On the 22d of December, 1820, he
delivered at Plymouth the oration which commemorated the two hundredth
anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. The theme was a splendid one,
both in the intrinsic interest of the event itself, in the character of the
Pilgrims, in the vast results which had grown from their humble beginnings,
and in the principles of free government, which had spread from the cabins
of the exiles over the face of a continent, and had become the common
heritage of a great people. We are fortunate in having a description of the
orator, written at the time by a careful observer and devoted friend, Mr.
Ticknor, who says:--
"_Friday Evening._--I have run away from a great levee there is
down-stairs, thronging in admiration round Mr. Webster, to tell you
a little word about his oration. Yet I do not dare to trust myself
about it, and I warn you beforehand that I have not the least
confidence in my own opinion. His manner carried me away
completely; not, I think, that I could have been so carried away if
it had been a poor oration, for of that, I apprehend, there can be
no fear.
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