The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1853-12-17
The thirty lawyers were silent as

uated behind the bar.
AT the tones Of that voice many start.
ed half from their seats; and perhaps
there was not heat in the immense
throng which did not beat something
qnlcker-lt was so unearthl y, sweet,
clear, ringing and mournful.
The first sensation, however, was
changed into general laughter, when a
tall, saunt, spectral figure that nobody
present ever remembered to have seen
before, elhowed his way through the
crowd, and placed himself within the
bar. His appearance was a problem to
puzzle the sphinx herself. His high,
pale brow, and small, nervously witch
ing face seemed alive with the concen-
trated essence and cream OF genius; but
then his intantine blue eyes, hardly WIS.,
lble beneath their massive arches, look :
ed dim, dreary, almost unconscious; and
his clothing was so shabby that the
court hesiIat 10 let The cause proceed
under his management.
"Has your name been entered on the
rolls of the StateP demanded the Judge
suspiclously.
at is immaterial about my names
being on your rolls" answered the
stranger, his thin, bloodless lips curling
up into iendsh sheer. 81 may BE- al
lowed to appear once by the courtesy of
the court and bar. Here is my license
from the highest tribunal in America ~
and he handed Judge Mills a broad
parchment. The trial Immediately went
on.
In the examination of witnesses the
stranger evinced but little ingenuity, as
was commonly thought. He suffered
each one to tell his own story without
interruption, though he contrived 10
make each one tell it over two or three
times. H. put but few cross questions,
which, with keen with ,sScs, only serve
to correct mistakes, and he made no notes
which, in mighty memories, always
tend to embarrass. The examination
being ended, as counsel for the plaintiff,
he had right to the opening speech. as
well as the close; but to the astonish.
ment Of every one he declined the for
mer, and allowed the defence to lead off
Then shadow might have been observ.
ed to fit across the features of Pike, and
TO darkrn even the bright eyes of Prem
tlss. They saw that they had caught Il
Tartar; but who it was, or how 1t hap.
penrd, was impossible to guess.
Col. Ashley spoke first. He dealt the
Jury a dish of that close, dry logic
which years afterwards rendered him
famous in the Senate OF the Union.
The po,t, Albert Pike, followed with
a rich vein OF wit, and hail-,orrent of
ridicule, in which you may he sure nei-
ther the plaintiff nor the plaintiffs rag
grd attorney were either forgotten or
spared.
The great Prentiss concluded for the
defendant, with a 6 low of gorgeous
words, brll,an. as shower OF falling
stars, and with a final burst of oratory
that brought the house down in cheers,
in which the sworn jury themselves
joined, notwithstanding the stern ''or.
der' of the bench. Thus wonderfully
susceptible are the south western people
to the charms of imprisoned eloquence.
1t was then the strangers turn. He
had remained apparently distracted du-
ring all the previous speeches. Still
and straight, and motIonless in his seat i,
his pale, smooth forehead shooting up
| high like a mountain cone of snow; but
for that eternal twitch that came and
went perpetually in his sallow cheeks,
you would have taken hun tor mere
man of marble, or human form carved
in ice.-Even his dim, dreamy eyes
were invisible beneath those gray, shay
gy eyebrows.
But now at last, he rises-before the
bar railing, not behind it-and so near
to the wondering jury that he might
touch the foreman with his long, bony
finger. With eyes still half shut, and
standing rigid as pillar ofiron his thin
lips curl as if in measureless scorn,
slightly part, and the voice comes forth.
At first ii is low and sweet, insinuating
itself through the brain as an artess
tune winding its way into the deepest
heart, like the melody Of magic incan-
tation; while the speake, proceeds with
out gesture OF the least sign of excite.
ment to tear IN pieces the argument Of
Ashley. which melts away at his touch
as frost before the sunbeam. Every
one looked surprised. His logic was at
once SO brief, and SO lrminously clear,
that the rudest peasant could compre-
bend IT without effort.
! Anon, he came to the dazzling wit of
the poet-lawyer, Pike. Then the curl
Of his lip grew sharper; his sallow face
kindled up; and his eyes began to open,
dim and dreamy no longer, but vivid as
lightning, red as fires globes. and glazing
like twin meteors. The whole soul was
in the eye-the full heart streamed out
on the face. In five minutes Plks's wit