Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/400

 376 SKETCHES OF THE

despair^ he sacrificed to his hopeless passion. The defence is said to have been placed on the ground of insanity; and it is easy to conceive in general, the figure v^ hich Mr. Henry must have made in such a cause. Those pathetic powers of eloquence, in which he was so pre-eminently great, had ample scope for their exer- cise in this case; and we can credit, without difficulty, the assertion, that he deluged the house with tears, and effected the acquittal of his client. But this is all that we know of the case.*

So also, I learn that, on some occasion, after the war, he appeared at the bar of the house of delegates, in sup- port of a petition of the officers of the Virginia line, who sought to be placed on the footing of those who had been taken on continental establishment: and that, after having depicted their services and their sufferings, in colours vv^hich filled every heart with sympathy and gratitude, he dropped on his knees, at the bar of the house, and presented such an appeal as might almost have softened rocks, and bent the knotted oak. Yet no vestige of this splendid speech remains; nor have I been able, after the most diligent inquiries, to ascer- tain the year in which it occurred; similar peti- tions having been presented, for several successive sessions.

It was in the year 1794, that he bade a final adieu to his profession, and retired to the bosom of his own family. He retired, loaded with honours, public and professional: and carried with him, the admiration, the

of 1774, for the murder of Mary Pinner, this honour claimed by my corre- spondent for Mr. Henry, is not due: for the records of the g-eneral court show, that the indictment, althoug-h originally diuwn for the charge of mui'- der, was reduced to manslaughter by the grand jury; of which oHence the prisoner was convicted. There is, probably, some mistake in the name.
 * If this is the case of Henry Bullard, who was indicted at the April term

�� �