n of precedents, he had no superior at the bar of the
Supreme Court. He often relieved the tedium of argument with playful
sallies of wit and humor. He had a prompt and effective talent for
this exercise, to which his extensive and various reading administered
abundant resource; and he indulged it not less to the gratification of
his auditory than to the aid of his cause. In such tactics, Mr. Wirt was
well versed. In sarcasm and invective he was often exceedingly strong,
and denounced with a power that made transgressors tremble; but the bent
of his nature being kindly and tolerant of error, he took more pleasure
in exciting the laugh, than in conjuring the spirit of censure or
rebuke.

His manner in speaking was singularly attractive. His manly form,
his intellectual countenance and musical voice, set off by a rare
gracefulness of gesture, won, in advance, the favor of his auditory. He
was calm, deliberate, and distinct in his enunciation, not often rising
into any high exhibition of passion, and never sinking into tameness.
His key was that of earnest and animated argument, frequently alternated
with that of a playful and sprightly humor. His language was neat, well
chosen, and uttered without impediment or slovenly repetition. The tones
of his voice played, with a natural skill, through the various cadences
most appropriate to express the flitting emotions of his mind, and the
changes of his thought. To these external properties of his elocution,
we may ascribe the pleasure which persons of all conditions found in
listening to him. Women often crowded the court-rooms to hear him, and
as often astonished him, not only by the patience, but the visible
enjoyment with which they were wont to sit out his argument to the
end,--even when the topic was too dry to interest them, or too abstruse
for them to understand his discourse.... His oratory was not of
that strong, bold, and impetuous nature which is often the chief
characteristic of the highest eloquence, and which is said to sway the
Senate with absolute dominion, and to imprison or set free the storm of
human passion, in the multitude, according to the speaker's will. It was
smooth, polished, scholar-like, sparkling with pleasant fancies,
and beguiling the listener by its varied graces, out of all note or
consciousness of time.

* * * * *

=_William Ware, 1797-1852._= (Manual, p. 510.)

From "Aurelian, or Rome in the Third Century.