o.led  by  Google


HAEBINGTON.  245

The  applause  sunk  down,  and  an  expectant,  breathless  hush
succeeded.  Slowly  his  lips  curved  apart,  and  the  clear,  per-
Buasive  silver  of  his  Toice  flowed  into  words.  It  was  a  simple
and  ordinary  sentence,  and  yet  what  a  fascination  it  had  !  It
was  not  a  sentence — it  was  something  bright  that  flew  into
the  souls  of  his  audience  ;  and  as  it  flew,  the  magnetic  glance
of  his  eye  seemed  to  follow  it,  and  every  one  was  captive.  His
address  was  at  once  exposition  and  criticism.  The  condition
of  the  nation,  the  aggressiom  of  the  slave  oligarchy,  the  recent
plnnder  of  Mexico  for  the  extension  of  slavery,  the  servility
of  the  pulpit,  the  pro-slavery  scheming  of  Northern  merchants
and  manufacturers — these  were  his  themes,  and  how  he  treated
them  1  He  was  not  in  his  loftiest  lyric  mood  that  night,  and
his  speech  only  rose  now  and  then  from  its  tone  of  exquisite
impressive  colloquy  into  the  long,  imperial  sweep  of  the  ora-
tion ;  but  still,  as  Thomas  Davis  said  of  Curran,  his'  words
went  forth  in  robes  of  light  with  swords.  Shapes  of  severest
crystal  grace  that  moved  to  Dorian  music,  an  armed  battalia,
a  br%ht  procession,  the  splendid  phrases  trooped,  with  strength
to  strike  and  skill  to  guard  for  liberty  and  justice.  What
language — so  finely  chosen,  so  apt,  terse,  limpid,  electrical  1
What  logic — proof-mail  of  gold  and  steel  around.his  thought,
or  a  smiting  weapon  of  celestial  temper  1  Now  came  some
metaphor  so  analogically  related  to  the  theme  that  it  flashed
on  the  mind  like  a  subtle  argument.  Ai^  now  a  sentence
shining  upon  the  imagination  with  the  beauty  of  an  antique
frieze.  Here  was  an  exjwession  that  memory  would  wear  hke
a  gem-cameo  forever.  And  here  some  jewel  of  classic  story
re-cut  more  purely,  or  some  historic  picture  that  glowed  sharp,
definite,  in  lines  and  hues  of  life,  upon  the  eye  of  the  mmd.
