There has been much discussion as to the amount of preparation which Mr.Webster made.

His occasional orations were, of course, carefully written out beforehand, a practice which was entirely proper; but in his great parliamentary speeches, and often in legal arguments as well, he made but slight preparation in the ordinary sense of the term.

The notes for the two speeches on Foote's resolution were jotted down on a few sheets of note-paper.

The delivery of the second one, his masterpiece, was practically extemporaneous, and yet it fills seventy octavo pages and occupied four hours.

He is reported to have said that his whole life had been a preparation for the reply to Hayne.