The Green Bag, notes of discord are those 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!'" It would be difficult to describe the scene that followed; the decorum of the court was -lost in the roar of laughter that convulsed the audience. The clerk of the court, unable to restrain himself, rushed from the room, and, throwing himself on the grass, rolled over and over in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Here he was soon joined by the plaintiff, Hook, who had left the court room, and sought relief in the yard, but with feelings very different from those that had driven the court clerk to the same place. Hook not only lost his suit, but escaped a coat of tar and feathers only by a precipitate flight from the indignant patriots. In speaking of Patrick Henry's eloquence, it has been well said that his fancy, although sufficiently rich and abundant, was not so ex uberant as to oppress him with its produc tions. He was never guilty of the fault, of which Corinna accused Pindar, of pouring his vase of flowers all at once upon the ground; on the contrary, their beauty and their excellence were fully observed, from their rarity, and the happiness with which they were distributed through his speeches.
His eloquence was described by his contem poraries as a mighty and roaring torrent— a short but bold and most terrible assault— a vehement, impetuous and overwhelming burst—a magnificent meteor, which shot ma jestically across the heavens, from pole to pole, and straight expired in a glorious blaze. His eloquence was the gift of heaven—:'the birthright of genius." John Randolph of Roanoke declared that Patrick Henry was Shakespeare and Garrick combined. As an evidence of the high opinion of Washington for Patrick Henry, it may be mentioned that, when the office of Secretary of State became vacant he offered the place to his old friend, and urged him to accept it. This being declined, three months afterwards the President asked him to accept the great office of Chief Justice of the United States. This was, also, declined, as well as the ap pointment of United States Senator, offered him by General Henry Lee, the Governor of Virginia, and the position of minister to France, tendered him by President Adams. Professional men retired earlier in the eighteenth century than they do in these days of extraordinary mental activity. Patrick Henry, after paying his debts, and securing an ample fortune, retired finally from the bar in 1794, when he was only fifty-eight vears old.
EZEKIEL'S ALIBI. BY ALBERT W. GAINES, Of the Chattanooga, Tennessee Bar.
"Xow, accordin' to dis ditement, As I heahs it read to me, I has stole a watah-milyun, Which dey say am lahceny; Dat I also tuk a roostah, CSo I understan' it's writ), likewise sundry 'n divahs pullets, On a sartin time, to wit.
