of a hill. The private dwellings scattered about were poor, mean, little
wooden houses." "Main Street was still unpaved, deep with dust when dry
and so muddy during a rainy season that wagons sank up to the axles." It
ended in gullies and swamps. Trade, which was still in the hands of the
British merchants, involved for the most part transactions in skins,
furs, ginseng, snakeroot, and "dried rattlesnakes--used to make a viper
broth for consumptive patients." "There was but one church building and
attendance was scanty and infrequent." Not so, however, of Farmicola's
tavern, whither card playing, drinking, and ribaldry drew crowds,
especially when the legislature was in session. *

* Beveridge, vol. I, pp. 171-73.

But there was one institution of which Richmond could boast, even in
comparison with New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, and that was its Bar.
Randolph, Wickham, Campbell, Call, Pendleton, Wythe--these are names
whose fame still survives wherever the history of the American Bar is
cherished; and it was with their living bearers that young Marshall now
entered into competition. The result is somewhat astonishing at first
consideration, for even by the standards of his own day, when digests,
indices, and the other numerous aids which now ease the path of the
young attorney were generally lacking, his preparation had been slight.
Several circumstances, however, came to his rescue. So soon after the
Revolution British precedents were naturally rather out of favor, while
on the other hand many of the questions which found their way into
the courts were those peculiar to a new country and so were without
applicable precedents for their solution. What was chiefly demanded of
an attorney in this situation was a capacity for attention, the ability
to analyze an opponent's argument, and a discerning eye for fundamental
issues. Competent observers soon made the discovery that young Marshall
possessed all these faculties to a marked degree and, what was just as
important, his modesty made recognition by his elders easy and gracious.

From 1782 until the adoption of the Constitution, Marshall was almost
continuously a member of the Virginia Legislature. He thus became a
witness of that course of policy which throughout this period daily
rendered the state governments more and more "the hope of their enemies,
the despair of their friends." The termination of hostilities against
England had relaxed the already feeble b