Year: 1859

It has been common to suppose that Patrick
Henry, the "natural orator." as he is popularity
called, was very slightly, if at ALL indebted for his
wonderful eloquence to those sources of mental
culture which are held in highest esteem at
once the models of taste and the instruments of
learning. 1t seems, however, that this opinion Is
unfounded, and the American Dcmosthenes is no
exception to the great law which afhrms that the
gods give nothing to men without labor" From
an interesting and instructive Grafton delivered by
MIR Hugh Blair Grgsby, before the students of
William and Mary College, on the 4th of July
last, We cite the following statement in reference
to the literary style and early classical proficiency
Of Patrick. Henry:


One instance of the application of phology to
the history of Virginia is within my own cxpe-
rience, and may not be without interest to the
students of William and Mary. From critical
examination of the fragments of speeches and wri-
tings of Patrick Henry which have come down to
us, and by a careful collation. of them with those
| of his prominent cotemporaries, | was convinced
that our Patriot Prophet had received regular
and thorough training in the Latin classics, and
that he had received that training in early life.
There was to be in his style 'curiOSG fctici


tas and a 'callida .junctura, purity and tact
which could not have been the result of chance,
or they would have been equally apparent in the
works of his rivals; and it evident, so finely
were these characters interviewer in the general
texture of his STYLE that he must have studied the
ancient authors in early lfe such results rarely
appear conspicuousy in the productions of those
who become acquainted with the classics at a more
advanced age. This was the argument of internal
evidence-an argument which satisfactory to
me, but which, without an infinitely minute expo
siton of details that none but philologst could
comprehend, would not be conclusive to others.
1t would thus be regarded rather opinion
than demonstration; and must, therefore, sus


tain my conclusion, for the benefit others, from
the facts of Henry's early life. His father was a
teacher and native of Scotland, and he was edu-
Gated in that country when Latin was taught with
substantial skill, but many years before the sun of
Greek literature had risen in the Scottish horizon.
Now, the Scotch teach Latin at the tenderest age.
[ am myself of Scottish descent on the maternal
side, and taught by Scottish teachers, and l
can hardly remember time when could not read
Latin, or at least when was not familiar with the
| grammar But the father of Henry was not only
a teacher and Scotchman, but he was an ad-
mirabc Latin scholar; for we are told in the diary
of Saml. Davics, himself fine scholar, that the
father of Henry more familiar with his Horace
than with his Bible. Hence the conclusion was
irresistible that, if the father of Henry taught his
pupils the classics, he would, like the rest Of his
countrymen, teach them early; and, as he was
proved to have been thoroughly skilled in them,
that he would teach them well; and, further, that
if he taught the children of other people Latin, he
would at the same time teach his own. rts was
the argument from probability, which did not
need to enhance my conviction but which may be
necessary to gain the assent of others. Here then


was fact ascertained in the life of Patrick Henry
which was not only not known, but which ran
counter to the opinions and statements of all his
| contemporaries and biographers. But my
clusion true after all 1t was strictly true in
both respects, that our great orator had learned
the Latin classics, and that he had learned them
in early life for in the recently published diary of
John Adams, under the date Of September, liza,
we have it from the lips Of Henry himself that be-


fore fifteen he had read Virgil and Livy-a degree
of proficiency which, even in this day, except
der favorable auspices is rarely attained carly
an age; for, between the grammar and Livy,


was observed by my venerable friend, Bishop


Meade, our old teachers, even those with whom I
studied, introduced nearly the entire series of the
| classical authors.