"Amidst this company stood Mr. Watt, the man whose genius discovered the means of multiplying our national re sources to a degree perhaps even beyond his own stupendous powers of calculation and combination; bringing the trea sures of the abyss to the summit of the earth; giving the feeble arm of man, the momentum of an Afrite: commanding manufactures to arise, as the rod of the prophet produced water in the desert, affording the means of dispensing with that time and tide which wait for no man, and of sailing without that wind which defied the commands and threats of Xerxes himself. This potent commander of the elements; this abridger of time and space; this magician whose cloudy machinery has produced a change on the world; the effects of which, extraordinary as they are, are perhaps only now bes ginning to be felt, &c."-(Sir Walter Scott.)

"We have said that Mr. Watt was the great improver of the steam engine; but in truth, as to all that is admirable in its structure, or vast in its utility, he should rather be described as its inventor. It was by his inventions that its action was so contrived as to make it capable of being applied to the finest and most delicate manufactures, and its power so in creased as to set weight and solidity at defiance. By his admirable contrivances it has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and its flexibility, for the prodigious power which it can exert, and the ease, and precision, and ductility with which it can be varied, distributed, and applied. The trunk of an elephant that can pick up a pin, or rend an oak, is as nothing to it. It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of ob durate metal before it; draw out without breaking a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift up a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can embroider muslin, and forge anchors; cut steal into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the wind and waves."-(Jeffrey.)

We shall close this article by a few particulars as to Mr. Webster's life and personal character, given us by a distinguished American friend to serve as notes for a memoir; but being unable to add any thing to it, we have taken the liberty to print it as it stands:

Daniel Webster is the son of a New Hampshire farmer. He was sent to Dartmouth college in Vermont, with his elder

abso

brother, at the usual ages where he was considered, al lutely incapable of comprehending a lesson. His elder brother (who is now an inferior state judge) was the first scholar of his year, took the first honours, and was ushered into the world as a man of irresistible talent. Daniel returned home in disgrace; and went to work in his father's, woods like a common labourer. He passed two or three years thus; and then, to the surprise of every body, and with the opposition of his family, he undertook the study of the law. His first plea undeceived his friends. He soon became known, and was sent to the legislature of his own state; and afterwards removed to Boston, the capital of New England; where, as a lawyer, he carried every thing before him. He joined the aristocratic party in politics, and was the leader of the Adams' party when Jackson succeeded in obtaining the presidency. Though his party fell, however, he held his own place with the people, and he is still considered throughout America the first statesman and the most gifted man we ever had. He has of late years distinguished himself more than ever by his masterly expositions of the constitution. As a member of the Senate of Congress, his services are invaluable; and the need that is felt of his mind in his present position is the only thing that would interfere with his advancement to the presidency.

with a head set on his His face is the most exHe is dark, with jet black

In person he is strongly built, shoulders like that of a Hercules. traordinary one I have ever seen. hair, an immense forehead, a large, lambent, deep-set eye, heavy, lowering brows, a mouth of a kind of sculptured strength, yet of great beauty, faultless teeth, a form like an arch-devil, and a smile like an archangel. His soubriquet among the opposite party is "the god-like man," a phrase which has been applied to him ever since the commencement of his political career.

As Coleridge says of Southey, "he possesses, but is not possessed by his genius.". No man ever had his powers so completely under command. At a moment's warning, the vast stores of his mind are ready, and the most impromptu speech rolls from his tongue in perfect composition, He is generally calm, always logical, enchains the attention of

every listener by the driest argument, and has a voice of all compass, and a manner of the most singularly-mixed grace and power. His eloquence, when he warms, is perfectly overpowering, and then he comes out with a knowledge of the poetical, which you would think impossible from the severe cast of his mind. He is a charming table companion, and in private life the most naturally elegant and fascinating man I ever knew. No man so felicitous at a compliment, no man so gracious and winning. The women adore him. Abroad, however, he is the stern, plain-dressed, grave republican; and the common man who passes him in the street thinks he can read the cares and responsibilities of the whole United States' Government on his great brow. Never was a man so formed for universal popularity.

155

DIGEST OF CASES.

COMMON LAW.

