He was always as mysterious on this point as a professional juggler. To
a lady who once asked him about it, he replied, that he never made any
preparation. For those of his speeches that have been published, we are
obliged to a skilful short-hand writer named Yerrinton, who was Wendell
Phillips' devoted admirer, and never missed an opportunity of hearing
him on a fresh subject in Boston or New York.
To judge from internal evidence, it would seem likely that having
divided his subject, as a lawyer does his argument, into a number of
points, and having filled his mind somewhat full of them, he wrote out a
careful and well-studied opening to his address, and then committed it
to memory. This would enable him to make terms, as it were, with his
audience in those first critical moments of his speech, and afterwards
he could rely on his native wit and genius to carry him through. When
his subject was a criticism of public events, this was not so difficult,
and it gave him the advantage of a certain vivacious energy which
appealed strongly to his hearers; but it was a dangerous practice. An
orator who has a certain length of time to fill, and a reputation to
sustain, is obliged to go on at all hazards. He cannot afford to be
dull, nor to stop for a moment's reflection. If his memory fails him for
an instant, imagination must supply its place. In this manner he often
made misstatements which were quite unintentional, and must have been
deeply regretted afterwards.
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