"Compared with English orators," Dr. Magoon says, "our great
countryman was not unlike Sheridan in natural endowment.
"Like him, he was unequaled in impassioned appeals to the general
heart of mankind.
"He swayed all by his electric fire; charmed the timid, and
inspired the weak; subdued the haughty, and enthralled the
prejudiced.
"He traversed the field of argument and invective as a Scythian
warrior scours the plain, shooting most deadly arrows when at the
greatest speed.
"He rushed into forensic battle, fearless of all consequences;
and as the ancient war-chariot would sometimes set its axle on
fire by the rapidity of its own movement, so would the ardent
soul of Otis become ignited and fulminate with thought, as he
swept irresistibly to the goal.
"When aroused by some great crisis, his eloquent words were like
bolts of granite heated in a volcano, and shot forth with
unerring aim, crashing where they fell."