“thought of in connection with the presidency,” not only as a hero, but as a persecuted hero. At the same time Clay's star seemed to be somewhat obscured. The impression that his disappointment with regard to the secretaryship of state had led him to make a factious opposition to the administration, had lowered him in the estimation of many men. This impression had become so general as to make his reasons for permitting now and then an administration measure to pass unchallenged a matter of gossiping speculation. A striking instance of this is found in Mr. Adams's Diary, where Mr. Middleton, of South Carolina, is introduced as telling the story, that Clay neglected to oppose a certain bill because “the last fortnight of the session Clay spent almost every night at the card table, and one night Poindexter had won of him eight thousand dollars. This discomposed him to such a degree that he paid no attention to the business of the House the remainder of the session. Before it closed, however, he had won back from Poindexter all that he had lost, except about nine hundred dollars.” Whether this story in all its details was true or not, certain it is that Clay at that period spent far more time at the card table than was good for his reputation. Indeed, Nathan Sargent says in his recollections (“Public Men and Events”): “When a candidate for the presidency, Mr. Clay was denounced as a gambler. He was no more a gambler than was almost every Southern and Southwestern gentleman
