Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/64

40 senses were disordered. When he went to attend the committee of privileges and elections, the matter was still worse. "The proud airs of aristocracy." says judge Tyler, detailing this incident of Mr. Henry's life, "added to the dignified forms of that truly august body, were enough to have deterred any man possessing less firmness and independence of spirit than Mr. Henry. He was ushered with great state and ceremony into the room of the committee, whose chairman was col. Bland. Mr. Henry was dressed in very coarse apparel; no one knew any thing of him, and scarcely was he treated with decent respect by any one except the chairman, who could not do so much violence to his feelings and principles, as to depart on any occasion, from the delicacy of the gentleman. But the general contempt was soon changed into as general admiration; for Mr. Henry distinguished himself by a copious and brilliant display on the great subject of the rights of suffrage, superior to any thing that had been heard before within those walls. Such a burst of eloquence, from a man so very plain and ordinary in his appearance, struck the committee with amazement; so that a deep and