Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/130

 106 SKETCHES OF THE

No wonder^ then^ at the long and deep silence which is said to have followed upon their organization; at the anxiety with which the members looked around upon each other; and the reluctance which every individual felt to open a business so fearfully momentous. In the midst of this deep and death-like silence^ and just when it was beginning to become painfully embaiTass- ing, Mr. Henry arose slowly, as if borne down by the weight of the subject. After faultering, according to his habit, through a most impressive exordium, in which he merely echoed back the consciousness of every other heart, in deploring his inability to do justice to the occasion, he launched gradually, into a recital of the colonial wrongs. Rising, as he advanced, with the grandeur of his subject, and glowing at length, with all the majesty and expectation of the occasion, his speech seemed more than that of mortal man. Even those who had heard him in all his glory, in the house of burgesses of Virginia, were astonished at the manner in which his talents seemed to swell and expand them- selves, to fill the vaster theatre in which he was now placed. There was no rant — no rhapsody — no labour of the understanding — no straining of the voice — no confu- sion of the utterance. His countenance was erect — his eye steady — his action, noble — his enunciation clear and firm — his mind poised on its centre — his views of his subject comprehensive and great — and his imagination, corruscating with a magnificence and a variety, which struck even that assembly with amazement and awe. He sat down amidst murmurs of astonishment and applause; and as he had been before proclaimed the greatest orator of Virginia, he was now, on evc^ hand, admitted to be the first orator of America.

He was followed by Mr. Richard Henry Lee, who

�� �