ay of speakers such as
perhaps had not appeared together since the great age of Athenian
eloquence. There were Fox and Sheridan, the English Demosthenes and
the English Hyperides. There was Burke--ignorant indeed, or negligent,
of the art of adapting his reasonings and his style to the capacity
and taste of his hearers, but in amplitude of comprehension and
richness of imagination superior to every orator, ancient or modern.
There, with eyes reverentially fixt on Burke, appeared the finest
gentleman of the age, his form developed by every manly exercise, his
face beaming with intelligence and spirit--the ingenious, the
chivalrous, the high-souled Windham. Nor, tho surrounded by such men,
did the youngest manager pass unnoticed. At an age when most of those
who distinguish themselves in life are still contending for prizes and
fellowships at college he had won for himself a conspicuous place in
Parliament. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that
could set off to the height his splendid talents and his unblemished
honor. At twenty-three he had been thought worthy to be ranked with
the veteran statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British
Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood at that
bar, save him alone, are gone--culprit, advocates, accusers. To the
generation which is now in the vigor of life, he is the sole
representative of a great age which has passed away. But those who
within the last ten years have listened with delight, till the morning
sun shone on the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and
animated eloquence of Charles, Earl Grey, are able to form some
estimate of the powers of a race of men among whom he was not the
foremost.

IV

THE GIFT OF ATHENS TO MAN[59]

If we consider merely the subtlety of disquisition, the force of
imagination, the perfect energy and elegance of expression, which
characterize the great works of Athenian genius, we must pronounce
them intrinsically most valuable; but what shall we say when we
reflect that from these had sprung, directly or indirectly, all the
noblest creations of the human intellect; that from hence were the
vast accomplishments and the brilliant fancy of Cicero, the withering
fire of Juvenal; the plastic imagination of Dante; the humor of
Cervantes; the comprehension of Bacon, the wit of Butler; the supreme
and universal excellence of Shakespeare? All the triumphs of truth and
genius over prejudice