Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/94

70 swelling trifles into consequence, and working the ocean into tempest,

It is almost superfluous to add, that such a cause, in the hands of such an advocate, did not fail of success. The motion for separating the two offices being carried, a committee was appointed to examine the accounts of the late treasurer, and their report disclosed an enormous deficit, exceeding an hundred thousand pounds.

On the separation of the offices of speaker and treasurer, Peyton Randolph the attorney general, was elected to the chair; and Robert C. Nicholas, an eminent lawyer and a most virtuous man, to the office of treasurer.

After having tried his strength for several years on the legislative floor, against some of the brightest champions of the bar, Mr. Henry came, in the year 1769, to the bar itself, of the general court. " The profits of his practice theretofore, (says my informant,) must have been very moderate. For, about this time, he informed me that he thought his property was not worth more than fifteen hundred pounds; adding that, if he could only make it double that sum, he should be entirely content."

At this bar, he entered into competition with all the first legal characters in the colony, some of whom had been educated at the Temple. Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Wythe have been already mentioned: but in addition to these he had to encounter Mr. John Randolph, Mr. Thompson Mason, Mr. Robert C. Nicholas, Mr. Mer-