full-toned organ. Those who heard it did not seek to gratify their reason
or look for conviction to be brought to their understanding. It did not
appeal to the logical faculties or to the passions, which are roused by the
keen contests of parliamentary debate. It was the divine gift of speech,
the greatest instrument given to man, used with surpassing talent, and the
joy and pleasure which it brought were those which come from listening to
the song of a great singer, or looking upon the picture of a great artist.

The Plymouth oration, which was at once printed and published, was received
with a universal burst of applause. It had more literary success than
anything which had at that time appeared, except from the pen of Washington
Irving. The public, without stopping to analyze their own feelings, or the
oration itself, recognized at once that a new genius had come before them,
a man endowed with the noble gift of eloquence, and capable by the exercise
of his talents of moving and inspiring great masses of his fellow-men. Mr.
Webster was then of an age to feel fully the glow of a great success, both
at the moment and when the cooler and more critical approbation came. He
was fresh and young, a strong man rejoicing to run the race. Mr. Ticknor
says, in speaking of the oration:--

"The passage at the end, where, spreading his arms as if to embrace
them, he welcomed future generations to the great inheritance which
we have enjoyed, was spoken with the most attractive sweetness and
that peculiar smile which in him was always so charming. The effect
of the whole was very great. As soon as he got home to our
lodgings, all the principal people then in Plymouth crowded about
him. He was full of animation, and radiant with happiness. But
there was something about him very grand and imposing at the same
time. I never saw him at any time when he seemed to me to be more
conscious of his own powers, or to have a more true and natural