much deceived if the well-earned popularity, so justly and
so boldly acquired by him on this occasion, does not carry him, if
he lives, to the presidency."

While this convention, so memorable in the career of Mr. Webster and so
filled with the most absorbing labors, was in session, he achieved a still
wider renown in a very different field. On the 22d of December, 1820, he
delivered at Plymouth the oration which commemorated the two hundredth
anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. The theme was a splendid one,
both in the intrinsic interest of the event itself, in the character of the
Pilgrims, in the vast results which had grown from their humble beginnings,
and in the principles of free government, which had spread from the cabins
of the exiles over the face of a continent, and had become the common
heritage of a great people. We are fortunate in having a description of the
orator, written at the time by a careful observer and devoted friend, Mr.
Ticknor, who says:--

"_Friday Evening._--I have run away from a great levee there is
down-stairs, thronging in admiration round Mr. Webster, to tell you
a little word about his oration. Yet I do not dare to trust myself
about it, and I warn you beforehand that I have not the least
confidence in my own opinion. His manner carried me away
completely; not, I think, that I could have been so carried away if
it had been a poor oration, for of that, I apprehend, there can be
no fear. It _must_ have been a great, a very great performance, but
whether it was so absolutely unrivalled as I imagined when I was
under the immediate influence of his presence, of his tones, of his
looks, I cannot be sure till I have read it, for it seems to me
incredible.

"I was never so excited by public speaking before in my life. Three
or four times I thought my temples would burst with the gush of
blood; for, after all, you must know that I am aware it is no
connected and compacted whole, but a collection of wonderful
fragments of burning eloquence, to which his whole manner gave
tenfold force. When I came out I was almost afraid to come near to
him. It seemed to me as if he was like the mount that might not be
touched and that burned with fire. I was beside myself, and am so
still."

"_Saturday._--Mr. Webster was in admirable spirits. On Thursday
evening he was consi