The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1823-11-28

ara compound NJ sispcndens sir.ngil,
| fesiar ornamrn'. sedctk-d eAltestersS. aud
/ batsietges. turbuleas defamation lis de.
"Frtsneni IS htsi4, ssrr,.g an, - fuh af snuad
| 4ad 4sfy :" hut zi4r fury ri ne ni.1n ever
| sisaferd So nsch, do aiusIurai
sed vehement accompanied with Ii.e rude
aud violent gesture nf u Vulgar fellow, oi
uncsni mon t,grsaaal strength, ia n .i,arut
passion sud Fsosii,aus OF saiee, so sad
dea sad uacsiIed for, as to jar your ~tole
| y sten. and .scf,oH, that yoa cannot una
| .aar the purpose ol, except Il be Ia PROVE
| thai he has the asr of bis arms Il Is ne
Vef illustrative -nssereaffasp"nernt Ia the
iil.ogltt-aerer dignihed nfgcr gen
tienaUly. Yet, vel, my lrleDd-nr. piHi
ney Is ~ great inan--a truly great man,
his mind i, adaH mt, claaaped with iron "A
colossal l,sle al granite, over Nlalch the
lhunders of heasra might roll, upon which
the iIghtiIlu2s night exhaust Themselves
without shaking CT itarln,Hg il. Aud were
ie rnutenied with sueh . reputation, As no
NAN thai knows the structure Of hs intel
lect wauld deny IA him. he would have 40
id. He knows that he ~, decidedly, the
g eatest lawyrr of America but this would
napnIi-e the immortality Of a klngdon. he
W"ald be n0t only the greatest iawy cr, but
Ihe greatest aralof-and the greatest states
IMAM. 4 statesman he might have been,
and probably one of thr ptpfoandest that
ever Iised--a lawyer he Is and one whose
might Is uuquesilnncd. Bm--Gad never
meant bin Tor AN orator. He has no pro-
PcrtS of MUD ar body--no, not onr-cal
, caded To give him dominion in eloqaence,
And were Il aot forthe Prodigious elevation,
snliii'y and amplitude of his mind, which
makes the great overlook his prctensons as
y speaker and the mob 10 echo thrlr udg-
nent without understanding the reason Of
/ the would not he tolerated for an hour.
! N9-G0d uesrf meant William Pinkney
for an orator but he meant him for s0tIie-
thing nore--and but for strange ps1er-
! SHY common to all men, which SITS them
toillng hardest, for that reputation which
/ they are supposed irast likely To obtain
dissatisfied with Whatever oirHsllra OF fuue
/ their fellows may award 1e them, uneondl-
tlonally ds their natural and ndisputable
rght--and makes them anxious To live, by
a tribntc wrenched from the relncta1t uu-I
deralandlng of men but for this, William
Pinkney would have been, al this hour, Gus
af he greatest men of the age. Bun il III
too irte nov. lie /, going down, with q
continually accelerated motion, to thu
chambers of death. | do not perceive an,
decay of his lncultics-But il Is not IN the
i nature Of things, that he should continue
much longer nnsabdued by the inroads Of
age or unaffected by the labor OF his pro.
! la sl.att 81
/ study of nearly half century, is uuparal
lcled. No young man tolls with more
vehement anxiety. AT his first case, Han
William Ptnkney,# even yet, at every uat-
lei of moment ut which he is engaged
From what ke rs now, as a lawyer, YIN
may form some notion If what he might
have been, had he rightly understood his
own powers al first foibornr ie OBSTINATE
his strength IN experiment turned hi,
back IN scorn upon the reputation Of ~
orator disdainlng 10 become pDliiitian
and directed NIL the stnpendnus energies o
MS nature To the study of iarisprudeacr.-
Who then would have mated him Who
t6en would have dared to walk where the
shadow of Pnlney might have lallcu on
HIN
He opened his career by studying medi
cne--and soon after began tn read law
) with The celebrated Jude Chase, whose AT
tentlon he afterwards awakened in a dcha
ting society, where he appeared ms tn,
champion OF VI ay, queen Of Scolts. From
III Il hour, his destiny seemed fixed. II,
! desired to be eloquent. He thought Of De
mosthencs and Cicero and his heal
sSelled with ambition. He remcnhcret
not that he was 10 be iHryer and the
Demosihenes and CIcpro--N ere dccldimers
lie forgot that lie WAS to arGue--and tha
,hry bad only harrangucd. 1t never oc
, CURED to hun ihdt twelve men, are not K
re agitaled like multitude noi, that it /
easier 10 pat an ocean of human hrAi Is init
! In uproat, than the heart of one single, 81
, Der minded man. Hcrrliected not that th
, world had grown wiser too, since the day
Of the Greek and Roman--and that n,
who should look to move a body OF Amer
! leans, in court Of justice now, with tn
7 best h I,derlnS OF Demos h MS, would Ell
y make himself ridiculous.
But he erred yet more widely. II
worried his mind with politics, when hi
course was not In he political one; ant
+. he knew il, or ought to have known it
He had chosen the temple of justice an,
=, become Que eff its priesthood; and set h
had the presumption to dream OF awin,
and asitntlng Der ministers while sitting il
. Judgment, with the incantalious of clio
! qacnee. The thought was absurd but i
grew out of a mighty ambition. II ha,
been as wise Ia the Gaul when he stoo,
/ before the old men of Rome, in their Sen
ate Chamber, to think of terrify ing thea
by the clash of his armoR.
Let me give you some notion of his mp
pearance FIRST, and then | will return To tn
t character of his mind. Imagine II thick
p stout m9n, with n red, Eat, Eugllsh face
, remarkable for nothing at ail--apparentl
: ahnmi lnrtN-fke Nears of ge-ihln. DIR