of his vast body in constant agitation, swaying backward and forward,'
"In spite of his infirmities, he occasionally indulged in athletic performances. Mrs. Piozzi says that he sometimes hunted with Thrale. He understood boxing, and regretted the decline of prize-fighting; jumped, rowed, and shot, 'in a strange and unwieldy way, to show that he was not tired after a fifty-mile chase'; and, according to Miss Reynolds, swarmed up a tree; and beat a young lady in a foot-race when over fifty. Langton described to Best how, at the age of fifty-five, he had solemnly rolled down a hill. His courage was remarkable. He separated savage dogs; swam into dangerous pools; fired off an overloaded gun; and defended himself against four robbers single handed."—Dictionary of National Biography, p. 44.
An all-round heavy-weight,—mentally and physically.
PATRICK HENRY (1736–1799)
Born in Virginia; failed at store-keeping; also at farming and at law, till, for the People, against an unpopular tax, he won, displaying such eloquence that he was soon regarded as the foremost orator in America. A zealous patriot in the Revolution; member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. Largely through his efforts that State joined Massachusetts in resisting England. Delegate and first Speaker in the first General Congress at Philadelphia in 1774; astounding all by his eloquence; three times elected Governor of Virginia; in 1795 Washington appointed him Secretary of State.
Of Patrick Henry's great speech which first brought him into notice, Mathews says: "He was elected a member of the first Congress, and in this august body his superiority was established as readily as in the House of Burgesses. Though the delegates had met for the express purpose of resisting the encroachments of the King and Parliament, they had apparently not fully weighed the fearful responsibility which they had assumed till this hour.
