Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/276

252 imputed by some of his observers to art. He always spoke they say, for victory, and wishing to carry every one with him, adapted the different parts of his discourse to their different capacities. A critic of a higher order would sometimes think him trifling, when in truth he was making a most powerful impression on the weaker members of the house. By these means, it is said, he contrived to worm his way through the whole body, and to insinuate his influence into every mind. When he hobbled, it was like the bird that thus art- fully seeks to decoy away the foot of the intruder from the precious deposit of her brood; and at the moment when it would be thought that his strength was almost exhausted, he would spring magnificently from the earth, and tower above the clouds.

He knew all the local interests and prejudices of every quarter of the state, and of every county in it: and whether these prejudices were rational or irrational, it is said that he would appeal to them without hesitation, and, whenever he found it necessary, enlist them in his cause. His address on these occasions has been highly admired, even by those who have censured the course as deficient in dignity and candour. It was executed with so much delicacy and adroitness, and covered under a countenance of such apostolic solemnity, that the persons on whom he was operating were unconscious of the design. Winding his way thus artfully through the house, from county to county, from prejudice to prejudice, with the power of moving them, when he pleased, from tears to laughter, from laughter to tears, of astonishing their imaginations, and overwhelming their judgments and hearts, it is easy to conceive how irresistible he must have been. When with these prodigious faculties the reader connects his