ve and
scurrilous pieces came out against him, under the signature
of Decius. They were supposed to be written by John
Nicholas, ... with the assistance of other more important
men. They assailed Mr. Henry's conduct in the Convention,
and slandered his character by various stories hatched up
against him. These pieces were extremely hateful to all Mr.
Henry's friends, and, indeed, to a great portion of the
community. I was at his house in Prince Edward during the
thickest of them.... He evinced no feeling on the occasion,
and far less condescended to parry the effects on the public
mind. It was too puny a contest for him, and he reposed upon
the consciousness of his own integrity.... With many sublime
virtues, he had no vice that I knew or ever heard of, and
scarcely a foible. I have thought, indeed, that he was too
much attached to property,--a defect, however, which might
be excused when we reflect on the largeness of a beloved
family, and the straitened circumstances in which he had
been confined during a great part of his life."[439]

Concerning his personal habits, we have, through his grandson, Patrick
Henry Fontaine, some testimony which has the merit of placing the
great man somewhat more familiarly before us. "He was," we are told,
"very abstemious in his diet, and used no wine or alcoholic
stimulants. Distressed and alarmed at the increase of drunkenness
after the Revolutionary war, he did everything in his power to arrest
the vice. He thought that the introduction of a harmless beverage, as
a substitute for distilled spirits, would be beneficial. To effect
this object, he ordered from his merchant in Scotland a consignment of
barley, and a Scotch brewer and his wife to cultivate the grain, and
make small beer. To render the beverage fashionable and popular, he
always had it upon his table while he was governor during his last
term of office; and he continued its use, but drank nothing stronger,
while he lived."[440]

Though he was always a most loyal Virginian, he became, particularly
in his later years, very unfriendly to that renowned and consolatory
herb so long associated with the fame and fortune of his native State.

"In his old age, the condition of his nervous system made
the scent of a tobacco-pipe very disagreeable to him. The
old colored house-servants were compelled to hide their
pipes