he law take its course."

"And would wringing his mother's heart and hurrying her gray hairs
with sorrow into the grave, by rendering her childless, assuage your
grief?"

All present were dissolved in tears--even convulsive sobbing was heard
in the courtroom.

"No!" said the witness, with all the gushing tenderness of a
mother--"No! I would not add a sorrow to her heart, nor that of her
son!"

Admissions in the evidence followed, and hopes were uttered for
the prisoner's acquittal, that changed the whole character of the
testimony. What was a few moments before so dark, grew light, and
without the slightest act that might be construed into an unfair
advantage, in the hands of Prentiss, the witness pleaded for the
accused.

Soon after Mr. Prentiss settled in New Orleans, a meeting was held
to raise funds for the erection of a suitable monument to Franklin.
On that occasion, the lamented Wilde and the accomplished McCaleb
delivered ornate and chaste addresses upon the value of art, and the
policy of enriching New Orleans with its exhibition. At the close
of the meeting, as the audience rose to depart, some one discovered
Prentiss, and calling his name, it was echoed from all sides--he tried
to escape, but was literally carried on the stand.

As a rich specimen of off-hand eloquence, I think the address he
delivered on that occasion was unequaled. Unlike any other speech,
he had the arts to deal with, and of course the associations were of
surpassing splendor. I knew that he was ignorant of the technicalities
of art, and had paid but little attention to their study, and my
surprise was unbounded to see him, thus unexpectedly called upon,
instantly arrange in his mind ideas, and expressing facts and
illustrations that would have done honor to Burke, when dwelling upon
the sublime and beautiful. Had he been bred to the easel, or confined
to the sculptor's room, he could not have been more familiar with the
details of the studio--he painted with all the brilliancy of Titian,
and with the correctness of Raphael, while his images in marble
combined the softness of Praxiteles, and the nervous energy of Michael
Angelo. All this with Prentiss was intuition--I believe that the whole
was the spontaneous thought of the moment, the crude outlines that
floated through his mind being filled up by the intuitive teachings of
his surpassing genius. His conclusion was gorgeous--he passed Napoleon
to the summit of the Alps--his hear