* Wirt, in his brilliant biography of the great orator, has given several illustrations of the power of his eloquence. I give one in conclusion. A Scotchman, named Hook, living in Campbell county, was suspected of being a Tory. On the occasion of the joint invasion of Cornwallis and Phillips, the American army was greatly distressed. A commissary, named Venable, took two of Mr. Hook's steers, without his consent, to feed the starving soldiers. At the conclusion of the war, a lawyer, named Cowan, advised Book to prosecute Venable for trespass, in the District Court of New London. Venable employed Patrick Henry.
* The case was tried in the old court-house in New London. Mr. Henry depicted the distress of the American soldiers in the most glowing colors, and then asked, where was the man, "who had an American heart, who would not have thrown open his fields, his barns, his cellars, the doors of his house, the portals of his breast, to have received with open arms the meanest soldier in that little band of famished patriots? Where is the man? There he stands; but whether the heart of an American beats in his bosom you, gentlemen, are to judge." "He then," says Wirt, "carried the jury, by the powers of his imagination, to the plains around York, the surrender of which had followed shortly after the act complained of. He depicted the surrender in the most glowing and noble colors of his eloquence. The audience saw before their eyes the humiliation and dejection of the British as they marched out of the trenches—they saw the triumph which lighted up every patriotic face, and heard the shouts of victory, and the cry of 'Washington and Liberty,' as it rung and echoed through the American ranks, and was reverberated from the hills and shores of the neighboring river—| but hark! what notes of discord are these which disturb the general joy, and silence the acclamations of victory? They are the notes of John Hook, hoarsely bawling through the American camp, 'beef! beef! beef!'
* "The whole audience were convulsed. The clerk of the court, unable to contain himself, and unwilling to commit any breach of decorum in his place, rushed out of the court-house, and threw himself upon the grass, in the most violent paroxysm of laughter, where he was rolling when Hook, with very different feelings, came out for relief into the yard also. 'Jemmy Steptoe,' he said to the clerk, 'what the divil ails ye, mon?' Mr. Steptoe was only able to lay that he could not help it. 'Never mind ye.' said Hook, 'wait till Billy Cowan gets up; he'll show him the la'!' Mr. Cowan was so overwhelmed that he could scarcely utter a word. The jury instantly returned a verdict against Hook. The people were highly excited, and Hook was obliged to leave the county to avoid a coat of tar and feathers."—Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry. *
* This is from a picture in Howe's Historical Collections of Virginia, p. 220. The house is upon a ridge, the dividing line of Campbell and Charlotte counties. "From the brow of the hill, west of the house," says Howe, "the Blue Ridge, with the lofty peaks of Otter, appear in the horizon at the distance of nearly sixty miles." In a grove of locusts and other trees at the foot of the garden, are the graves of Governor Henry and his first wife. In the parlor of the house hangs the portrait, by Sutly, of which the one given on the preceding page is a copy. The dress is black, cravat white, and a red velvet mantle is thrown over the shoulders. The sketch of the old court-house in New London is also from Howe's valuable hook, p. 212.
Departure from Richmond.—Aspect of the Scene.—Effect of Patrick Henry's Eloquence.—His Residence.
made the sketch printed on page 433, contemplating the beauty and grandeur of the scenery, charming even in December, when the trees were leafless and the sward of a russet hue.