he questioned. But his general course, and his confidential correspondence, show that he earnestly desired to preserve the constitution, when it was adopted, and that his motives were patriotic in his proceedings towards Mr. Adams. Certain it is that no man labored more faithfully, skillfully and efficiently, in organizing and putting into operation the federal government.
PATRICK HENRY.
Patrick Henry, the second son of John and Sarah Henry, and one of
nine children, was born May 29, 1736, in the county of Hanover and colony
of Virginia. Until ten years of age, Patrick Henry was sent to a
school in the neighborhood, where he learned to read and write, and made
some small progress in arithmetic. He was then taken home, and, under
the direction of his father, who had opened a grammar school in his own
house, he acquired a superficial knowledge of the Latin language. At
the same time, he made a considerable proficiency in the mathematics, the
only branch of education for which, it seems, he discovered, in his youth,
the slightest predilection. He was passionately addicted to the sports of
the field, and could not brook the confinement and toil which education
required. His father, unable to sustain the expense of his large and increasing
family, found it necessary to qualify his sons, at a very early age, to
support themselves. With this view, Patrick was placed, at the age of
fifteen, behind the counter of a trader in the country. In the next year,
his father purchased a small adventure of goods for his two sons, William
and Patrick, and 'set them up in trade.' William's habits of idleness were
such, that the chief management of their concerns devolved upon the
younger brother, and that management was most wretched. One year put
an end to this experiment, and Patrick was engaged, for the two or three
following years, in settling the accounts of the firm as well as he could.
At the early age of eighteen, he married a Miss Shelton, the daughter of
a respectable farmer in the neighborhood; and, by the joint assistance of
their parents, the young couple were settled on a small farm, where, with
one or two slaves, Mr. Henry had to dig the earth for subsistence. His
want of agricultural skill, and his unconquerable aversion to every species
of systematic labor, caused him, after a trial of two years, to abandon this
pursuit. His next step seems to have been dictated by absolute despair;
for, selling off his little possessions at a sacrifice for cash, he entered a second
time into the unauspicious business of merchandise. But the same
want of method, the same facility of temper, soon became apparent. He
resumed his violin, his flute, his books, his inspection of human nature, and
not unfrequently shut up his shop to indulge himself in the favorite sports
of his youth. His reading, however, began to assume a more serious character.
He studied geography, read the charters and history of the colony,
and became fond of historical works generally, particularly those of Greece
and Rome, and, from the tenacity of his memory and the strength of his
judgment, soon made himself master of their contents. Livy was his
favorite; and, having procured a translation, he made it a rule to read it
through, once, at least, in every year, during the earlier part of his life.
The second mercantile experiment in a few years left him a bankrupt;
every remnant of his property was gone, and his friends were unable to
