successfully to his profession and many spare hours to poetry and other compositions, he yet found time to now and then on the lec ture platform deliver some admirable lec tures. Among them his lectures on Daniel O'Connell, John Brown, John Randolph and Henry Clay are the most notable. He has always taken a very decided posi tion and has always maintained a rigid ad herence to the democracy of the early fathers of the republic, and has raised his voice against the departure from the faith and doc trines of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. In 1872 and 1886 he was presidential elector on the Cleveland ticket. Mr. Lucas was a regent of the State Uni versity for eight years and in July, 1876, was unanimously elected professor of law in that institution, which he declined, and in the same year he declined the appointment of judge of the Circuit Court as his practice would not warrant his acceptance of these positions. In 1884 the State University honored him with the degree of LL. D., worthily accepted and bestowed. In 1884 he was a member of the State legislature and while there he became the worthy champion of the common people and advocated greater equality of tax ation on all classes of property, and was par ticularly bitter against what he claimed were the unjust privileges possessed by the rail road Hecompanies was instrumental in this State. in the defeat of Johnson N. Camden for the United States senate and he gathered around him in this political fight a small coterie of his own party inspired and held together by the vigor, de fiance and ability of their leader. At this session in the early part of 1887, no senator was .elected and on its adjournment Governor Wilson appointed Mr. Lucas United States senator, but at a special session held in April, Charles James Faulkner was elected senator.
On the death of Judge Green his former partner, Mr. Lucas was appointed to the Su preme Court of Appeals in December, 1889. pired In term 1890 and he was served elected untilto January, fill this unex1893. His opinions are marked by careful thought and a full knowledge of the law, and are expressed in language correct and with a grace that bears the touch and taste of the scholar. Mr. Lucas has read original poems on special occasions that have brought him into significant and marked attention by the pub lic and men of letters, at the semi-centennial of the University of Virginia, 1879, at the Delta Kappa Epsilon Literary Society for the northwest at Chicago, October 19, 1887, at the annual banquet of the New York Southern Society held in that city Febru ary 22, 1888, and at other places. Among the literary productions of Judge Lucas may be mentioned " The Wreath of Eglantine," " The Maid of Northumberland," "A volume of Poems," " Ballads and Madri gals," 1884. Judge Lucas is most happy in his afterdinner speeches; they sparkle with wit and in them are often found gems of literary beauty. He is not a robust man and yet has been capable of great labor and usefulness and is an honor to the two Virginias. His varied experience in so many lines of labor have tended to strengthen rather than weaken his effectiveness and success in the law, his chosen profession. He was married in 1869 to Miss Lena Brooke of Richmond, Virginia; they have one daughter, an only child. Mr. Lucas still continues* his practice with success, his eye has not dimmed, nor his voice weakened, nor has his strength abated, but he still meets on common ground each and every foe that cares to try the keenness of his blade.
