Paul Carrington's letter of resignation from the Supreme Court of Appeals,

sent to Governor William H. Cabell.

cold legal view of the dower claim, which they disallowed. It is possible also that he had other light on the matter -as inevitably happens sometimes--beyond the compass of the record; for we find that the land involved lay in his County of Charlotte and very near to his own land. At all events, qualities, for the most part dormant, but which formed the motive power of his outward judicial demeanor and acts, were revealed. And once again, in Austin v. Winston, 1 H. & M. 32, at p. 50, we find him speaking out with the same point and emphasis in these words:

"But, so far as respects myself, it is not to be considered that any principle is here fixed so as to operate as a precedent in other cases. This decree is adopted to fit the present case only: and it is hoped that so gross a fraud may not again be brought before this Court."

When his public life was over, Judge Carrington went back to "Mulberry Hill," in Charlotte County, which had been his home from early manhood. With ample lands and a substantial, though simple, house, he had created there an establishment that was typical of the large plantation life of that time. It was to "Mulberry Hill" that, as a young man, he had brought his first wife, Margaret Read, the daughter of his old employer in the County Clerk's office; and long years afterwards Priscilla Sims, the young girl of sixteen, whom he married at an advanced age on March 6, 1792, and whom also he was to survive by many years. The place has never passed out of his family and is now the home of one of his great great grand-daughters. The original house, with subsequent additions, still stands. Much remains there that is reminiscent of his day, though very little of a personal nature. And there he rests in a grave, practically unmarked-a strange neglect, but attributable to that same carelessness in earlier days already referred to.

There were ten children altogether of the two marriages, most of whom came to maturity. From that full quiver the shafts have been cast far and wide, till now the number of his descendants is not readily to be reckoned.

At "Mulberry Hill" he lived out the full span of years yet before him, in quietness and in contemplation no doubt upon the important scenes through which he had passed, varied by the responsibilities that came to all then of large domestic affairs. We have glimpses in the letters referred to of the old man and his thoughts and something of the manner of his life during these closing years. The impression still is of simplicity, directness, and steadfastness. He has on his mind and tries to meet fully-he is all alone; even the second wife is long gonethe responsibilities upon him for the young family of children, the second set, who are growing up around him. After the manner of a painstaking and exact nature-the lawyer who, as Grigsby tells us, was a practical man of business and kept his books with such neatness and precision-he enjoins on his son at Princeton the value of economy and of keeping correct accounts of his expenditures; which, he says, "I never could obtain from my elder sons"- as no more, apparently, from this one. And, perhaps wearied with the whole matter, he adds, with just a note of sarcasm, it would seem, "I thought Mr. Cameron taught you arithmetick and the manner of keeping accounts." The same son also he chides as to one of his associates, whom he disapproves, concluding his description of the objectionable character with the quaint comment that "he is perfectly an idle young man." But every letter shows tenderness and concern. “I wish you," he says in one of them, "to pursue your studies with care and diligence, and be able to satisfy me in future, that my living alone for your sake has not been in vain." There is evidently a pathetic longing in the heart of the lonely old father for the absent boy who had been with him after the older sons were long gone and as the years drew on.

The justness that impressed so many had found expression in some pointed incidents of his life. The instance most often told was his refusal to take advantage of his right of primogeniture, as the law then stood, in the large estate of his father, who died intestate. This was but just, as the father had made him an advancement and had left an incomplete and unexecuted will expressing, in the main, his wishes as to his property. But not every one would have resisted the temptation to ac