ies, Mr. Chamberlain
denounced as buffoonery.

[Sidenote: The grip of Labby.]

In some respects Mr. Labouchere reminds me of the late Mr. Biggar.
Underneath all his exterior of carelessness, callousness, and flippancy,
there lies a very strong, a very tenacious, and a very clear-sighted
man. There are times--especially when the small hours of the morning are
breaking, and Labby is in his most genial mood--when he is ready to
declare that, after all, he is only a Conservative in disguise, and that
his Radicalism is merely put on for the purpose of amusing and catching
the groundlings. As a matter of fact, Labby is by instinct one of the
most thorough Radicals that ever breathed. His Radicalism, it is true,
is of the antique pattern. He is an individualist without compromise or
concession. Life to him is to the strongest; he has no faith save in the
gospel of the survival of the fittest. Equable and even cheery, he does
not take a particularly joyous view of human existence. I have heard him
speak of the emptiness and futilities of human existence in tones, not
of gloom, for he is too much of a philosopher to indulge in regrets, but
with a hearty sincerity that would do credit to the Trappist monk who
found everything vanity of vanities in a sinful world. Despising honours
and dignities, he positively loathes outward show; he is a Radical by
instinct and nature. Though one of the wealthiest men in the House of
Commons, nobody has over known him guilty of one act of ostentation.
Probably he loves power. I have not the smallest doubt that he would
enjoy very well being a Cabinet Minister. But for social distinction,
for the frippery and display of life, he has a positive dislike. He is
like Mr. Biggar also in tenacity.

[Sidenote: And the grit.]

It must have been a disappointment to him--it was certainly a
disappointment to his many friends--that he was not a member of the
Ministry which he did so much to bring into existence. But the very day
the House met after the formation of the Government, Labby was in his
old place on the front bench below the gangway as if nothing had
occurred--just as ready as ever to take his share in the proceedings of
the House of Commons. And every succeeding evening saw him in his
place--listening with commendable piety to the exhortations of Holy
Writ--given forth in the fine resonant voice of Archdeacon Farrar--ready
to seize a point--to take advantage of a situation, eagerly interested