Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/33

 LIFE OP HENRY. ^

taste, and he learned to play well on the violin and on the flute. From music he passed to books, and, having procured a few light and elegant authors, acquired, for the first time, a relish for reading.

He found another relief, too, in the frequent oppor- tunities now afforded him of pursuing his favourite study of the human character. The character of every cus- tomer underwent this scrutiny; and that, not with refer- ence either to the integrity or solvency of the individual, in which one would suppose that Mr. Henry would feel himself most interested; but in relation to the structure of his mind, the general cast of his opinions, the motives and principles which influenced his actions, and what may be called the philosophy of character. In pursuing these investigations, he is said to have resorted to arts, apparently so far above his years, and which look so much like an after-thought, resulting from his future eminence, that I should hesitate to make the statement, were it not attested by so many witnesses, and by some who cannot be suspected of the capacity for having fabri- cated the fact. Their account of it, then, is this; that whenever a company of his customers met in the store, (which frequently happened on the last day of the week) and were, themselves, sufficiently gay and animated to talk and act as nature prompted, without concealment, without reserve, he would take no part in their discus- sions, but listen with a silence as deep and attentive, as if under the influence of some potent charm. If, on the contrary, they were dull and silent, he woukl, without betraying his drift, task himself to set them in motion, and excite them to remark, collision, and exclamation. He was peculiarly delighted with comparing their cha- racters, and ascertaining how they would, severally, act, in given situations. With this view he would state an.

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