It is my earnest wish, in
recording these recollections, to offend no one; nor will I "set down
aught in malice."
The ardent and excitable temperament of Prentiss, combined with his
social qualities, required constant excitement. When employed with the
duties of his profession, or engaged in any matter of business
pertaining to politics, or his relations in any capacity with the
world, requiring attention, he was sufficiently excited to afford
escape for the restlessness of his mind; nor did this man seem fatigued
in such occupations sufficiently to require repose and rest. On the
contrary, it seemed to whet his desire for fiercer and more consuming
excitement. Whenever he went abroad, the crowd followed him, and the
presence of the increasing mass stimulated his feelings to mild, social
delight, and this led him too frequently to indulge beyond a proper
temperance in the exhilaration of wine. This, superadded to the fire of
his genius, was wearing fearfully his vigorous physique.
For the first time, in the case of fraud against James Irwin, in which
he made one of the most powerful efforts of his life, he manifested
mental as well as physical fatigue.
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