Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1816-07-06
FROM SKETCHES OF
AMERICAN ORATORS.
Mr.. Writ.

MIR. Writ.
have seen no One who has such natural
advantages and so many qualities requisite
for genuine elOquence as MIR. Writ. HIS
person is dignificd and commanding his
countenance open, manly and playful his
voice clear and musical and his whole ap-
pearance truly oratorical. Judgment and
Imagination hold divided dominion over
his mind, and each is so conspicuous that
it is difficult to decide which is ascendant.
His diction nnites force, purity, variety
and spiendour mole perfectly than that OF
any speaker have heard. lie had great
original powers of action, but they have
been totally unassisted by the contempla-
ton of a good model His wit is prompt.
pure, and brilliant, but these lesser scintil-
lations of fancy are lost in the blaze OF his
reasoning and defamation.
His premises are ALWAYS broad and dis
tinctly laid down, his deductions are fault
less, and his conclusions of course, irresis-
tible from the predicate. In this he re-
sembles what he has observed of MIR. Mar
shall, admit his first proposition and the
conclusion is inevitable. The march of his
mind is direct to its object, the evolutions
by which he attains it, are so new and
apparently necessary to the occasion, that
your admiration is kept alive, your fancy
delighted, and your judgment convinced,
through every stage of3he process. He
leaves no objection to his reasoning, unan-
sHered, hit satisfies everv doubt as he pro-
grrs es. His power over his subject is 50
great, and 50 judiciously directed, that
he sweeps the whole field of discussion,
f.. l.
CLEAN, and sometimes anticipating the po-
sitinn of his enemies battery, renders it
useless, by destroying beforehand the
materials of which it's Publications were to
be erected. He has been sometimes
known to answer by anticipation, all the
arguments of the opposing c6tinsel so per-
fectly, as to leave hun nothing to say,
which had not been better said already.
These great combinations are so closely
connected. the succession of their parts so
natural, easy. and rapid, that the whole
operation offensive, and defensive. appears
but che effort. There is no weak point in
bis array, no chink in the whole line of his
extended works. Then The sweet melody
Of voice, the beautiful decorations of fancy,
the easy play of reason, by which AL this
Is accomplished, amaze and delight. His
tathos is natural and impressive there is
pastoral simplicity and tenderness in his
pictures Of distress, when he describes fe-
tnale* innocence, hclTiessness, and beau
", which the husband On whom she smil-
cd shouid have guarded even from the
winds of heaven which would visit it too
roughly. standing at midnight on the win
Try banks OF the Ohio, miDgling her tears
with the torrent which froze as they fell :
it is not theatrical trick, to move feet
Ing pity. but deep aud impressive appeal
the dgnifcd charities of our nature.
Had one with so rich genius, with such
soul for eloQuence, as Mr.. Writ certainly
possesses, seen Mr.. II sry in some of his
greatest exhibitions, snould not now have
to deplOre The want of finished orator at
any American bar. But that bright mcte-
or shot from IFS mid-heaven sphere too
early for Mr.. Writ, and the glory of his art
descended with him. No Phoenix has RI
sen from his ashes. But am inclined to
think there is more than one orator now
living in the United States, who, on such
occasions as Henry Numbered, lightened
and electrified the people, could WELD the
Olympic bolt with no feeble hand. To Oh
tain the fame of an orator, there must be
subjects demanding the highest decorations
Of eioquence. The accusation of Demos
themes against his guardian, or Cicero's de-
fence of Quinctius and Archias, would ne
yer have made their names immortal. Ii
was the fire with which they consumed
Philip. and Cataline, and Yerres, and An
tony, which has covered them with unfa-
ding glory. Ii is an old perversity of our
nature, to admire what is past and to un-
dervalue what is present. This is in the |
nature Of eur constitution, for when young, |
we are more susceptible Of pleasure, and |
take pride when old, in persuading o.
theirs that we have seen more wonderful |
things than they. One might have heard !
at Rome, from those who were old when
Cicero was young, that he was inferior to
Crassus, to Antony, and to TIortensius.
But the universal tradition Of the effects of
Mr.. IIcnry's eclipsing elOquence, silences
all these cayils by which lesser orators
might vindicate the equality of their pre-
tensions. | fear as has been said of the
Swan of Avon's music, it was a dying
strain,
I'VE ne'er shall see its ike again,
------
Mrs. Dlsunerhasset, see Burr's trial.