his highest physical and intellectual perfection. Such at least was the
opinion of Mr. Ticknor, who says:--

"He was in the perfection of manly beauty and strength; his form
filled out to its finest proportions, and his bearing, as he stood
before the vast multitude, that of absolute dignity and power. His
manner of speaking was deliberate and commanding. I never heard him
when his manner was so grand and appropriate; ... when he ended the
minds of men were wrought up to an uncontrollable excitement, and
then followed three tremendous cheers, inappropriate indeed, but as
inevitable as any other great movement of nature."

He had held the vast audience mute for over two hours, as John Quincy Adams
said in his diary, and finally their excited feelings found vent in cheers.
He spoke greatly because he felt greatly. His emotions, his imagination,
his entire oratorical temperament were then full of quick sensibility. When
he finished writing the imaginary speech of John Adams in the quiet of his
library and the silence of the morning hour, his eyes were wet with tears.

A year passed by after this splendid display of eloquence, and then the
second congressional period, which had been so full of work and
intellectual activity and well-earned distinction, closed, and he entered
upon that broader field which opened to him in the Senate of the United
States, where his greatest triumphs were still to be achieved.




CHAPTER VI.