Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/447

 mi? in what consisted that unrivalled power of speak- ing, which all who ever heard him admit him to have possessed? The reader is already apprized, that the author of these sketches never had the advantage of hearing Mr. Henry, and that no entire speech of his was ever extant, either in print or writing: hence, there are no materials for minute and exact analysis. The inquiry, however, is natural, and has been directed, without success, to many of the most discriminating of Mr. Henry's admirers. Their answers are as various as the complexion of their own characters; each pre- ferring that property from which he had himself derived the most enjoyment. Some ascribe his excellence wholly to his manner; others, in great part, to the ori- ginality and soundness of his matter. And among the admirers, in both classes, there are not two who con- cur in assigning the pre-eminence to the same quahty. Of his matter, one will admire the plainness and strength of his reasoning; another, the concentrated spirit of his aphorisms; a third, his wit; a fourth, his pathos; a fifth, the intrinsic beauty of his imagination: so in regard to his manner, one will place his excellence in his articu- lation and emphasis; a second, in the magic power with which he infused the tones of his voice into the nerves of his hearers, and rivetted their attention. The truth, therefore, probably is, that it was not in any single charm, either of matter or manner, that we are to look for the secret of his power; but that, like Pope's defini- tion of beauty, it was " the joint force and full result of aU."

If, however, we are to consider as really and entirely his, those speeches which have been already given in his name to the public, or are now prepared for them, there can be no difficulty in deciding, that his power

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