OF

THEOPHILUS PARSONS,

CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT

OF MASSACHUSETTS;

WITH

NOTICES OF SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES.

BY HIS SON,

THEOPHILUS PARSONS.

BOSTON:

TICK NOR AND FIELDS.

M DCCC LIX.

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

GIFT OF

MRS. THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
MRS. MARGARET HIGGINSON BARNEY
OCT 9 1940

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by

THEOPHILUS PARSONS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE:

ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO.

TO THE HONORABLE

LEMUEL SHAW,

CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT

OF MASSACHUSETTS,

I DEDICATE

THIS SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A PREDECESSOR IN THE PLACE HE HAS NOW HELD FOR MANY YEARS; AND DURING ALL OF THEM HAS SO DISCHARGED ITS GREAT DUTIES, AND SO LIVED, THAT, FOR MANY YEARS TO COME, THE JUDICIARY WILL BE STRONGER AND THE REPUBLIC THEREFORE SAFER, BY REASON OF THE PROTECTION AND SECURITY HIS HIGH OFFICE DERIVES FROM THE UNI

VERSAL REVERENCE FELT FOR HIM AS A JUDGE AND AS A MAN.

CAMBRIDGE, April, 1859.

THEOPHILUS PARSONS.