27 September–3 October 1841

Temperament. Every man, no doubt, is elo- quent once in his life. The only difference be- twixt us is that we boil at different degrees of the thermometer. This man is brought to the boiling-point by the excitement of conversation in the parlor ; that man requires the additional caloric of a large meeting, a public debate ; and a third needs an antagonist, or a great indigna- tion ; a fourth must have a revolution ; and a fifth nothing less than the grandeur of absolute Ideas, the splendors of Heaven and Hell, the vastness of truth and love.