Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/56

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It is almost unnecessary to state that the display which Mr. Henry had made in "the parsons' cause" as it was popularly called^ placed him, at once, at the head of his profession, in that quarter of the colony in which he practised. He became the theme of every tongue. He had exhibited a degree of eloquence, which the people had never before witnessed; a species of eloquence too, entirely new at the bar, and altogether his own. He had formed it on no living model; for there was none such in the country. He had not copied it from books, for they had described nothing of the kind; or if they had, he was a stranger to their contents. Nor had he formed it himself, by solitary study and exercise; for he was far too indolent for any such process. It was so unexampled, so unexpected, so instantaneous, and so transcendent in its character, that it had, to the people, very much the appearance of supernatural inspiration. He was styled "the oratar of nature:" and was, on that account, much more revered by the people than if he had been formed by the severest discipline of the schools; for they considered him as bringing his credentials directly from heaven, and owing no part of his greatness to human institutions.

There were other considerations also, which drew him still more closely to the bosom of the people. The society of Virginia, was at that time pretty strongly discriminated. A gentleman who lived in those days, and who had the best opportunities of judging on the subject, has furnished the following interesting picture of it.