distinction are rested on something better than a penny's worth of ribbon transmitted from generation to generationthe light which hovers around his name, is something more glorious than the phosphorick ray, that gleams from amid the bones of a buried ancestry.

At an early age, Henry Clay, having obtained a common-school education, was placed in the office of Mr. Tinsley, Clerk of the High Court of Chancery, at Richmond, Virginia. In this situation, he met occasionally with the distinguished men of the State, and, at length, by his amiable deportment, and his striking displays of intellect, attracted the attention and gained the friendship of Chancellor Wythe and Governor Brooke, who, by their joint advice, persuaded him, at the age of nineteen, to undertake the study of the law. For this study he seemed peculiarly fitted, both by genius and inclination, and so assiduous was he in his application to it, that, at the age of twenty, he was admitted to practice. Soon afterward he went to Lexington, Kentucky, but, instead of entering immediately upon his professional career, still confined himself to his legal studies, with the determination of making himself thoroughly master of the great principles of law, before he assumed the responsibility of practice. Up to this period, he had never made an effort at publick speaking, and was wholly unconscious of his own oratorical powers, although it is said, that his style of conversation was universally admired by his associates, for its extreme correctness and elegance. The first display of his powers of extemporaneous eloquence was made under peculiar circumstances. Soon after his removal to Lexington, he joined a Debating Society in that place, but continued, for some weeks, to attend its meetings, without offering to take part in its discussions. On one occasion, however, when the vote on an interesting question, which had been

the subject of debate, was about to be taken, Mr. Clay remarked, in a low but audible whisper, that the subject did not appear to him to have been exhausted. This remark was overheard by several of the members, who, from their high opinion of his powers, had long wished to persuade him to participate in the debates of the Society, and they addressed the Chairman simultaneously-" Do not put the question yet-Mr. Clay will speak." The attention of the Society was now, of course, directed to Mr. Clay, who, not having sufficient confidence to resist. the appeal, arose under extraordinary embarrassment, and commenced his speech, by saying "Gentlemen of the Jury." The members of the Society, all of whom were his personal friends, were unwilling to increase his agitation by seeming to take notice of his mistake, and he repeated it several times in a stammering tone, till, at length, he gradually gained confidence from his own ef forts, and finally, concentrating all his vigorous and disciplined powers upon the subject in debate, he surprised his audience with a beauty and compass of voice, an exuberance of eloquence, and a force of argument, well worthy of a veteran Orator. A gentleman who heard this speech, has assured us, that it would hardly suffer in comparison with those brilliant efforts of its author, which have since thrilled like a voice of salvation through the country. It is scarcely necessary to add, that his reputation as a speaker was at once established, and that he immediately became a leading champion in all the debates of the Society. The circumstances attending the first speech of Mr. Clay, and that of Mr. Burke, were strikingly similar. We have somewhere read, that the latter orator, like the former, gained in a Debating Society the first knowledge of his own vast powers, and was there first visited by visions of coming glory.

A few months after the incident above mentioned, Mr. Clay was admitted as a Practitioner before the Fayette Court of Quarter Sessions, a court of general jurisdiction. His experience, while with the clerk of the Richmond Court of Chancery, had acquainted him with the routine of business, and, during the first term, he obtained an extensive practice. The Lexington Bar, at this time, was the ablest that had ever been in Kentucky, consisting of George Nicholas, John Breckenridge, James Brown, James Hughes, William Murray, and several other gentlemen, either of whom would have been the leading attorney in almost any other place. Notwithstanding the number, experience, and strength of these competitors, Mr. Clay soon came to be entrusted with more suits than any rival practitioner, and was more successful in the management of them. It is said of him, that, although he was frequently called on to address the Court with but little time for preparation, he always understood his causes well, his strength of mind and perspicuity of judgement being such as to enable him to comprehend them at a glance. We have heard much in relation to his early professional efforts. They are well remembered by his fellow citizens, from whom we learn, that he was universally regarded as a powerful spirit, destined, in the meridian of life, to take his place among the leading intelligences of the age. He certainly possessed, in a remarkable degree, those qualities and powers of mind, which fitted him for success in his legal practice. He always seemed to discover, as if by intuition, the peculiar character of every man with whom he came in contact. He would read it in the eye, and in the flitting expression of countenance, and this power, especially when he was called on to address a Jury, enabled him almost invariably to triumph. By watching with the instinctive keenness

of his vision the vibration of the master-chord in each man's bosom, he knew when to confine himself to severe argument, when to indulge in the playfulness of humour, when to wither his victim with the scorching blast of his indignation, and when to pour his whole soul abroad in a rushing tide of eloquence; and if, at any time, he chanced to excite an unfavourable prejudice on the part of his hearers, he would perceive it on the instant, and dexterously change his subject, or his mode of treating it, until he read in their countenances the proofs of his success. The consequence was, he scarcely ever failed of gaining the verdict of a Jury. This intuitive knowledge of character is undoubtedly one of the means by which he has so generally through life secured the attachment of his associates. Probably he has more personal friends—more friends, who, in the fullness of their enthusiastick love, would almost shed their blood for him, than any other man in the United States. This fact is, in part, owing to the manliness and ingenuousness of his character, but it must also be partially ascribed to that unerring certainty with which he reads the thoughts, habits, and feelings of those who approach him, and the skill and delicacy with which he adapts himself to their peculiarities.

Mr. Clay, though well acquainted with the law during the early years of his practice, was not, in this respect, distinguished beyond some of his competitors. In legal science he had several formidable rivals, but, in eloquence and persuasion, none. Though capable of analyzing the most difficult questions, and applying the abstract principles of law with extreme ingenuity and force, his genius was still better adapted to discussions, in which the natural powers of intellect were principally called into exercise. Whenever the subject of debate admitted of being brought within the range of reason, and his mind was al

lowed to break away from the technicalities and arbitrary forms of law, he never failed to excite admiration and surprise by the closeness and cogency of his reasonings, the boldness and originality of his conceptions, and the sublime strength of his language-sometimes pursuing, by the hour, an unbroken chain of metaphysical disquisition, and then giving utterance to a gush of magnificent thoughts, like the bursting forth of an imprisoned fountain. It is, by no means, rare, that the greatest minds are not those which are most conversant with the trifling details of legal decisions. Genius delights in open space. It is the Eagle, that dashes freely abroad through sun and storm, and not the Canary, that is content to nibble at its narrow cage in the parlour window.

Mr. Clay had not been long in practice, when he was employed to defend Mrs. Phelps, a woman indicted for murder. Up to the time of this trial, it had been doubted by some, whether his powers as an advocate were not overrated by a too partial public. It had been sometimes suggested, that the youthful stranger caught the eye and charmed the ear by the fascination of his manner and the melody of his voice, rather than convinced the understanding by the profundity and force of his arguments; but all controversy upon this point was now to be put forever to rest. Mrs. Phelps was the wife of a respectable farmer, and was herself respected, both on account of the general correctness of her deportment, and the good character of the family from which she was descended. Her victim was a Miss Phelps, a beautiful and amiable young lady, and the sister of her husband. It seems, that Mrs. P., while in her husband's house, taking some offence at her sister-in-law, seized a gun and shot her instantly through the heart. The poor girl had only

time to exclaim, "Sister, you have killed me," and ex