16 SKETCHES OF THE
to master its learning, the situation of his affairs forbade an extensive coui-se of reading. In addition to these obstacles, the business of the profession, in that quar- ter, was ah'eady in hands from which it was not easily to be taken; for (to mention no others) judge Lyons, the late president of the court of appeals, was then at the bar of Hanover and the adjacent counties, with an un- rivalled reputation for legal learning; and Mr. John Lewis, a man, also, of very respectable legal attain- ments, occupied the whole field of forensic eloquence. Mr. Heniy, himself, seems to have hoped for nothing more from the profession than a scanty subsistence for himself and his family, and his preparation was suited to these humble expectations; for to the study of a pro- fession, which is said to require the lucubrations of twenty years, Mr. Henry devoted not more than six weeks.* On this preparation, however, he obtained a license to practise the law. How he passed with two of the examiners, I have no intelligence; but he himself used to relate his interview with the third. This was no other than Mr. John Randolph, who was afterwards the king^s attorney general for the colony; a gentleman of the most courtly elegance of person and manners, a polished wit, and a profound lawyer. At first, he was so much shocked by Mr. Henry^s very ungainly figure and address, that he refused to examine him: under- standing, however, that he had already obtained two sig- natures, he entered, with manifest reluctance, on the business. A very short time was sufficient to satisfy him of the erroneous conclusion which he had drawn from the exterior of the candidate. With evident marks
- So say Mr. Jefferson and judge Winston. Mr. Pope says nine months.
Col. Meredith and Capt. Dabney, six or eight months. Judge Tyler, one month ; and he adds, " This 1 had from his own lips. In this time, he read Coke upon Littleton, and the Virginia laws.'*
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