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ed and disgusted with the narrow, virulent and rancorous invectives of party animosity.* How agreeably, how delightfully was I disappointed! Not one sentiment of intolerance polluted his lips. On the contrary, whether they are the offspring of rational induction, of the habit of surveying men and things on a great scale, of native magnanimity, or of a combination of all those causes, his principles, as far as they were exhibited to me, were forbearing, liberal, widely extended and great.

As the elevated ground which he already holds, has been gained merely by the dint of application; as every new step which he mounts, becomes a mean of encreasing his powers sill farther, by stimulating his enterprize afresh, re-invigorating his habits, multiplying the materials and extending the range of his knowledge, it would be matter of no surprize to me, if, before his death, the world should see him at the head of the American administration. So much for the ........ of the commonwealth of Virginia; a living, an honorable, an illustrious monument of self created eminence, worth and greatness!....Let us now change the scene and lead forward a very different character indeed; a truant, but a highly favored pupil of nature. It would seem as if this capricious goddess, had finished the two characters, purely with the view of exhibiting a vivid

*The cloven foot of the Briton is visible ; or, else, why from the premises could he have expected such a consequence?

contrast. Nor is this contrast confined to their

minds.

The

of the United States, is, in his person, tall, meagre, emaciated; his muscles relaxed, and his joints so loosely connected, as not only to disqualify him, apparently, for any vigorous exertion of body, but to destroy every thing like elegance and harmony in his air and movements. Indeed, in his whole appearance, and demeanor; dress, attitudes, gesture; sitting, standing or walking; he is as far removed from the idolized graces of Lord Chesterfield, as any other gentleman on earth. To continue the portrait....his head and face are small in proportion to his height; his complexion swarthy; the muse. cles of his face, being relaxed, give him the appearance of a man of fifty years of age, nor can he be much younger; his countenance has a faithful expression of great good humour and hilarity; while his black eyes....that unerring index....pos. sess an irradiating spirit, which proclaims the im perial powers of the mind that sits enthroned: within.

This extraordinary man, without the aid of fancy, without the advantages of person, voice,. attitude, gesture, or any of the ornaments of an orator, deserves to be considered as one of the most eloquent men in the world; if eloquence may be said to consist in the power of seizing the attention with irresistible force, and never perniting it to elude the grasp, until the hearer has received the conviction which the speaker intends. As to his person, it has already been described. His voice is dry and hard; his attitude, in his

most effective orations, was often extremely awkward, as it was not unusual for him to stand with his left foot in advance; while all his gesture proceeded from his right arm, and consisted merely in a vehement, perpendicular swing.of it, from about the elevation of his head, to the bar behind which he was accustomed to stand. As to fancy, if she hold a seat in his mind at all, .which I very much doubt, his gigantic genius, tramples with disdain, on all her flower deckt plats and blooming parterres. How then, you will ask, with a look of incredulous curiosity, how is it possible, that such a man can hold the attention of an audience enchained, through a speech of even ordinary length? I will tell you.

He possesses one original, and, almost, supernatural faculty: the faculty of developing a subject by a single glance of his mind, and detecting at once, the very point on which every controversy depends. No matter, what the question; though ten times more knotty than "the gnarled oak," the lightning of Heaven is not more rapid nor more resistless, than his astonishing penetration. Nor does the exercise of it seem to cost him an effort. On the contrary, it is as easy as vision. I am persuaded that his eyes do not fly over a landscape and take in its various objects with more promptitude and facility, than his mind embraces and analyzes the most complex subject. Possessing this intellectual elevation, which enables him to look down and comprehend the whole ground at once, he determines immediately and without difficulty, on which side, the question may be most advantageously approach

ed and assailed. In a bad cause, his art consists in laying his premises so remotely from the point directly in debate, or else in terms so general and so specious, that the hearer, seeing no consequence which can be drawn from them, is just as willing to admit them as not; but, his premises once admitted, the demonstration, however distant, fol'lows as certainly, as cogently, as inevitably, as any demonstration in Euclid. All his eloquence consists in the apparently deep self-conviction, and emphatic earnestness of his manner; the correspondent simplicity and energy of his style; the close and logical connection of his thoughts; and the easy gradations by which he opens his lights on the attentive minds of his hearers. The audience are never permitted to pause for a moment. There is no stopping to weave garlands of flowers, to hang in festoons, around a favorite argument. On the contrary, every sentence is progressive....every idea sheds new light on the subject....the listener is kept perpetually in that sweetly pleasurable vibration, with which the mind of man always receives new truths....the dawn advances in easy but unremitting pace.... the subject opens gradually on the view....until, rising, in high relief, in all its native colours and proportions, the argument is consummated, by the conviction of the delighted hearer.

The success of this gentleman, has rendered it doubtful with several literary characters in this country, whether a high fancy be of real use or advantage to any one but a poet. They contend, that although the most beautiful flights of the happiest fancy, interspersed through an argument

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may give an audience the momentary delightful
swell of admiration, the transient thrill of divin.
est rapture; yet, that they produce no lasting ef-
fect in forwarding the purpose of the speaker:
On the contrary, that they break the unity and
disperse the force of an argument, which, other-
wise, advancing in close array, like the phalanx
of Sparta, would carry every thing before it.....
They give an instance in the celebrated Curran ;
and pretend that his fine fancy, although it fires,
dissolves and even transports his audience to a
momentary frenzy, is a real and a fatal misfor-
tune to his clients; as it calls off the attention of
the jurors from the intrinsic and essential merits
of the defence; eclipses the justice of the client's
cause, in the blaze of the advocate's talents; in-
duces a suspicion of the guilt which requires.
such a glorious display of refulgence to divert the
enquiry; and substitutes a fruitless short-lived
extacy, in the place of permanent and substantia
conviction. Hence, they say, that the client of
Mr. Curran, is invariably, the victim of the pro-
secution, which that able and eloquent advocate
is employed to resist. The doctrine, in the ab-
stract, may be true, or, as Doctor Doubty says,
it
may not be true; for the present, I will not trou-
ble you with the expression of my opinion. I
fear, however, my dear S......., that Mr. Curran's
failures may be traced to a cause very different
from any fault either in the style or execution of
his enchanting defences: a cause ......................
but I am

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