could not repeat them. In fact, it was no common effort that preserved a really able antagonist from becoming his convert; for the truth, which his researches so distinctly presented to the understanding of others, was rendered almost irresistibly commanding and impressive by the love and reverence, which, it was ever apparent, he profoundly cherished for it in his own. While patriotism glowed in his heart, wisdom blended in his speech her authority with her charms.”

We have said that Fisher Ames, among our Revolutionary statesmen, was the orator of genius. We mean by this that he possessed something higher and better than mere talent.

Genius is the native breath of the most richly endowed, luxuriating in every thing beautiful and fair,-the inspired vision which makes the future present, and the distant near, a lingering reminiscence of the infinite ocean from which we all emerged, and a vivid prognostic of an eternity to come. It is a rare possession, the line of demarcation between the highest form of the intellectual, and the lowest form of the divine, causing its possessor to be a "maker" of things, most like God; a "declarer" who speaks the highest law in tones like the sound of many waters, and with a splendor as pure and pervading as the light of heaven.

It is the quality of genius to flow, while plodding talent has a constant tendency to freeze. He who is blessed with the first, passes through life as a broad and placid river traverses continents, and, in its calm but irresistible course, reflects every natural charm. Ben Jonson possessed an extraordinary opulence of thought;

but it was the produce of the amassing power of talent, not, as in Shakspeare, the creative power of genius. Materials, which, in the hands of talent, are but herbs and crude metal,-papyrus and bronze,-by the magical touch of genius are elevated into stupendous architecture, temples that outlive the Pyramids, around which the deluge of ages roars in vain.

Talent accomplishes results with slow toil, like Caliban; while genius works its spontaneous wonders like the wand of Prospero. The traces of talent are discovered by the searcher after excellence; but genius strikes us like the lightning, without the eye being obliged to look for it. It illumines every thing with its own broad clear flash. Genius is daring, thinks for itself, and pursues its ends out of the beaten track; while talent plods on after the manner and dictum of others, and is applauded only by critics of the same taste and mental calibre.

Talent takes impressions from beautiful objects; genius creates its own originals. Talent collects data and from them deduces conclusions; genius overleaps the intermediate process and reaches the same result by intuition. Newton had genius, and it discovered the law of gravitation; he also had talent, and with this he proved it. The higher attribute is necessary to render one great in his own presence; the other must be employed to render one useful to the world. Without the sun, the universe is a chaos; genius kindles an original flame, and talent walks in the light thereof.

Exact definitions of these qualities are difficult, but Ames was certainly not entirely wrong when he said.

that, "talent might be compared to a bee, gathering honey from every flower, but creating none; while genius is like a spider, it spins from its own bowels." We may add that genius is insatiable, and becomes vigorous in proportion as it is appropriately fed. Like the Phoenix, which rises renovated from its own ashes, or the vitals of Prometheus which grew as fast as the vultures devoured them, the finer powers of the soul become purified by the flames they traverse, and are strengthened by the struggles they endure. Lord Brougham is an orator of talent, but Fisher Ames was the orator of genius.

CHAPTER XIII.

WILLIAM PINKNEY,

THE ACCOMPLISHED COUNSELLOR.

SERJEANT TALFORD, one of the most elegant scholars and able lawyers now practising in Westminster Hall, has said that there is no pursuit in life which appears more captivating at a distance than the profession of the bar. "It is the great avenue to political influence and reputation; its honors are among the most splendid which can be attained in a free State; and its emoluments and privileges are exhibited as prizes, to be contested freely by all its members. Its annals celebrate many individuals who have risen from the lowest ranks of the people, by fortunate coincidence, or by patient labor, to wealth and station, and have become the founders of fortunate families. If the young aspirant perceives, even in his hasty and sanguine glance, that something depends on fortuitous circumstances, the conviction only renders the pursuit more inviting, by adding the fascinations of a game of chance to those of a trial of skill. If he is forced to confess that a sacrifice of principle is occasionally required of the candidate for its more lucrative situations, he glories in the pride of

untempted virtue, and pictures himself generously resisting the bribe which would give him riches and authority in exchange for conscious rectitude and the approbation of the good and the wise. While he sees nothing in the distance, but glorious success, or more glorious self-denial, he feels braced for the severest exertion; nerved for the fiercest struggle; and regards every throb of an impatient ambition as a presage of victory." Among the early, persevering and triumphant devotees at the shrine of Thermis, in America, William Pinkney, of Maryland, stands pre-eminent. He was born at Annapolis, on the 17th of March, 1764. father was an Englishman and a tory, but the son early avowed his ardent attachment to republican liberties, and to the last struggled for the independence which in boyhood he espoused.

His

He commenced his law studies in the office of Justice Chase, in 1783, and was called to the bar in 1786. His first efforts commanded public admiration, and to the minds of the sagacious foretokened eminent success. At that time the law of real property, and the science of special pleading, were the two great departments of legal study, and in these he was considered accurate and profound. His style of speaking," says Wheaton, was marked by an easy flow of natural eloquence and a happy choice of language. His voice was very melodious, and seemed a most winning accompaniment to his pure and effective diction. His elocution was calm and placid—the very contrast to that strenuous, vehement, and emphatic manner, which he subsequently adopted."