Ichabod Bartlett. Mason was a man of powerful physique, standing over six feet in height. Mr. Bart lett, on the other hand, was of undersize, and quick in every movement of gesture. It seems that one day at a trial, Mr. Mason was greatly annoyed by Mr. Bartlett (who was then a very young man), until at length he could bear it no longer, and he exclaimed contemptuously: "Why, I could put you in my pocket." " Then you'd have more law in your pocket than you have in your head," was the reply. Among the many important causes in which he was of counsel, there may be men tioned Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, ' the Exeter Bank robbery case, and the political libel suit of Upham v. Hill and Barton. With what a touch of sarcas tic humor he could impress his views upon the Court appears from his brief as reported in Erickson v. Willard, 1 N.H. 217. A testator expressed his desire that J. W. should at his discretion appropriate a part of the income of testator's estate, not ex ceeding fifty dollars a year, to the support of the widow. Mr. Bartlett said : — "The testator was a feeble and solitary female in the eve of life. The defendant was her re ligious teacher, the pastor of her church, writing an instrument making himself residuary legatee and executor of her estate, and with every pos sible inducement of interest not to create a leg acy out of himself contrary to her intention. Notwithstanding the clerical character of this executor, and the singleness of view with which he may have been supposed to have devoted himself to the spiritual concerns of his flock, the history of the ingenious stratagems with which the gentlemen of his cloth evaded all the skill and care of parliament from the 7th of Edw. I. to the 9th of Geo. II. shows that they are not always indifferent to their temporal interests . . . "The testator desires to be decently buried in the church yard of St. John's Church at the dis eretion of the executor. Now, apply to this 1 I N.H. Reports, III. Mr. Bartlett's argument has late ly been reprinted in the sixty-fifth volume of the N. H. Reports.
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period the construction contended for by the defendant, and let him have been as averse from expending, as paying over the property to legal claimants, and the testator's chance for burial would have been much more problematical than the good woman herself would ever have sus pected." While busy with a large practice, he found time to assume numerous duties lying outside of his profession. He was corres ponding secretary of an Agricultural So ciety, and in that capacity prepared an in teresting and valuable report on the subject of farming. He served as a bank director, and as a trustee of a savings-bank. In 18 18 he was made one of the trustees of Dart mouth University, then just incorporated. In 1827 he was chosen president of the New Hampshire Historical Society. He wrote a memorial sketch of N. A. Haven, Jr., a brother lawyer. All through his life he was in demand for the delivery of political addresses; or won great applause by the bright and sparkling style in which he "re sponded to toasts," to use the phrase then in vogue for what we now term " after-din ner speeches." It is the design of this article to revive a few memories of Mr. Bartlett as a lawyer, rather than to compass the entire range of his achievements as a distinguished son of New Hampshire. Yet a just estimate of his professional standing can scarcely be ar rived at, unless a glance at least be taken at his political career. Entering Congress at the age of thirty-seven, Mr. Bartlett quickly came to the front as a ready and formidable debater. Before he had abandoned politics to return to the exclusive practice of his profession, his keen and bold sallies upon the floor had won for him the unique title of "the Randolph of the North." He was elected a representative to Con gress in 1823, and was kept there until 1829, when he declined a renomination. He served on the Committee upon Naval Af fairs. Frequently he was called upon to
