From that proud eminence in the early morning of May Nicholas Hill descended to the tomb-closing a spotless life in the full maturity of his power, in all the warmth of his affections, and while yet the sun of his existence seemed at noonday. By those who value truth and honor manhood, who reverence intellect, and love all that is generous and noble in human character, his memory will be cherished as among the most precious recollections of life, and by the purest and greatest of those who survive him, his example may be viewed with profit; and it will be well with any, who at the close of life are worthy to fill a grave such as received all that was mortal of Nicholas Hill. "By most all of those with whom the name of our departed brother was familiar, he will be remembered only as a great lawyer. To some of us he will be cherished in a nearer and kindlier relation. Those he honored with his regard will prefer to think of him as he was when he withdrew from labor and surrendered himself to the enjoyments of the hour. They will not forget his genial and generous nature, his graceful humor, the warmth of his friendship, and the thousand nameless qualities that made up the perfection of his character. Those who knew him only as the acknowledged leader of an honored profession, knew but little of the man. It was when, in the chosen circle of his friends, he left behind him his books and his briefs, that you were made acquainted with the excellent qualities of his heart. To those who knew him not, he may sometimes have seemed austere and distant, but to those he knew and loved, he was 'sweet as summer.' I prefer to cherish him as a valued friend, who has too early left us for an undiscovered country. I shall long remember our last interview on the last day of his life. Disease had laid its heavy hand upon him, but his mind was clear, and the energy and warmth of his affections had suffered no abatement. He felt con scious that he had been overtasked, and, I think, regretted that he had subjected his frail organization to such unremitting and exhausting toil. But he looked forward to the return of health, and to a season of repose; and yet there was a lingering doubt in his own mind, if that day would ever come. Alas! it never came. Within a few hours he passed from sleep to death, and there remains of him but the record of his toils and triumphs, and the memory of what he was. He died in the meridian of manhood, a victim to his own ceaseless devotion to the profession that now mourns his loss. "So the struck eagle stretched upon the plain, That winged the shaft which quivered in his heart.' "However distinguished we may be or have been in this life, upon the bed of death man returns to his individuality. He must die unaided and unsupported by human effort. Neither the applause of his fellow men nor the affection of friends and kindred can support him in that hour. All the honors of earth are then as valueless to the possessor as the withered leaves which the winds of autumn will scatter over his grave. Those who sit in the judgment seat and dispense human justice will in their turn bow to that fixed and unalterable law of being, which dedicates all that is mortal to decay and death. In view of that solemn hour, the impressive lesson of the life and death of him we mourn will not pass unheeded. It comes too near us to be viewed with unconcern. I need not pause to impress it upon the attention of those who but yesterday looked into the new made grave of him, who, according to the standard of human judgment was entitled to "crown a life of labor with an age of ease;" but to whom, in the mysterious Providence of God, it was not permitted to find rest from his labors, except amid the habitations of the dead. "In that silent resting place, we leave him to the rewards which are promised to the pure in spirit, the blameless in life, and the upright in heart." DANIEL LORD. His name intimately associated with the Bar of the State.-Lord Brougham's description of Percival applies to Mr. Lord.-Mr. Lord as a Counselor and Advocate.His Birth.-A Son of Dr. Daniel Lord.-Character of Dr. Lord.-His Heroic Conduct During the Prevalence of the Yellow Fever in New York, in 1798.-The Early Home of Daniel Lord.-His love for it.-Daniel Prepares for College.Studies the French Language.-His love of that Language continued through Life. Continues to Read French Authors.-Describes Voltaire in a Letter to a Friend. Enters Yale College.-Dr. Dwight.-The Books which Mr. Lord Read while in College.-His Love of the Bible.-Pleasing Incident on Board of a Steamboat. Mr. Lord Believed to be a Distinguished Clergyman.-How the Mistake was Discovered.-A Pious Lawyer Found.-Mr. Lord Decides to Enter the Legal Profession.-Enters the Office of George Griffin as a Student.-Description of Mr. Griffin.-The Great Trial of the People v. Goodwin.-Mr. Griffin's Great Speech.-Scene at the Trial.-Mr. Lord Admitted to the Bar.-His Marriage. His Discouraging Prospects as a Lawyer.- Prosperity Slowly Commences.-Death of a favorite Child.-Its Effect on Mr. Lord.-Mr. Lord Continues his Struggles to Gain a Foothold in the Profession.--Mr. Lord and Charles O'Conor.-Anecdote Related by Mr. O'Conor.-Mr. Lord at last Gains a High Reputation in the City Courts.-His First Case in the Supreme Court.--Mr. Lord as a Chancery Lawyer.-The Case of Grover v. Wakeman.-Argues it against Abraham Van Vechten and William H. Seward.-Lord Succeeds.-Case Appealed to Court of Errors.-Mr. Lord argues it in that Court against Samuel A. Talcott and Benjamin F. Butler.-Talcott and Butler described.-Mr. Lord again Succeeds. Result of his Success.-Important Cases in which he was Engaged, described. Mr. Lord's Love of Literature.-Mr. Evarts a Student in his Office. -Anecdote of Mr. Evarts.-Mr. Lord's Habits.-His Domestic and Religious Character. He unites with the Brick Church in New York.-Remark of Rev. J. O. Murray. Mr. Lord Threatened with Paralysis.-Fears of his Family.-Touching Scene in his Family Devotion.-The Dreaded Hour.-Scene of his Death. No name is more intimately associated with the bar of the State of New York than that of Daniel Lord-no name calls up more pleasing recollections than his; for in him were blended those qualities which are admired by the man of business, the scholar, the lawyer, the judge, and all who venerate virtue, religion, and talent. As Lord Brougham said of Percival, “He was a warm and steady friend, a man of the strictest integ rity and nicest sense, both of honor and justice, in all the relations of society wholly without a stainthough envy might find whereon to perch, malice itself, even in the exasperating collisions of the bar, never could descry a spot on which to fasten." As a counselor and advocate, his characteristic features were strength and originality of thought. His intellectual efforts brought with them, both in form and style, the stamp of his own mind and of mental independence. His mind was a well arranged legal library, where he could easily lay his hand upon whatever he desired. He was always strong before a jury, and in cases which called out all his faculties, he was eloquent, often impressive, occasionally ardent, though his ardor was rather the offspring of strong reason than the flow of imagination-the result of a strong prepossession of the justice of his case, than the power of sentiment or of ideality. He made no claim to the external graces of the orator-no parade of learning. He did not enter any field of argument in the glittering panoply of science and erudition, wielding at pleasure all its arms; but like Hercules with his club, he used a single massive weapon familiar to his hand, smoothed and polished by frequent use, and that was the law. He entered the legal profession in the glow of youthful ambition, gradually winning his way to its highest honors,-in the meridian of his life a chieftain; in its decline a veteran-a champion with his armor on, still braced for the contest-moving triumphantly over that field of strife which he never abandoned for political distinction or the emoluments of office. He was born at Stonington, Connecticut, on the second day of September, 1795. He was an only child of Dr. Daniel Lord, a physician of respectable attainments, but a man little calculated for the rough contacts and hard struggles of life. Dreamy and scholastic in his nature, with a book ever before him, he would forget his trials in the beautiful creations of |