Tucker offers a description of his physique in his Autobiography: “I was in height, and tho’ somewhat slender, well proportioned. I had great animal spirits, and unceasing mobility. My face was somewhat of a feminine cast." Tucker was educated primarily by a tutor engaged from Great Britain and also by Josiah Meigs. His assigned reading included Tom Jones, The Vicar of Wakefield, and Arabian Nights, among the mainstays of an education on the American continent. At age fifteen he helped form a literary club, which he says he named the Calliopean Society; this may have been an imitation of the original started earlier in New York. Tucker at age 16 began to read the law under a successful and prosperous lawyer, George Bascomb. At Bascomb's death, the firm's clients urged Tucker to assume their representation, but feeling quite unqualified, he declined, and initiated plans for a career in the United States. According to Tucker's Autobiography, at this time he encountered his first love interest, in a distant cousin, Nancy Tucker. The longer he suffered in silence with his feelings, the stronger they grew, until finally he resolved to call upon her at home and make his declaration. Upon his arrival, the two entered a parlor where he offered her his hand, which was accepted, all in silence. The tongue-tied handholding continued for 10–15 minutes until interrupted by the entrance of her mother, and the visit ended. Very soon thereafter the girl fell ill and died and left Tucker in grief, which he described as a "most serious affliction." Six years passed before he expressed an interest in another woman. Immigration to the United States, education and first marriage Shortly after his mother's death in 1795, Tucker sailed for Philadelphia, intending to continue his legal education in the United States. He briefly considered London for his studies but discarded the idea, in order to optimize his chances for "political advancement." After a free-spending time with other Bermudians in the capital city, he ran out of funds, and proceeded to Williamsburg, Virginia to seek advice and borrow money from his famous cousin St. George Tucker, a maneuver he would repeat. He was admitted to the College of William & Mary, where he studied law under St. George and graduated after two years. Tucker was pleased to find the academic work undemanding, and his social life entertaining, as he gained access to the