eschewed politics, and devoted
himself to his profession.

Some years before leaving Mississippi, Prentiss had married Miss
Williams, of Adams County. This lady was the daughter of James C.
Williams, a large planter; her mother was a Percy, descended from the
proud Percys of Northumberland, and was a most accomplished and
intellectual woman. Her position was the first among the first, and her
birth, blood, and attainments entitled her to the distinction. Her
daughter, grown up under her eye and training, was the mother's equal,
and fit companion for the man of her choice.

Prentiss had lost everything in the general crash, and was commencing
anew, with a growing family to provide for. His business rapidly
increased, and his displays at the Bar were frequent and wonderful.
Some of these, recited here, might, if such a necessity existed, serve
to illustrate his wonderful powers; but there are parties living whose
feelings might suffer, and hence I forbear. It is my earnest wish, in
recording these recollections, to offend no one; nor will I "set down
aught in malice."

The ardent and excitable temperament of Prentiss, combined with his
social qualities, required constant excitement. When employed with the
duties of his profession, or engaged in any matter of business
pertaining to politics, or his relations in any capacity with the
world, requiring attention, he was sufficiently excited to afford
escape for the restlessness of his mind; nor did this man seem fatigued
in such occupations sufficiently to require repose and rest. On the
contrary, it seemed to whet his desire for fiercer and more consuming
excitement. Whenever he went abroad, the crowd followed him, and the
presence of the increasing mass stimulated his feelings to mild, social
delight, and this led him too frequently to indulge beyond a proper
temperance in the exhilaration of wine. This, superadded to the fire of
his genius, was wearing fearfully his vigorous physique.

For the first time, in the case of fraud against James Irwin, in which
he made one of the most powerful efforts of his life, he manifested
mental as well as physical fatigue. It was my good fortune to listen to
that speech made to a New Orleans jury. I had listened many times to
his speeches, and had thought some of these could never be surpassed by
any man, not even by himself, and especially that delivered in Faneuil
Hall, Boston, and the one delivered from the steps of the court-hous