white, straight hair, that did not hang quite so low as his ears, fixed our thorough attention and filled us with surprise and admiration." [[[Opening of the first Continental Congress.--Patrick Henry.--The First Prayer in Congress.]]] {267}the various delegates were then presented, and now came a pause; who should take the lead? what measure should be first proposed? They had come together from distant provinces, some instructed by the power that appointed them, others left free to act as circumstances should require. [Illustration: 8275] There was a profound silence, and deep anxiety was depicted upon every countenance. No one seemed willing to break that silence, until a grave-looking member, in a plain, is it?" A few, who knew the stranger, answered, There was no more hesitation; he who startled the people of colonial America, nine years before, by his bold resolutions against the Stamp Act, and, a few months afterward, by the cry of "Give me liberty or give me death!" now gave the impulse to the representatives of that people in grand council assembled, and set in motion that machinery of civil power which worked so nobly while Washington and his compatriots were waging war with the enemy in the field. [Illustration: 9275] Two days afterward, another im-[[September 7.]] impressive scene occurred. It was the _first prayer in Congress_, offered up by the Reverend Mr. Duché. ** The first day had been occupied in the reception of credentials and the arrangement of business; the second, in the adoption of rules for the regulation of the session; and now, when about to enter upon the general business for which they were convened, the delegates publicly sought Divine aid. It was a spectacle of great interest, for men of every creed dark suit of "minister's gray" and unpowdered wig, arose. "Then," said Bishop White, who was present, and related the circumstance, "I felt a regret that a seeming _country parson_ should so far have mistaken his talents and the theater for their display." [Illustration: 6275] But his voice was so musical, his words so eloquent, and his sentiments so profoundly logical, that the whole House was electrified, and the question went from lip to lip, Who is it? who It is Patrick Henry, of Virginia!" *** John Adams thus wrote: