from 1851 to 1867 155

with an ability to win popularity,¹ and in 1839,
when twenty-five years old, he had been elected
a member of the House of Delegates. He had
been re-elected in 1840 and in 1841; and in 1841
had been made Speaker of the House. He had
not had much practice in the law as yet, and
when in 1844, at the age of thirty, he had been
appointed by Governor Francis Thomas to fill a
vacancy on the bench of the sixth district, includ-
ing Baltimore, the appointment had been severe-
ly condemned by the bar and the newspapers.
Unknown to the bar, however, LeGrand had been
laboring hard to equip himself as a lawyer, and,
as it proved, laboring to good advantage. Rev-
erdy Johnson, at a memorial meeting after Judge
LeGrand's death, said:

He was at the time of his being appointed Associate Justice
so young and so inexperienced that his nomination took the pro-
fession by surprise and filled most of them with solicitude. In
this apprehension I have some pride in remembering that I did
not participate. My acquaintance with him, though not then
of an intimate character, was, however, such as fitted me, I
thought, to estimate his qualification for that highest of all
functions, the function of a judge. To me his talents were ap-
parent ; his love of professional distinction ardent; his capability
of study great, and his perceptive faculties so quick and gen-
erally so accurate, his bearing so polite and courteous, that I
entertained no doubt of his rapid and complete success. His
career, even at the first term of his Court, fully justified the
expectations and hopes of his friends.

There is repeated mention in newspapers and
elsewhere during years following of the surprise
of the bar at the training and ability exhibited
at once by the new judge, and exhibited to the
bar at large for the first time. The Baltimore

1. Scharf, History of Baltimore City and County, 718.