Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/91

 when the stamp act was, according to its provisions, to have taken effect^ its execution had become utterly im- practicable.*

esting, the progress of these feehngs. We have already given a specimen of the drooping spirit of the Pennsylvania Gazette, on the firet annunciation of the stamp act ; but after Mr. Henry had touched, with his match, the train of American courage, its scintillations were seen, sparkling and flash- ing, on every page of this paper. Thus in the paper of June 20th, 1775 — " We learn from the northward, that the stamp act is to take place in Ame- rica on All Saints' day, the first of November next. — In the year 1755, on the 1st of November, happened that dreadful and memorable earthquake, which destroyed the city of Lisbon,"
 * The chronicles of the day exhibit, in a manner very curious and inter-

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