21. AN AMERICAN LAW STUDENT OF A HUNDRED YEARS AGO ^ By James Kent ^ New York, October 6th, 1828. DEAR SIR : — Your very kindly & friendly letter of the 15th ult. was duly received, and also your argument in the Case of Ivey vs. Pinson. I have read the Pamphlet with much interest & pleasure. It is composed with mas- terly ability, of this there can be no doubt, & without pre- suming to give any opinion on a great case, still Sub Judice, & only argued before me on one side, I beg leave to express my highest respect for the law reasoning & doctrine of the argument, & my admiration of the spirit, & eloquence which animate it. My attention was very much fixed on the peru- sal, & if there be any lawyer in this State who can write a better argument in any point of view I have not the honor of his acquaintance. As to the rest of your letter concerning my life & studies, I hardly know what to say, or to do. Your letter & argu- ment, & character & name have impressed me so favorablj^ that I feel every disposition to oblige you, if it be not too much at my own expense. My attainments are of too ordinary a character, & far too limited, justly to provoke such curiosity. I have had nothing more to aid me in all
- A letter to a correspondent in Tennessee, printed in the Green Bag
(Boston: Boston Book Co.), 189T, volume IX, pp. 206-211, with the fol- lowing note: "This letter was recently found in the old Capitol at Jackson, Miss. There is no record showing how it got there. The Thomas Washington to whom it was addressed was a lawyer of some note who lived at Nashville, Tenn." ^763-1847. Judge of the Supreme Court of New York, 1798; chief justice of the same Court, 1804-1814; chancellor of New York, 1814- 1823. Further biographical and bibliographical data appear in the letter. 837
