e
parsons' lawyer cried out that the verdict was illegal and asked the
judge to send the jury back. But his voice was lost in the acclamations
of the multitude. Gathering round Patrick Henry, they picked him up
bodily, lifted him to their shoulders, and bore him out, carrying him in
triumph through the town, which rang loudly with their cries and cheers.
Thus it was that the young lawyer of Hanover rose to fame.

Two years after that memorable day Patrick Henry found himself in a
different situation. He was now a member of the dignified House of
Burgesses, the oldest legislative body in America. An aristocratic body
it was, made up mostly of wealthy landholders, dressed in courtly attire
and sitting in proud array. There were few poor men among them, and
perhaps no other plain countryman to compare with the new member from
Hanover County, who had changed but little in dress and appearance from
his former aspect.

A great question was before the House. The Stamp Act had been passed in
England and the people of the colonies were in a high state of
indignation. They rose in riotous mobs and vowed they would never pay a
penny of the tax. As for the Burgesses, they proposed to act with more
loyalty and moderation. They would petition the king to do them justice.
It was as good as rebellion to refuse to obey him.

The member from Hanover listened to their debate, and said to himself
that it was weak and its purpose futile. He felt sure that the action
they proposed would do no good, and when they had fairly exhausted
themselves he rose to offer his views on the question at issue.

Very likely some of the fine gentlemen there looked at him with surprise
and indignation. Who was this presumptuous new member who proposed to
tell the older members what to do? Some of them may have known him and
been familiar with that scene in Hanover Court-House. Others perhaps
mentally deplored the indignity of sending common fellows like this to
sit in their midst.

But Patrick Henry now knew his powers, and cared not a whit for their
_respectable_ sentiments. He had something to say and proposed to say
it. Beginning in a quiet voice, he told them that the Stamp Act was
illegal, as ignoring the right of the House to make the laws for the
colony. It was not only illegal, but it was oppressive, and he moved
that the House of Burgesses should pass a series of resolutions which he
would read.

These resolutions were respectful in tone, but