Excerpt from Life and Character of the Hon. Thomas Ruffin, Late Chief Justice of North Carolina: A Memorial Oration The Agricultural Society of the State, of which for many years he had been a distinguished President, subsequently determined on a like offering to his mem ory at their annual Fair. The invitation to prepare such a discourse has been by both bodies extended to the same individual. The task is undertaken with dif fidence, and a sense of apprehension, that amid the multiplicity of other engagements, its fulfilment may fail in doing justice to the subject of the memoir. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.