It did not appeal to the logical faculties or to the passions, which are roused by the keen contests of parliamentary debate.

It was the divine gift of speech, the greatest instrument given to man, used with surpassing talent, and the joy and pleasure which it brought were those which come from listening to the song of a great singer, or looking upon the picture of a great artist.
The Plymouth oration, which was at once printed and published, was received with a universal burst of applause.

It had more literary success than anything which had at that time appeared, except from the pen of Washington Irving.

The public, without stopping to analyze their own feelings, or the oration itself, recognized at once that a new genius had come before them, a man endowed with the noble gift of eloquence, and capable by the exercise of his talents of moving and inspiring great masses of his fellow-men.

Mr.
Webster was then of an age to feel fully the glow of a great success, both at the moment and when the cooler and more critical approbation came.