Bart Ridgeley: A Story of Northern OhioRiddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin)
General
Bart Ridgeley: A Story of Northern Ohio
Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin)
Ohio -- Fiction
At the opening of the Court on Thursday, the court room was crowded.
The interest in the case was general, and the character of the
facts, and principal witnesses for the defense, was such as appealed
powerfully to the memories and early associations of the people, and
there was an earnest desire to hear the speech of the young advocate,
whose management of the case had so far, won for him the heartiest
admiration.
When the jury had answered to their names, "Mr. Ridgeley, proceed with
your argument," said Judge Humphrey. The young man rose, bowed to the
Court and jury, and stood silent a moment, with his eyes cast down,
and it was at first thought on his rising for his speech, that he
was laboring under embarrassment. When he raised his eyes, however,
embarrassed as he certainly was, and commenced with a low sweet voice,
it was discovered that his faltering was due mainly to the emotions
of sensibility. Nature had been liberal in bestowing many of
the qualifications of a great advocate upon him. He had a strong
compelling will, when he chose to exercise it, which in the conflicts
of the bar often prevails, and courage of a chivalrous cast, which
throws a man impetuously and audaciously upon strong points, and
enables him to gain a footing by the boldness and force of his onset.
Barton was one to lead a forlorn hope, or defend a pass single handed,
against a host. Without something of this quality, a great advocate is
impossible.
With a warm, poetic imagination, Nature had given him quick perceptive
powers, and the faculty of expressing his thoughts without apparent
effort, in simple, strong language, as well defined, and sharply
cut as a cameo. Beyond this, and better than all, was a tender,
sympathetic sensibility; which, if it sometimes overmastered him, made
him the master of others. The commonest things in his hands took
the motion and color of living things. It was not the mere sensuous
magnetism of powerful physical nature; but it excited the higher
intellectual sympathies, which in turn awoke and captivated the
reasoning and reflective organs, that found themselves delightfully
conducted along a natural and logical course, that led them
unconsciously to inevitable conclusions and convictions, ere the
danger was perceived, or an alarm was sounded.
On the present occasion, he had not been on his feet five minutes ere
it was felt that a real power, of an unusual order, was manifesting
itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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