which soon forced itself upon him, that there was
no future for a lawyer in Plainfield, and that the
earliest opportunity of taking his professional ac-
complishments to a better market was not to be
neglected. He had been there but about eight
months when he was invited to enter into partner-
ship with a young lawyer of Great Barrington,
whose practice was then worth about $1200 a year.
Bryant accepted the proposal with alacrity, and
early in the month of October, 1816, set out for
his new field of labor on the banks of the Housa-
tonic. Of this change of base, Bryant has left the
following account: --

"I had attempted the practice of the law in a
neighborhood where there was little employment
for one of my profession, and, after a twelve
months' trial, I transferred my residence to Great
Barrington, near the birthplace and summer resi-
dence of Miss Sedgwick, in the pleasant county of
Berkshire. It was on the 3d of October that I
made the journey thither from Cummington. The
woods were in all the glory of autumn, and [in
1871] I well remember as I passed through Stock-
bridge how much I was struck by the beauty of
the smooth green meadows on the banks of that
lovely river which winds near the Sedgwick fam-
ily mansion; the Housatonic, whose gently flow-
ing waters seemed tinged with the gold and crim-
son of the trees that overhung them. I admired
no less the contrast between this soft scene and the
steep, craggy hills that overlooked it, clothed with

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