Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/50

 26 SKETCHES OF THE

mamiei' which language cannot tell. Add to all these^ his wonder-working fancy, and the peculiar phraseology in which he clothed its images; for he painted to the heart with a force that almost petrified it. In the language of those who heard him on this occasion, " he made their blood run cold, and their hair to rise on end/^

It will not be difficult for any one, who ever heard this most extraordinary man, to believe the whole account of this transaction which is given by his sur- viving hearers; and from their account, the court house of Hanover county, must have exhibited on this occa- sion, a scene as picturesque, as has been ever witness- ed in real life. They say, that the people, whose countenances had fallen as he arose, had heard but a very few sentences before they began to look up; then to look at each other with surprise, as if doubting the evidence of their own senses; then, attracted by some strong gesture, struck by some majestic attitude, fasci- nated by the spell of his eye, the charm of his emphasis, and the varied and commanding expression of his countenance, they could look away no more. In less than t^venty minutes, they might be seen in every part of the house, on every bench, in every window, stoop- ing forward from their stands, in death-like silence; their features fixed in amazement and awe; all their senses listening and rivetted upon the speaker, as if to catch the last strain of some heavenly visitant. The mockery of the clergy was soon turned into alarm; their triumph into confusion and despair; and at one burst of his rapid and overwhelming invective, they fled from the bench in precipitation and terror. As for the father, such was his surprise, such his amazement, such his rapture, that, forgetting where he was, and the character which he was fiUing, tears of ecstacy streamed down

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