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��Hon. JosiaJi Qiiincy.
��himself to the store, or the business of the store, to the neglect of his law. He early adopted the practice of trj'ing his own causes, and arguing them at tlie law- terms, showing much self-reliance, as well as a knowledge of the law. While he was a copartner in many mercantile firms, he nev'er had a ])artner in the law. Many students read law in his office and under his direction, yet none of them ever became partners with him. He preferred to have the entire management of his law-business all to himself. He chose to work in his own. way, to bear his own burdens, and not to share his responsibilities or his fees, which were never exorbitant, with any partner.
In 1824 he was elected as a member of the New-Hampshire House of Rep- resenatives from Rumney, and he was re-elected in 1825. He took a good position there as a young member. He was a ready debater and an effec- tive speaker. He took an active part in politics all through the active years of his life. He commenced life as a Federalist : but after coming to Rumney he became a Democrat, and always voted with that party, though later in life he differed from many in the party upon the question of the extension of slaver)' ; and, when the war of the Re- bellion broke out, he took open and decided ground in favor of the Union and the Union cause, and against seces- sion, rebellion, and disunion in all its forms.
During the early years of ]Mr. Quincy's practice, it was the custom for certain distinguished lawyers " to ride the circuit," as it was termed, and attend the courts in most of the counties in the State. Among these were Bartlett, Sullivan, Woodbur)', E. Webster. Joseph Bell, and Joel Parker.
��There were some of them engaged in most of the trials before the jury and in the law-courts, in Grafton County. Sometimes one of these appeared with Mr. Quincy, in his causes in the law- terms ; but he oftener appeared alone, until he had acquired a position at the bar which made his services desirable as senior counsel in assisting his younger brethren and others in the trial of their causes.
In the later years of his practice he was engaged in most of the important trials in the eastern district, and in many in the western district, and in other coun- ties in the State. Among the lawyers nearly of his age, and w'ith whom he was early associated in his practice, were Goodall and ^^'oods and Livermore of Bath, Bellows of Littleton, Wilcox and Britton of Orford, Kittredge and Weeks of Canaan, Blaisdell of Lebanon, West- gate of Enfield, Thompson of Plymouth, and Thompson of Haverhill, and a little later Hibbard of Bath, and many others ; to say nothing of those who survive, and are now the oldest mem- bers of the ba'- in Grafton and other counties of the State. After I com- menced practice, Goodall and Wilcox and Quincy and Kittredge and Perley, soon followed by Hibbard and ]\Iorri- son, were for a time engaged in most of the trials, filling a large place in the trial and the law-terms of the courts in the county.
In September, 1831, he, with his wife, joined the Calvinist Baptist Church in Rumney, of which he remained a mem- ber through life. He always took a deep interest in the prosperity of his church and of the denomination. I have been told that, after uniting with the church, thinking that he had not been sufficiently liberal in his contri- butions to religious objects, he gave a
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