They are entirely unlike any other speeches--he has, in fact, in them, as in his letters, added a new chapter to the literature of his country, hitherto so poor in prose.
They shew a vivid imagination and an almost unequalled power of illustration.

The thought is always concrete, and he is never satisfied with the vague ideas and abstract conceptions which so easily moved his contemporaries.

No speeches, either in English or in German, preserve so much of their freshness.

He is almost the only Parliamentary orator whose speeches have become to some extent a popular book; no other orator has enriched the language as he has done with new phrases and images.

The great characteristic of his speeches, as of his letters, is the complete absence of affectation and the very remarkable intellectual honesty.