Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 10.pdf/37

 20

twenty-four and " being not only unable to draw a declaration or a plea, but incapable of the most common or simple business of his profession, even of the mode of ordering a suit, giving a notice, or making a motion in court," he was little heard of for four years, so he was twenty-eight when he began to be distinguished at the bar. During these years he lived much with his father-in-law, and alternated practicing law with aiding Mr. Shelton in keeping his tavern. It was in the famous " Parsons" case that Henry first shone forth. Mr. John Lewis, a promi nent lawyer of that day defended the popular side and the eminent lawyer, Judge Peter Lyons, who was renowned for his refined politeness, in opening for the plaintiff, lost his usual urbane manner and accused Mr. Henry of speaking " treason." The suit was brought by the clergymen to force the pay ment of their tobacco stipend. Mr. Henry was engaged to oppose the clergymen and he is said to have asked his uncle, who was a clergyman and of whom he was very fond, to leave the room, as he expected " to say some very hard things of the clergy." The beginning of his speech was so in different that his mortified father left the courtroom but, as he went on, William Wirt says, " His action became graceful, bold and commanding and his wonder-work ing fancy made the listeners' blood run cold and their hair rise on end." The jury hardly left the room before they returned with a verdict for his clients, who carried him in triumph, on their shoulders, from the courthouse. It became a saying in Virginia, when anyone was very eloquent, "He is almost equal to Patrick, when he plead against the parsons." The case brought him many clients and his fame spread rapidly. Wirt says : " But no professional fame was sufficient to make him study, and except for the preparation in some particular case, no necessity was strong enough to bind him down to a regular course of reading, and but for his irre

sistible captivating mode of speaking he could never have won fame or fortune. Judge Lyons said of himself: " I could write a letter or draw a declaration or plea at the bar, with as much accuracy as I could in my office, under all circumstances, except when Patrick rose to speak; but whenever he rose, although it might be on so trifling a subject as a summons and petition for twenty shillings, I was obliged to lay down my pen and could not write another word, until the speech was finished." William Wirt says : "As often as not, he came in from hunting to plead a case, in a coarse cloth coat, stained with the blood of the deer, greasy leather breeches, with leggings for boots and a pair of saddle-bags over his arm." The next case which tended to spread his reputation was when he appeared in the House of Burgesses as counsel for Nathaniel West Dandridge in his claim to the seat of James Little Page, on the ground of bribery and corruption. When he appeared among the rich surroundings and aristocratic people of Williamsburg, in a suit which " had seen considerable rough service," Mr. Wirt says: "He was stared at by some as a prodigy, and regarded by others as an unfortunate being whose senses were disordered, but the general contempt was soon changed into general admiration." Judge Tyler said : "Such a burst of eloquence that a deep and profound silence took place and not a sound but from his lips was to be heard in the room." Patrick Henry told a friend, Judge Wins ton, that "The profits of his practice were not very large, that his property was not worth more than fifteen hundred pounds, but that if he could only make it double the sum, he would be entirely content." Mr. Wirt says : " It cannot be expected that he was able to contend with well-pre pared lawyers on a mere question of law. He wanted that learning, whose place no splendor of genius can supply to the lawyer; and he wanted those habits of steady and