w 'a lord of
senatorial fame' was known at once by his portrait, because the painter
had so 'play'd his game' that it 'made one even yawn at sight.' It has
been said of an M.P., that his speeches 'possessed such remarkable
weight' that it was 'really a trouble to bear them.' Of a third it was
written that his discourses had some resemblance to an hour-glass,
because, the longer time they ran, the shallower they grew. Of yet
another orator we read that his reasoning was really deep, his argument
profound, 'for deuce a bit could anybody see the ground.' Nor have
certain historical personages been able to escape the lash. When Admiral
Vernon was appointed to take charge of the herring fishery, Horace
Walpole wrote:

'Long in the Senate had brave Vernon rail'd,
And all mankind with bitter tongue assail'd;
Sick of his noise, we wearied Heav'n with pray'r
In his own element to place the tar.
The gods at length have yielded to our wish,
And bade him rule o'er Billingsgate and fish.'

From which it will be gathered anew that a somewhat bitter style of
debate is no novelty in this country--that strong language has been
heard in the House of Commons _ante Agamemnona_.

Within living memory a member has dared to suggest that certain of his
opponents had come into the House not wholly sober. Who does not
remember the epigrams which were based on Pitt's addiction, real or
supposed, to intoxicating liquors? Porson is said to have composed one
hundred such 'paper pellets' in one night, as, for example:

'"Who's up?" inquired Burke of a friend at the door;
"Oh, no one," said Paddy, "tho' Pitt's on the floor."'

After this, most other insinuations become almost harmless; and the
accusation of mere twaddling, such as that which was brought against Mr.
Urquhart in the following lines, seems, by comparison, trivial:

'When Palmerston begins to speak,
He moves the House--as facts can prove.
Let Urquhart rise, with accents weak,
The House itself begins to move.'

By the side of twaddling, again, mere rambling grows venial. One of H.
J. Byron's burlesque heroes says of Cerberus:

'My dog, who picks up everything one teaches,
Has got "three heads," like Mr. Gladstone's speeches.
But, as might naturally be expected,
His are considerably more connected.'

But it is against Parliamentary long-windedness, in particular, that
most sarcasm, whether in verse or in prose, has been directed. Everybody