of the promotion of Sir Thomas More to the place of Lord Chancellor: For truth's sake and his conscience; that his bones, When he has run his course, and sleeps in blessings, May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on him." It is surely a just subject of national as well as professional pride, that an American lawyer can thus, pointing to the example of such a man as JOHN MARSHALL, hold up his character, his reputation, his usefulness, his greatness, as incentives to high and honorable ambition; and especially his life of unblemished virtue and single-hearted purity,-after all, his highest praise, for, as old Shirley says, "When our souls shall leave this dwelling, Is it possible that a being so fearfully and wonderfully made as man, and animated by spirit still more fearful and incomprehensible, was created for the brief term of a few revolutions of the planet he lives on? Shall his own physical and intellectual productions so long survive him? The massive piles of Egypt have endured for thousands of years: fluted column and sculptured architrave have stood for generations, monuments of his labor and skill. A poem of Homer, an oration of Demosthenes, an ode of Horace, a letter of Cicero, carry down to the remotest posterity the memorial of their names. Men found empires, establish constitutions, promulgate codes of laws. There have been Solons, Alexanders, Justinians, and Napoleons. There have been those justly called Fathers of their country and benefactors of their race. Have they, too, sunk to become clods of the valley? The mind, which can look so far before and aftercan subdue to its mastery the savages of the forests, and the fiercer elements of Naturecan stamp the creation of its genius upon the living canvas, or the almost breathing, speaking marble can marshal the invisible vibrations of air into soul-stirring or soul-subduing music-can pour forth an eloquence of words with magic power to lash the passions of many hearts into a raging whirlwind, or command them with a "peace, be still"-can make a book, a little book, which shall outlive pyramids and temples, cities and empires—can perceive and love beauty in all its forms, and above all, moral beauty, and God, the infinite perfection of moral beauty,-no, this mind can never die! Its moral progress must go on in an unending existence, of which its life of fourscore years on earth is scarce the child hood. Let us beware then of raising these objects of ambition, wealth, learning, honor, and influence, worthy though they be, into an undue importance; nor in the too ardent pursuit of what are only means, lose sight of the great end of our being. APPENDIX. No. I. COURVOISIER'S CASE.1 ON Tuesday night, May 5th 1840, Lord William Russell, infirm, deaf, and aged, being in his seventy-third year, was murdered in his bed. He was a widower, living at No. 14 Norfolk street, Park Lane, London, a small house, occupied by only himself and three servants,— Courvoisier, a young Swiss valet, and two women, a cook and housemaid. The evidence was of a character to show very clearly that the crime had been committed by some one in the house; but, Courvoisier's behavior throughout had been that of an innocent man. Two examinations of his trunk, by the officers of the police, showed nothing suspicious; rewards having been offered by the government and family of the deceased, for the detection of the criminal, a third examination was made of Courvoisier's box, which resulted in the discovery of a pair of 1 Note at p. 103. (183) white cotton gloves, two pocket handkerchiefs, and a shirt-front, stained with blood. The prisoner's counsel went to the trial with a full persuasion of his innocence, and conducted the cross-examination closely and zealously, especially of Sarah Mancer, one of the female domestics, with a view of showing that there was as much probability that the witness, or the other domestic, was the criminal, as the prisoner; and that the police, incited by the hopes of the large rewards offered, had conspired to fasten the suspicion unjustly on him. At the close of the first day's proceedings, the prosecutors were placed unexpectedly in possession of a new and important item of evidence: the discovery of the plate of the deceased, which was missed, and that it had been left by the prisoner at the place where it was found, about a week, perhaps only a very few days, before the committing of the murder. The parcel contained silver spoons, forks, a pair of gold auricles, all unquestionably the property of the unfortunate nobleman; and the only question remaining was, whether Courvoisier was the person who had so left it. If he were, it would, of course, grievously for him, increase the probabilities that it must have been he who subsequently committed the murder, and with the object of plunder. On the ensuing morning, the person who had made this discovery (Mrs. Piolaine, the wife of a Frenchman, who kept a place of entertainment, called L'Hotel de Dieppe, in Leicester Place, Leicester Square), was shown a number of prisoners in the prison-yard, one of whom was Courvoisier, whom she instantly recognized as the person who had left the plate with her, and also had |