endance upon Court in February, 1832, and daily walked
several miles to and from the Capitol. In the following January his
health appeared to be completely restored. "He seemed," says Story, with
whom he messed, along with Justices Thompson and Duval, "to revive, and
enjoy anew his green old age." This year Marshall had the gratification
of receiving the tribute of Story's magnificent dedication of his
"Commentaries" to him. With characteristic modesty, the aged Chief
Justice expressed the fear that his admirer had "consulted a partial
friendship farther than your deliberate judgment will approve." He was
especially interested in the copy intended for the schools, but he felt
that "south of the Potomac, where it is most wanted it will be least
used," for, he continued, "it is a Mohammedan rule never to dispute
with the ignorant, and we of the true faith in the South adjure the
contamination of infidel political works. It would give our orthodox
nullifyer a fever to read the heresies of your Commentaries. A whole
school might be infected by the atmosphere of a single copy should it be
placed on one of the shelves of a bookcase."

Marshall sat on the Bench for the last time in the January term of 1835.
Miss Harriet Martineau, who was in Washington during that winter, has
left a striking picture of the Chief Justice as he appeared in these
last days. "How delighted," she writes, "we were to see Judge Story
bring in the tall, majestic, bright-eyed old man,--old by chronology, by
the lines on his composed face, and by his services to the republic; but
so dignified, so fresh, so present to the time, that no compassionate
consideration for age dared mix with the contemplation of him."

Marshall was, however, a very sick man, suffering constant pain from a
badly diseased liver. The ailment was greatly aggravated, moreover, by
"severe contusions" which he received while returning in the stage from
Washington to Richmond. In June he went a second time to Philadelphia
for medical assistance, but his case was soon seen to be hopeless. He
awaited death with his usual serenity, and two days before it came he
composed the modest epitaph which appeared upon his tomb: JOHN MARSHALL,
SON OF THOMAS AND MARY MARSHALL, WAS BORN ON THE 24TH OF SEPTEMBER,
1755, INTERMARRIED WITH MARY WILLIS AMBLER THE 3D OF JANUARY, 1783,
DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE -- DAY OF --,18 --. He died the evening of July
6,1835, surrounded by three of his sons. The death