American," but the word implies that there are certain perennial and
abiding sympathies between all men of a common descent and a common
language. [Cheers.] I am sure, my lord, that all you said with regard to
the welcome which our distinguished guest will receive in America is
true. His eminent talents as an actor, the dignified--I may say the
illustrious--manner in which he has sustained the traditions of that
succession of great actors who, from the time of Burbage to his own,
have illustrated the English stage, will be as highly appreciated there
as here. [Cheers.]

And I am sure that I may also say that the chief magistrate of England
will be welcomed by the bar of the United States, of which I am an
unworthy member, and perhaps will be all the more warmly welcomed that
he does not come among them to practise. He will find American law
administered--and I think he will agree with me in saying ably
administered--by judges who, I am sorry to say, sit without the
traditional wig of England. [Laughter.] I have heard since I came here
friends of mine gravely lament this as something prophetic of the decay
which was sure to follow so serious an innovation. I answered with a
little story which I remember hearing from my father. He remembered the
last clergyman in New England who still continued to wear the wig. At
first it became a singularity and at last a monstrosity; and the good
doctor concluded to leave it off. But there was one poor woman among his
parishioners who lamented this sadly, and waylaying the clergyman as he
came out of church she said, "Oh, dear doctor, I have always listened to
your sermon with the greatest edification and comfort, but now that the
wig is gone all is gone." [Laughter.] I have thought I have seen some
signs of encouragement in the faces of my English friends after I have
consoled them with this little story.

But I must not allow myself to indulge in any further remarks. There is
one virtue, I am sure, in after-dinner oratory, and that is brevity; and
as to that I am reminded of a story. [Laughter.] The Lord Chief Justice
has told you what are the ingredients of after-dinner oratory. They are
the joke, the quotation, and the platitude; and the successful
platitude, in my judgment, requires a very high order of genius. I
believe that I have not given you a quotation, but I am reminded of
something which I heard when very young--the story of a Methodist
clergyman in America. He was preach