James Walker was a great preacher and a profound thinker.

In the judgment of his hearers, young and old, he was probably deemed nearly or quite the foremost of American preachers.
That I may not be supposed to imply any disparagement of the present accomplished head of Harvard, let me say that while each of the men I have named had done a great work in life and achieved a great fame before he came to the Presidency, President Eliot has, in my opinion, achieved an equal fame and performed an equal work since he came to it.
A like policy prevailed in those days in the choice of instructors in the Law School.

Judge Story, the senior professor, died just before I graduated from the College.

His fame as a jurist was known throughout Europe.

He was undoubtedly the most learned judge in the United States.