d the Rev. Mr. Blair led the
two parties of players. Marshall played first, and rang the meg.
Parson Blair did the same, and his quoit came down plumply on top of
Marshall's. There was uproarious applause, which drew out all the others
from the dinner; and then came an animated controversy as to what should
be the effect of this exploit. They all returned to the table, had
another bottle of champagne, and listened to arguments, one from
Marshall, pro se, and one from Wickham for Parson Blair. [Marshall's]
argument is a humorous companion piece to any one of his elaborate
judicial opinions. He began by formulating the question, 'Who is winner
when the adversary quoits are on the meg at the same time?' He then
stated the facts, and remarked that the question was one of the true
construction and applications of the rules of the game. The first one
ringing the meg has the advantage. No other can succeed who does not
begin by displacing this first one. The parson, he willingly allowed,
deserves to rise higher and higher in everybody's esteem; but then he
mustn't do it by getting on another's back in this fashion. That is
more like leapfrog than quoits. Then, again, the legal maxim, Cujus est
solum, ejus est usque ad coelum--his own right as first occupant extends
to the vault of heaven; no opponent can gain any advantage by squatting
on his back. He must either bring a writ of ejectment, or drive him out
vi et armis. And then, after further argument of the same sort, he asked
judgment, and sat down amidst great applause. Mr. Wickham then rose,
and made an argument of a similar pattern. No rule, he said, requires an
impossibility. Mr. Marshall's quoit is twice as large as any other; and
yet it flies from his arm like the iron ball at the Grecian games from
the arm of Ajax. It is impossible for an ordinary quoit to move it. With
much more of the same sort, he contended that it was a drawn game. After
very animated voting, designed to keep up the uncertainty as long as
possible, it was so decided. Another trial was had, and Marshall clearly
won." *

* J. B. Thayer, "John Marshall" ("Riverside Biographical Series,"
1904), pp. 13436, paraphrasing G. W. Munford, "The Two Parsons"
(Richmond, 1884), pp. 326-38.

Years later Chester Harding, who once painted Marshall, visited the
Club. "I watched," says he, "for the coming of the old chief. He soon
approached, with his coat on his arm and his hat in his hand, which he
was usin