Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/75

lighted to get him in their clutches. He handled them so mercilessly in his essays, and cut them so sharply with his invective and wit, that they would gladly have put him out of the way. He has great powers of satire, and is very fearless. He is probably one of the best classical scholars in this body, and a very good lawyer. His mind is strong and comprehensive, and, (an unusual combination,) he adds to its strength a brilliant imagination. He is a poet of no mean abilities, and his literary taste, generally, is highly cultivated and refined. He is thoroughly republican in politics.

As the place of meeting is her own metropolis, Pennsylvania has more representatives here than any other of the states. She has no less than eight: Virginia, next to her in numbers, has seven. We can only speak of a few of the Pennsylvania delegation. There is the old philosopher, whom every body in Philadelphia knows, Benjamin Franklin. He is now eighty-one years of age, and, like Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, is a self-made man. Like Sherman, too, he has a most accurate knowledge of human nature. His worldly wisdom is probably not surpassed by that of any man in America. He is no speaker; indeed, very seldom attempts to speak, and when he does, disposes of the question before him with wonderful brevity; sometimes, in fact, by a single sentence. He never wastes words. He has a most happy talent of illustrating, by an allegory, or reasoning, by means of a story, the application of which he leaves to his hearers. He is always cool and self-possessed. The character of his mind, addicted to philosophical research, and the incidents of his earlier life, have combined to make him eminently an utilitarian. He considers all questions, whether of philosophy or politics, with reference to their practical bearing and effect. Hence his natural tendency is thought, by some, to lean too much to considerations of mere expediency, in his acts as a states-