out eccentricity, natural and yet highly artistic,-in apparent carelessness "snatching a grace beyond the reach of art,"-fluent in language, but elaborate in thought, speaking at once to the instincts that are most profound, as well as to those that are most superficial. Ordinarily, Henry's style was the natural current of his thought, and glided along in limpid, glowing abundance, as if it reflected the still beams of the sun. But when some exciting crisis occurred, his speech became impetuous and rugged with scythes and daggers, like a Saxon war-chariot; then his flashing bolts shot off in every direction with the concussion of lightnings which in the same instant shine and kill. He drew the great masses of mankind closely around him by the exaltation of his sentiments; he held them still more enthralled by thesimplicity of his language.

The April shower is grateful to the soft herbage, and the still snow falls gracefully to earth, but neither of these produce strong impressions on the beholder. On the contrary, when rugged clouds, fringed with electric fires, and buffeted by terrific winds, pour down piercing hail and torrent rain, intermingled with thunders that shake the skies and astound the earth, then do men tremble unbidden in the presence of natural sublimity.

Mr. Henry seldom used the pen, and has therefore left but little written eloquence authenticated by himself. To form our estimate of his powers, we have mainly to rely on the reports of those who had witnessed the wonders he wrought-those who had felt the magic of his action, trembled at the majesty of his voice,

and caught the flashings of his eye,-who had been fas cinated by his smile, or repulsed by his terrific frown, and who always found themselves incompetent to express fully the power with which he impressed conviction. When all his great attributes were fully aroused, his language, like that of Pindar, burst forth with spontaneous force and splendid majesty. Ordinarily, his reasoning was made obvious by the intense light of genius with which it was invested; and if, sometimes, his judg ment seemed bewildered, it was not so much from obscurity of perception, as from profuseness of emotion; like the throne of Milton's Heaven, his mind, when most excited, would grow "dark from excess of light." He himself intimated that his chief lamp was the inward light of reason, which is the brightest "affluence of essence increate." When called upon the stage of public life, he trusted to the guidance of truth, patriotism, and justice, those primeval principles which "shine aloft as stars." The blazing brand of heaven which flashed upon the earth, and arrested the careering steeds of Diomed, was not more appalling to their affrighted driver, than were the awful denunciations which Henry hurled against tyranny and guilt.

Grattan said of the Irish orator, Malone, that "when young, his eloquence was ocean in a storm; when old, ocean in a calm; but whether in a calm or storm, the same great element, the sublimest and most magnificent phenomenon of creation." Tradition and history speak in rapturous terms of Patrick Henry's eloquence, and some of his speeches, reported by cotemporaries, substantiate his fame. But as well might one attempt to

paint lightning with charcoal, as to delineate a soul like his in dull words. In order properly to appreciate his E power, we

"--Should have seen him in the Campus Martius,—

In the tribunal,-shaking all the tribes

With mighty speech. His words seemed oracles,
That pierced their bosoms: and each man would turn,

And gaze in wonder on his neighbor's face,

That with the like dumb wonder answer'd him :

Then some would weep, some shout, some, deeper touch'd,
Keep down the cry with motion of their hands,

In fear but to have lost a syllable."

We should have seen him when he knew that he spoke under the shadow of the scaffold,-when British cannon were booming in the North, and standing in the outlawed assembly of Virginia, like a lion at bay, he caught the first cry of distress from Lexington and Bunker Hill,-with a generous devotion that made no reserve, and knew no fear, with a voice solemn, tremulous with patriotic rage, and swelling over the thrilled audience like a trumpet-call to arms, and with an eye flashing unutterable fire, he exclaimed-"Give me liberty, or give me death!"

CHAPTER X.

RICHARD HENRY LEE,

THE POLISHED STATESMAN.

MR. LEE was a dignified citizen and scholar whose profound erudition and captivating rhetoric were rendered very efficient in moulding the early institutions of our land. He was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, January 20, 1732. His juvenile studies were pursued in his father's house, but his more mature education was acquired in Yorkshire, England. Mr. Lee, was noted for his assiduity as a student, and early be came distinguished for his proficiency in the classics. He returned to his native land when about twenty years of age, and, as he possessed a large fortune, his time was mainly devoted to the improvement of his mind. Works of civil and political morality, history, law, and elegant literature were constantly perused by him with avidity, and their principles made effective in practical life.

The first public service which Mr. Lee attempted, was in the capacity of captain of the volunteer companies which were raised in 1755, for the purpose of aiding the expedition under General Braddock. In his

twenty-fifth year, he was appointed to a civil office in his county, which attested the high personal consideration in which he was held. Soon after, he was chosen a delegate to the House of Burgesses, and thus began the political career which gave his name its chief

renown.

Mr. Lee was a republican of an early and rigid stamp. When, in 1764, the declaratory Act was passed in the British Parliament, claiming the right to tax America, he was the first to bring forward the subject to the notice of the Assembly of which he was a member. A special committee having, in consequence been appointed to draught an address to the King, a memorial to the House of Lords, and a remonstrance to the House of Commons, Mr. Lee, as chairman, prepared the first two papers. These, as his biographer remarks, “contain the genuine principles of the Revolution, and abound in the firm and eloquent sentiments of freemen." In 1765, Patrick Henry introduced in the Virginia legislature his famous resolutions against the Stamp-Act, which had just been passed by Parliament. Lee lent Henry's motion his zealous and powerful assistance. Shortly after the triumph gained on that occasion, Lee planned and effected an association "for the purpose of deterring all persons from accepting the office of vendor of stamp paper, and for awing into silence and inactivity those who might still be attached to the supremacy of the mother country, and disposed to advocate the right of colony taxation." This result the association bound themselves to attain, "at every hazard, and paying no regard to danger or to death.”