[Comprising 5 Barn. & Adol. Part 2; 1 Nevile & Manning, Part 4, 2 Nevile & Manning, Parts 4 and 5, and 3 Nevile & Manning, Part 1; 10 Bing. Parts 3 and 4; 3 Moore & Scott, Part 4; 2 Crompt. & Meeson, Part 1; 1 Crompton, Meeson, and Roscoe, Part 1; 3 Tyrwhitt, Parts 4 and 5; 2 Dowling's Practice Cases, Part 2; and a selection from 6 Carr. & Payne, Part 2 :-all Cases included in former Digests being omitted.]

ACTION ON THE CASE.

(What is meant by, in an act of parliament.) A private act gave trustees of a river navigation power to sue for arrears of tolls by action of debt or on the case: Held, that assumpsit would lie.-Corbett v. Carpmael, 2 N. & M.

834.

AFFIDAVIT.-See BAIL, 14; PRACTICE, 12, 30.

AFFIDAVIT TO HOLD TO BAIL.-See BAIL, 5.

AGREEMENT.

(Where superseded by subsequent agreement.) On the 28th May, A. entered into an agreement with B. for twelve months, for the performance of various literary labours, to be afterwards specified by B.; A. to receive six guineas a week, and not to engage during the year in any publication similar to the one of which B. was the proprietor. On the 14th October in the same year, a new agreement was concluded between the parties, by which A. agreed to edite a literary journal, and to devote all his time and attention to the same, (except the hours he had already engaged to devote to the superintendance of another publication, of which B. was not the proprietor,) at a salary of 10l. a week: Held, that the second agreement superseded the first, and that A. could not recover the six guineas per week for the remainder of the twelve months after the second agreement came into operation.-Patmore v, Colburn, 1 C. M. & R. 65.

AMBASSADOR.

(Privilege of his servants from arrest.) The privilege from arrest allowed to an ambassador's servant, is the privilege not of the servant but of the ambassador; and if he make no application, the Court will not relieve the ``party arrested, unless he shows a clear case of service as a domestic servant, or under a hiring. (3 Burr. 1676; 2 D. & R. 833.)—Fisher v. Begrez, 2 C. & M. 240; 2 D. P. C. 279.

AMENDMENT.-See WRIT OF TRIAL ACT, 4.

ANNUITY.-See DEVISE, 1; STAMP, 3.

ARBITRATION.

1. (Award, where bad because partial only.) The costs of an action and of a reference were to abide the event of the award: the arbitrator found that the plaintiff had a good cause of action on five out of eight counts; that the defendant should pay 57. damages; and that no further proceedings should be had in the action: Held, that there was no award as to three counts, and no event to authorize the taxation of costs on those counts; and consequently, that no part of the award could stand.—Norris v. Daniel, 10 Bing. 507.

2. (Same.) Trespass. Pleas, general issue, and sundry justifications by reason of alleged rights of common. The cause was referred to an arbitrator, costs to abide the event. He awarded for the defendant on the general issue, and disposed of the rights contested in the special pleas of justification, but did not notice or decide upon the issues raised upon those pleas. The Court held the award sufficient. Dibben v. Marquess of Anglesey, 10 Bing. 568.

3. (Rule to set aside ward.) The rule of E. T. 2 G. 4, requiring the grounds of objection to an award to be stated in a rule nisi to set it aside, applies to the certificate of an arbitrator empowered to ascertain the amount due, and to certify the same to the associate, by whom a verdict is to be entered accordingly.-Carmichael v. Houchen, 3 N. & M. 203.

4. (Revocation of authority-Examination of parties.) By order of nisi prius, a cause was referred to arbitration, with liberty to examine the parties, and with stipulations that the death of either party should not operate as a revocation of the arbitrator's authority; and that if either party should by affected delay or otherwise prevent the making of the award, he should pay the other such costs as the Court should deem reasonable. The plaintiff died; the defendant, after allowing the reference subsequently to proceed for a short time, revoked the submission on the alleged ground of his being deprived of the benefit of the plaintiff's examination. He failed to show that this was the true ground, and the Court made him pay the costs of a trial occasioned by the breaking off of the reference. Smith v. Fielder, 10 Bing. 306; 3 Moo. & Sc. 853.

MOPILA

5. (Arbitrator's Fees.) A cause was referred, and in 1825 the arbitrator received from the plaintiff's attorney 871. for his fees and expenses. In 1827, the parties went before the prothonotary, when he allowed only 35l. In 1833, the attorney who made the payment having died in the interim,