The Life of Patrick Henry

"Patrick Henry is, in more than in one particular, among the most remarkable characters of the revolutionary period of our history. He is declared by Jefferson to have been 'the greatest orator that ever lived, ' and 'the person who, beyond all question, gave the first impulse to the movement, which terminated in the revolution.' Whatever exaggeration, if any, may be supposed to have crept into these sweeping statements, it is certain that the merits and services which had power to call the...