Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-02-15
INTERESTING REMIrISCEHCES OF
HENRY CLAY. o

1 HENRY CLAY.
Amongst the most agreeable reminis
cences of this year arc the visits of Henr,
Clay. We were fulfilling an engagement
in New Orleans when-he first caHed upor
me. 1T CHANGED that my history wa,
well known to him. He took deep in
terest in my professional exertions, ant
his encouragement was not sparingl,
bestowed. One 6ay he gave me a glow
ing description OF Miss 0'Neal Juliet
especially of the ndirete and feryor Of hel
balcony scene But when he tempted
to quote the passages which had oppressed
him, l could not help laughing involm-
tarlly at bus odd deyiations from the text.
| dare say am misquoting," he re.
marked, apologetically. II never could
remember q line of poetry. .""Gs.a o..
L had to admit that his version OF
Juliet differed considerably from the one
| which popular prejudice had adopted
nor could | fattcr him by saying that he
improved upon Shakespeare. : Ta-r ~,
2 He then told me that it was a singular
fact, and one which had been a subject
of regret through his whole life, that he
could not by any effort retain verse in
his memory. Even If he studied poem
by rote, in few days the lires would
te wholly effaced from the mental tablet
on which they had been laboriously writ
ten. He related to me an anecdote in
painful Illustration of this peculiarity.
He was making some public address,
think it was a Fourth of July oration-
during the course of which he purposed
quoting the well known lines
cI.ivcs there ma1 with soul 50 dead
r Who never TO himself hath said. f.
This Is my own my native land:''
Declaiming warmly, he gave enthusiastic
utterance to the line -- 3uBistH
"Lmes there man with.sou' SO dead
But the poetic page suddenly became a
blank-he could not remember another
work. He paused-then repeated the
line with more patriotic ardor then be-
fore. He thought the second line would
"come to him" by means of the repeti-
tion-but it came not. He put his hand
to his forehead, trying to think trhd the
man did ''whose soul was so dead but
the evidence Of that individuals torpid
essence would not develop itself in metre
For the third time he asked the question
emphatically, not to say desparingly-
"Lives there man with soul SO dead
and must have paused midway in his
query, had not a voice from the crowd
continued, in stage whisper
'sNTho never to himself hath said,
The oblivious statesman caught the words,
and thankfully finished his qu citation.
He determined, In future, to ornament
his orations with few of these slippery
gems of the poet.
Our next engagement took us to Vicks-
burg, but at its close we reioined Henry
Clay on board of the Alexander Scott.
We passed five days in this floating place
on our way to Louisville. Henry CLAY
was cheered wherever We stopped, and
answering cheers were sent back from the
boat. In these the ladies now and then
joined. -...-. .- ..-
Twas standing beside him when we
arrived at Memphis. LIE turned to me,
and said, Have you ever appeared here q
l replied in the negative.
He remarked, This western Memphis
makes more gigantic progress than any
town | know. She will be the queen
city of the west by and by. Never pass
here again without appearing"
answered that | would not. 1t was
six years before / saw Memphis once
more; but | kept my word. My appear
ance was rendered brief one through
sudden indisposition. L remember with
regret the ihprobability that shall ever
stand before genial Memphis audience
again. .-...
Henry Clay passed large portion of
his time in the ladies' saloon. The bear
ing Of our lofty minded statesman, though
always dignified, was characterized by
EXTREMIST courtesy courtesy to the low
est as well as the highest. He converSed
freely upon all subjects, and with the
huency for which he was distinguished.
"Aced ears played truanl with his tales,
And younger bearings were quite ravished
With his DISCOURSE
We were one day discussing Lafay-
cites visit to the country. Some jocular
estimate was made of the number of la
dies whom he had affectionately saluted.
CLAW remarked, that kissing was like
the Presidency; it was not to be sought,
and not to be decliaod." The natural in
ference from this remark, was that he
would not oppose the wishes of his party
if they again offered his nan as a pres
idential candidate. The conclusion did
not prove erroneous. ....
He recounted to me a number of anec-
dotes illustrative of the manner in which
his friends demonstrated their grief at
the great whig defeat. Some of the most
pathetic Of these stories had still a touch
of the ludicrous; but he seemed to feel
most deeply the mani festations of attach
ment Of which he was the object. ...
Many of the passengers eXerted them
selves to entertain fellow-traveler whom
every one seemed to treat as his own par
ticular and honored guest; but none con-
tributed so large TO his amusement as Mr..
Davenport. He sang comic, patriotic and
sentimental songs, and recited humorous
sketches, in which five or six different
characters were personated. One evening
he entered the saloon disguised as a
g down-eaSt" Yankee. I must say, by
way of parenthesis, that his Yankee was
stage Representation of Yankee land-a
broad, but telling caricature of the real
ity. He wore red wig, striped panta-
looms that maintained a respectable dis
1tance from his ancles, a short Jacket, and
flame colored cravat. He carried has