oped in that career; and his share in public life, under a subsequent state of things, must be considered as subordinate and unimportant. His private habits were simple, frugal and unostentatious. Notwithstanding the austerity of his character, his aspect was mild, dignified and gentlemanly. He was entirely superior to pecuniary considerations, and, after having been so many years in the public service, must have been buried at the public expense, if the afflicting death of an only son had not remedied this honorable poverty.
JAMES OTIS.
James Otis, a distinguished American patriot, was born February 5,
1724-5, at Great Marshes, in what is now called West Barnstable, Mass.
His family was one of the most respectable in the colony, and of English
origin. In June, 1739, he entered Cambridge college. The first two
years of his collegiate course are said to have been given more to amusement
than to study, his natural disposition being vivacious and ardent; but
subsequently he was distinguished for his application and proficiency. After
finishing his course at the university, he devoted eighteen months to the
pursuit of various branches of literature, and then entered upon the study
of the law in 1745, in the office of Mr. Gridley. Under that eminent lawyer
he employed his legal novitiate, and then went to Plymouth, where he
was first admitted to the bar. The two years, however, of his residence in
that town, were more occupied in study than in practice, so that, when he
removed to Boston, in 1750, he was well qualified to assume a high rank
in his profession. This he quickly did: his practice became very extensive.
On one occasion, he went, in the middle of the winter, to Halifax,
in consequence of urgent solicitation, to defend three men accused of piracy,
and procured their acquittal. Although his professional engagements
were so numerous, he cultivated his taste for literature, and, in 1760, published
a treatise, entitled the Rudiments of Latin Prosody, with a Dissertation
on Letters and the Principles of Harmony, in poetic and prosaic Composition,
collected from the best Writers. He also composed a similar work
on Greek prosody, which remained in manuscript, and perished with all his
papers. It was never printed, as he said, because 'there were no Greek
types in the country, or, if there were, no printer knew how to set them.'
In 1755, he married Miss Ruth Cunningham, the daughter of a respectable merchant, who brought him a dowry at that time considered very large. Amid all the embarrassments which his affairs subsequently experienced, in consequence of his entire devotion to the concerns of the public, he sacredly preserved the fortune which he received with his wife, to whom it returned after his death. The public career of Mr. Otis dates from the period when he made his famous speech against the 'writs of assistance,' for which an application had been made, by the officers of the customs, to the superior court of Massachusetts, in pursuance of an order in council, sent from England, to enable them to carry into effect the acts of parliament regulating the trade of the colonies. When that order arrived, Otis was advocate-general, and was, consequently, requested to lend his professional assistance in the matter; but, deeming the writs to be illegal and tyrannical, he refused, and resigned his station. He was then applied to, to argue against the writs, which he immediately undertook to do, in con-
