ture whereby he won success was, like that of many others, his
capacity for HARD WORK.

As to Madison's principles, it will be remembered that he was defeated
in 1777, because he refused to treat the people to liquor. In 1829 he
sat in the Virginia Convention to reform the old constitution. When he
rose to utter a few words the members left their seats and crowded
around the venerable figure dressed in black, with his thin gray hair
powdered as in former times, to catch the low whisper of his voice. This
was his last appearance in public.

If not endowed with the very first order of ability, Madison had trained
his mind until it was symmetrical and vigorous. An unfailing accuracy
and precision marked the operation of his faculties. He was naturally
deficient in powers of oratory, and yet made himself one of the most
effective speakers of his time, although the epoch was illustrated by
such men in his own State as Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George
Mason and Edmund Pendleton, to say nothing of Jefferson and Monroe.

Jefferson's testimony on this point is strong: He says: "Mr. Madison
came into the house in 1776, a new member, and young; which
circumstances, concurring with his extreme modesty, prevented his
venturing himself in debate before his removal to the council of state
in November, 1777. Thence he went to Congress, then consisting of but
few members. Trained in these successive schools, he acquired a habit of
self-possession which placed at ready command the rich resources of his
luminous mind, and of his extensive information, acquired by INTENSE
application, which rendered him eventually the first of every assembly
of which he afterward became a member."

"Never wandering from his subject into vain declamation, but pursuing it
closely, in language pure, classical, and copious, always soothing the
feelings of his adversaries by civilities and softness of expression. He
steadily rose to the high station which he held in the great national
convention of 1787. In that of Virginia which followed, he sustained the
new constitution in all its parts, bearing off the palm against the
logic of George Mason, and the burning eloquence of Mr. Henry. With
these consummate powers was united a pure and spotless virtue which no
calumny has ever attempted to sully."

From his earliest years he was an intense scholar. His memory was
singularly tenacious, and what he clearly understood was ever afterward
retained. He th