justice Redfield, many years since, that he was the model lawyer of the state, and one of the most scholarly and appreciative of our present judges has often said that no man ever helped the court like Mr. Peck. The expression is peculiarly appropriate; for to help the court implies ability and willingness on his part, and confidence and trust on theirs. When Mr. Peck arose he stood, not the friend of his client alone, but also the friend of the court. Instantly they would lean forward to catch the measured tones of his voice, as principle after principle was announced, constituting an unbroken chain of logical deduction, never diverging or diffuse, but ever aiming at a given result, and when the conclusion was reached he always sat down. There was no repetition, no tautology.

His appearance here was always quiet; his style of address conversational. With great deference on his part, he and the court seemed to be conferring together. He was recognized their equal, and he never abused the high compliment. Hence the weight of his character gave great force to his arguments.

He was a man of few words, but they were spoken with great precision and measured accuracy.

For many years before his death I think he was not accustomed to rely upon cases to any great extent. When a cause was to be argued his first question was, what is right? and he never would fail to find some legal principle which would adapt itself to his view of the case. He never believed law was a code for the advancement of legalized trickery, but that in its proper administration it was co-extensive with the highest morality, and productive of the purest justice,

With such a head and such a heart Mr. Peck practiced for forty years in the courts of this state. True to his clients, true to the court, loved by the bar and respected by the public, he left behind him a reputation whose lustre will illumine these altars of justice so long as the votaries of the law shall study it as a science or practice it with fidelity. The future law student will find our reports full of the imprints of his masterly mind, and will read with unceasing delight those pages in which legal principles have been so discussed as to adapt themselves justly to the ever varying and changing circumstances of life.

The barbarous conception of the poet, that

"The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones,"

will find no verification in his case.

His gentleness, his courtesy, and the noble qualities of his heart will be remembered by all of us who are living, and the monuments of his learning, spread all over our jurisprudence, will be remembered by those who come after us.