or Eneid. The translation has not always destroyed it; as take, for instance, the following lines:

‘Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;

The labor of the olive shall fail,

And the fields shall yield no meat;

The flock shall be cut off from the fold,

And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.'

Here now is a regular equiponderance of sentences till you get to the last line, which is double. Then what beautiful and expressive language! 'The labor of the olive!' In what other book will you find an expression of like energy and beauty? The tree itself is, by a bold metaphor, made to contribute, spontaneously, to the wants of man, as if it had thews and muscles, and was capable of action. The field shall yield no meat.' What a stronger impression the word 'meat' conveys, than product, or fruit, or any common term. It is true-poetical. It at once gives you the idea of all that maketh glad the heart of man; and the failure of the fields, therefore, falls upon the mind with a heavier gloom.

The whole chapter is sublime. I read it often, and each time with still greater admiration The prayer of Habakkuk,' as it is called."

It would be unfair to Mr. Webster to attempt to give his language from remembrance. No author, of another tongue, would suffer more from translation. Some of the strongest

expressions, no less than nicer shades of sentiment, would be lost in the transmission. He must be heard to be appreciated.

Those admitted to the intimacy of his conversation, can tell of the eloquent fervor with which he speaks of the inspired writings-how much light he can throw upon a difficult text— how much beauty lend to expressions that would escape all but the eye of genius-what new vigor he can give to the most earnest thoughts—and what elevation to even sublimity. would be impossible," says a distinguished orator from another section of the country, "for any one to listen half an hour to Mr. Webster on the Scriptures, and not believe in their inspiration—or his."

"It

But while Mr. Webster's public productions and private conversations attest how deeply he is imbued with the spirit of the Scriptures, neither the one nor the other ever contained the slightest irreverent allusion to any passage in them-anything in the way of illustration, analogy or quotation, that could seem to question their sanctity. He has been scrupulously delicate in this regard; and therein differs widely from most of his contemporaries in public life on this continent : for it is made matter of reproach to us, as a nation, that our public speakers, in Congress particularly, take the grossest liberties with the most sacred texts of the Scriptures-use them to garnish the most ordinary topics, or illustrate their own ignoble pursuits and histories; and, in fact, pay them no more regard than profane books.

It is not so in England. Good taste, if not a religious

sense, avoids any such irreverence. When Lord Plunkett once, in the House of Commons, in speaking of the great anticipations that were entertained of George IV.'s accession to the throne, alluded to it as THE GREAT COMING, the members of the House were shocked, and the speaker felt the rebuke.

8*

CHAPTER VIII.

THE same year in which Mr. Webster gained his forensic laurels in the Senate of the United States, secured him also a great professional triumph. All of New England, at that time of sufficient age and capacity to have comprehended it, will recollect the deep, intense sensation produced throughout the community that year by the extraordinary murder of Joseph White, in Salem, Massachusetts, on the night of the 6th of April. The respectability, wealth, and advanced age of the murdered man, the mysterious nature of the midnight murder, the strange and romantic details connected with its perpetration, the relationship of one of the assassins to the victim, and other circumstances of almost equal interest, produced an excitement at the time, which was as deep as it was general, and which has dwelt upon the mind ever since with nearly all the distinctness of its first impression.

A few weeks after the murder, Richard Crowningshield, George Crowningshield, brothers, Joseph J. Knapp, who had married a daughter of the neice of the murdered man, and John Francis Knapp, also brothers, were arrested, on a charge

of having perpetrated the murder, and committed for trial. Joseph J. Knapp, soon after his arrest, under promise of favor from the government, was induced to make a full confession of the crime, and of the circumstances attending it. A few days after his disclosure had been made and become known, Richard Crowningshield, who was supposed to have been the principal assassin, committed suicide.

By act of the Legislature, a special session of the Supreme Court was holden at Salem, in July, for the trial of the prisoners. In the ordinary arrangement of the courts, but one week in a year, was allotted for the whole court to sit in that county; and, as in the trial of all capital offences, a majority of the court were required to be present, and as weeks would in all probability be consumed in this trial, but for such interposition of the Legislature, three years would not have been sufficient for the purpose. It was for this reason and not on account of the excitement in the community, and the interest felt in the result, that the special session was ordered.

Before this court, John Francis Knapp was arraigned as principal in the murder, and George Crowningshield and Joseph J. Knapp, accessories.

If the suicide of Richard Crowningshield before the commencement of the trial, added to the already excited state of the public feeling, the unexpected withdrawal of his confession by Joseph J. Knapp, and his refusal, on being called upon, to testify, had no tendency to allay it.

Mr. Webster, upon the request of the prosecuting officers