diverse stormar, cd to become by a pallur

At der, e of fourtoci ho enten st

Fichmond, Virgiura, kept

stay there was short, and

he entered the office of Mia Te

s

the

Ham Court of Chancery. La this situation ho, of conse, came into personal con.net with the most disi guished men in 1.. State and attracted their attent a strong's by his tents and smisble quilith:

ઘ

w of them, partedly Chane or Wyt: 1

CHAPTER III.

HENRY CLAY,

THE POLITICIAN.

THE facts and events which mark the career of Mr. Clay have frequently been portrayed. Some of the most important of these it will be necessary to recite at the outset; though biographical detail forms but quite a subordinate element of our present design.

The father of our orator was a very respectable Baptist preacher, in the County of Hanover, Virginia, commonly known as "The Slashes," where, on the 12th of April, 1777, his fifth child, Henry, was born. At an early age, he was left without father or fortune to buffet adverse storms, and to become inured to manual toil. At the age of fourteen he entered a small drug store in Richmond, Virginia, kept by Mr. Richard Denny. His stay there was short, and at the commencement of 1792 he entered the office of Mr. Peter Tinsley, clerk of the High Court of Chancery. In this situation he, of course, came into personal contact with the most distinguished men in the State, and attracted their attention so strongly by his talents and amiable qualities, that some of them, particularly Chancellor Wythe and

Governor Brooke, persuaded him, at the age of nineteen, to undertake the study of the law. The state of society, and of the bar rules at this period, afforded great facilities for entering on the profession, and Mr. Clay, after a year's study, was admitted to practice at the age of twenty. He removed soon after to Lexington, Kentucky, where he has since resided. He continued his studies at this place about a year longer, and during this period exercised himself in speaking at the meetings of the Debating Society. At his first attempt he exhibited the fluency and fervor, which have since formed the character of his maturer eloquence. "He rose," says Mr. Prentice, "under some embarrassment, and addressed the President of the Society by the title of Gentlemen of the Jury, but he gradually gained confidence from his own efforts, and, finally, concentrating all his powers upon the subject in debate, he surprised his audience with a beauty and compass of voice, an exuberance of eloquence, and a force of argument well worthy of a veteran orator. A gentleman who heard this speech has assured us, that it would hardly suffer in comparison with the most brilliant efforts made by its author in after life. His reputation as a speaker was of course established, and he became immediately a leading champion in all the debates of the Society."

Mr. Clay entered on the duties of his profession at Lexington, under not the most flattering auspices, as appears from his speech of June, 1842, made at the same place. In this, he says he "was without patrons, without friends, and destitute of the means of paying his weekly board. I remember how comfortable I