124 court of appeals of maryland

sively on the resources of his genius. He chas-
tened, improved and invigorated it by constant
study, and laborious discipline." Pinkney, per-
haps, carried his labor too far. He wrote,⁴¹
"There are those among my friends who wonder
that I will go abroad, however honorable the
service. They know not how I toil at the bar;
they know not all my anxious days and sleepless
nights; I must breathe awhile; the bow forever
bent will break." And Wirt, who was a musi-
cian, said,⁴² "I am satisfied with being at concert
pitch. Pinkney wanted to be an octave above
it. Harper died of angina pectoris" And of
Wirt himself we are told that he had a store of
classical learning, and besides, occupied much of
his leisure with theology and philosophy, and he
was a hard worker. Latrobe says :⁴³

I was never satisfied that Mr. Wirt was a profound lawyer.
But he was a most laborious one. The trouble he took in the
preparation of his part of a case was wonderful. In the great
case of the Canal and R. R. 4 Gill and J. 1, I was junior
counsel with Mr. Taney and Reverdy Johnson, Mr. Wirt and
Mr. Walter Jones on the other side. From the window of my
room at Annapolis I could look into Mr. Wirt's room across
the yard of the hotel, and at two o'clock in the morning I have
seen him on a hot summer night, in his shirt sleeves, busily
engaged in writing, where I had seen him at the same work
since supper time. He had, when he spoke, not only written
out his whole argument, but he had rewritten it, that he might
improve and condense it. I know this was so for he showed me
two manuscripts. * * * But it is an error to suppose, as I
have heard it said, that he was not a fluent extemporaneous
speaker.

41. Wheaton, 147.

42. Kennedy, II, 239.

43. Semmes, 201. Mr. Latrobe's recollections seem to be confused
here; the Canal Company case was argued in December and
January.