Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/433

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The Green Bag.

speak of the love of God which filled his soul. 'Whenever,' said he to his physician, ' I have had anything good, I have always tried to share it with my friends. Doctor, I wish I could make you partake of the joy and peace I now feel.'" At the south end of the chamber of the Court of Appeals, in the capitol at Albany, stands a replica of the Washington statue. This most beautiful of American indoor portrait statues is the work of the celebrated Albany sculptor, Erastus D. Palmer. A reproduction of this accompanies this sketch, and satisfies the expectation of the personal appearance of the elegant, "courtly, and dignified gentleman whom it perpetuates. A portrait by Vanderlyn is in possession of the New York Historical Society, and represents Livingston in his court dress as Minister at Paris. It would have been more fitting if the statue at Albany could have faced to the east and looked out of the grand windows on the Hudson flowing at the base of the hill, and on those monster ships, " propelled by steam or fire," and carrying merchandise as well as passengers,

which vex her surface in daily trips to or from his native city. Placed as it is, it faces the portraits of the great Chief Justices of the State, Kent, Church and Folger. His fame as a lawyer and magistrate must yield to theirs, but the sum of all their bestowal and achievement for the political and material prosperity of the State and the Nation can not equal his

Note. — Since the foregoing was written, access to Mr. Clarkson's book, "The Biographical His tory of Clermont," has opened to me several matters of interest, including an interesting cor respondence between Livingston and Jay. It appears also that Livingston was in favor of negro emancipation and of negro suffrage. That he was absent-minded. That he was fond of hunting. That he was not destitute of humor — to determine whether ground corn-cobs were good fodder for cattle, he sent a lot to a miller for grinding, and when the miller asked for his pay, he informed him that he should have taken out his toll in the customary manner. Livingston spelled " plum " with a final b — showing that his thoughts were upright.