And now every sound had ceased; a deathlike silence prevailed, interrupted at intervals by the distant baying of the Spanish watch-dog,* and the first breath of the terral, which sighed through the quivering reeds and trembling leaves of the palmetto. Suddenly the silence was broken by the tones of a clear voice, saying—

"Man that is born of woman has but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up and is cut down like a flower. He fleeth, as it were, a shadowIn the midst of life we are in death".

When a gust from the mountain swept over the plain. The gigantic palm bowed his head to the mournful nightbreeze, which passed away upon its invisible path to the sea. And again all was still and silent, and the same clear voice continued-" Ashes to ashes-dust to dustlooking for the general resurrection in the last day, when the earth and sea shall give up their dead.”.

It was the Episcopal burial service. Every word tolled upon the air with startling precision. It was like the voice of a monitory spirit. The profound silence

* The Spanish watch-dog-Now the noisiest animal in creation; but originally remarkable for a rare canine virtue, silence. This peculiarity of the aboriginal dogs of Cuba, is mentioned more than once by Columbus, in his Journal, and by the Pilot Oviedo-"hay muchos perros en estos payses que nunca ladran”—there are many dogs in this country that never bark. In a subsequent passage of the same rare and costly work, published at Havanna in 1835, it is said, "that a European dog was left upon the island. Upon the return of Bartholomew Columbus from the Southern Continent, they were not a little astonished to find that the distinguished stranger had taught the native Cuban dogs to bark most furiously." We leave the naturalists to draw the proper inferences from this curious fact. We can only say, that it is a great pity the aboriginal stock had not been preserved untainted by the vices of the European.

+ The terral, or land-breeze-which sets in after sunset.

the hour-the scene-all conspired to make it solemn and impressive.

Upon the sea shore, within fifty yards of the surf that rippled upon the beach in low murmurs, like a dirge for the departed, a group of foreigners were collected round a rude grave scooped into the sand. The American flag, which had served as a pall, lay at the feet of the consul. At a given signal, the grave was carefully filled. For one moment the little crowd remained silent and uncovered, and then slowly left the remains of their late companion to repose in his humble grave, within sight and sound of that element he loved in life.

Under any circumstances, the solemn simplicity of that service is impressive. But there, upon that foreign Catholic shore,* where the "churlish priest" denied to the Protestant Christian the poor privilege of being buried in consecrated ground-where bigotry, prejudice and ignorance are as intolerable as the heat of the midday sun, without its light-the incident was strange and impressive beyond description.

Of all that attended the humble obsequies of the poor American sailor, not one will ever forget that twilight funeral by the sea-side.

* Catholic shore-There is no intention here to cast an aspersion upon the Roman Catholic religion. Bigotry and prejudice are not the exclusive properties of a Catholic shore. But local, and to censure the "churlish priest" who, in this instance, was as intolerant as ignorant. The Spanish priest of Cuba is a different being from the enlightened Roman Catholic of the Free States.

3

THE FIRST AND LAST SPEECH OF A TYRO.

My parents were respectable hard-working peoplemyself their only son. In an evil hour my poor father became convinced that his son Hiram Hock was born to be a great man. After mature deliberation and many misgivings, and doubtful shakes of the head by my kind and affectionate mother, it was finally decided that I should study the law. At the age of seventeen, therefore, I commenced curving my spine upon a hard chair, with my heels upon the mantel-piece in winter, and the window-sill in summer, perusing at intervals the lyrical effusions of the gay and witty Coke, the facetious Fearne, the romantic Blackstone, and the irresistible and inexhaustible Chitty, that Beranger of the law.

At the expiration of four years, with a stomach shrivelled up like parchment, weak eyes, and a confused notion of ten thousand conflicting principles associated with books bound in yellow calf-skin, I was presented by my preceptor with a diploma for starvation.

That worthy individual in spectacles I shall never forget he was what is called "a thorough-bred lawyer." As a practitioner and special pleader, he was eminently renowned, and at the age of seventy-three, had acquired not only a subsistence, but some thought even a sufficiency in case of his demise, to prevent his widow from keeping a boarding-house.

All his actions were squared by rules of law, and the principles of his science. In his intercourse with mankind, he conceived the first duty to pay a fee; any dereliction from this important ceremony was a crime equivalent to high treason.

Several rules had been served upon him at different times, and notices to quit this transitory life, in the shape of blindness, deafness and temporary paralysis; but he still remained firm at his vocation, and not in the slightest degree intimidated by the severity of the attacks. By means of an antiquated process familiar to himself, but utterly unknown to the medical faculty, termed "the suffering a common recovery," he was again absorbed in the studies of his captivating science, never intermitted except to receive the "honorarium," all other literature in his estimation being not worth the snap of a fi. fa.

For nearly half a century this worthy gentleman had been seated upon an arm-chair adorned with a leathern. cushion, of which there was a faint tradition, that it once had been stuffed with hair, but now as flat as a pancake, and as totally destitute of that excrescence as the shining bald pate of the distinguished sedentary. Empires had been overthrown by terrible revolutions; moral and political changes had occurred unnoticed by this excellent man. An occasional innovation upon the revered common law, would sensibly affect his usual equanimity, and it is reported that it was several days before he could recover from the shock occasioned by the passage of a law, permitting a writ of partition to be sued out by the remainder man in fee, before the death of the tenant for life.*

* See Laws of Pennsylvania.

He was just in all his dealings and strictly pious in all his thoughts and actions. Conscious of a vested remainder in the future, dependent upon a particular prior estate created at the same time, and by the same instrument, (Co. Lit. 49, a,) coupled with the comfortable assurance of an equity of redemption as first decided in the case of Pulk vs. Clinton, 12 Vez. 59, his mind was perfectly prepared and tranquil upon all spiritual matters. And yet he had his bar jokes, and reminiscences of ancient jests served upon a brother long since gone to final judgment; and on motion days, would wrinkle up his sedate countenance into something that faintly resembled a smile, when reminded of these traditionary jeux d'esprit by a facetious judge, who had just received his quarter's salary.

Under the auspices of this worthy personage, I nailed a piece of tin upon the front window-shutter of a small room, in the noisiest and most disagreeable part of the town, and with heroic patience, for many a long month bode my time. I will pass over that weary interval. How often did I determine to abandon the profession and plunge into the active business of life, but habits acquired during my preparation for practice, with an entire separation from men of business, had utterly unfitted me now for any other pursuit: I was chained to the oar-the die was cast. O that I had only had the courage to throw aside those hateful books, and seize hold of the honest calling of my poor father-who was an eminent little calf-butcher!

An opportunity at last occurred; a client with lingering steps and slow, absolutely engaged my services to defend his cause in the Criminal Court. Why this infatuated

J