of his mother, who resided near the sea shore, east of Snowhill, deprived him of the advantages of a school, during his early childhood. Yet, unpropitious as were his circumstances, with a little occasional attention from his mother, he learned to read correctly, at the early age of five or six years. Being the youngest child, and doomed by his very delicate health, to the fire-side, so soon as he learned to read he made books the principal amusement of his childhood, until the love of reading became his ruling passion. With as little attention from his mother, he also acquired the art of penmanship, so as to write not only a legible, but an elegant hand. Subsequently he was put to school, under the tuition of Mr. Purnell F. Smith, now the Rev. Purnell F. Smith, of Georgetown Cross Roads, Kent county, Maryland; by whose instructions Mr. Spence considered himself much benefited, and for whom, throughout life, he cultivated the sentiments of gratitude and esteem. At about twelve years of age, he was sent to Buckingham Academy, under the guardianship of his brother John, where he remained for some time under the tuition of a Mr. Hopkins. Here he prosecuted with ardour and almost unprecedented success, the study of the Latin and Greek languages. He was then removed to the academy at Snowhill, where he terminated his academical studies at the age of seventeen years. Immediately afterwards, he commenced the study of the law, under the late Judge Robins, of his native county, and continued under the legal instructions of that eminent gentleman,

tice of the law, although it was a profession in which he never delighted. From the commencement of his professional career, he had a fair share of practice, although at that time, there were several men of eminence at the same bar. In the course of a few years afterwards, when two of these gentlemen had been elevated to the bench, and the place of one of them vacated by death, he became the senior practitioner in the county where he lived, and with all his aversion to the business, and the difficulty with which his services could be obtained, he was much sought after, especially in all important cases. He not only stood first in the county courts where he ordinarily practised, but was also eminent in the highest courts in the State, to which he was almost always called, when appeals were taken on important cases, in the counties where he practised.

As a practical and experimental agriculturist, he was successful, not only in the culture of his own lands, but also in diffusing the spirit of agricultural improvement in his immediate neighbourhood, and throughout his own, and some of the neighbouring counties.

Mr. Spence was of a middle stature; his hair black; his eyes dark and penetrating; and when warm in debate, his countenance highly animated. His natural capabilities were of a very high order To a sound and discriminating judgment, he united strong conception and glowing imagination, chastened by a fine taste. And, what is rarely possessed by a mind endowed with a large portion of these qua