same author. On the occasion of the Volunteer Bill, Mr. Francis expressed his regret that all freedom of debate was lost by confining every discussion to three or four persons. That if it were the object of eloquence to weary and deaden the attention of an unhappy audience, to exhaust all patience, to stupefy rather than convince, then, indeed, the gentlemen he alluded to were supremely eloquent. Mr. Burke said he should take the hint which was drawn from a writer of very high authority with the gentleman opposite :

"Solid men of Boston, make no long potations,

Solid men of Boston, make no long orations,

Bow, wow, wow."

Sheridan observed that the injunction against long orations was not the only moral precept in that system of ethics alluded to. He would remind him of another passage:

"He went to Daddy Jenky, by Trimmer Hall attended;

In such good company! good lack! how his morals must be mended!"

Mr. Burke complained of the attack upon his morals. Sheridan answered: "He had supposed him to have a superabundance, and he might spare some to the gentlemen that surrounded him." Once again was Sheridan called upon to appear in Westminster Hall as an accuser of Warren Hastings. On the 14th of May he replied to the evidence and arguments offered by the counsel for Mr. Hastings in answer to the Begum charge. It was customary for a brother manager to accompany the manager who was to speak, with a bag containing whatever minutes might be referred to. Michael Angelo Taylor was the individual upon whom this duty devolved; and he

requested Sheridan to give him the bag and papers. Sheridan's answer was, "He had none, and he must get on as well as he could without them. . . . He would abuse Ned Law, afterwards Lord Ellenborough, ridicule Plumer's long speech, make the court laugh, please the women, and, in short, with Taylor's aid, would get triumphantly through his task." The case was opened, and he got on very well for some time, but the chancellor asked for a minute to which he was referring; Sheridan said his friend Taylor would read it. Mr. Taylor despatched a messenger for the bag, whilst Sheridan requested permission in the meantime to proceed. But soon again the chancellor wished to see the minutes; a great outcry was raised. for the bag; the blame was laid on the solicitor's clerk; another messenger was sent off to Sheridan's house. On went Sheridan brilliantly and cleverly; and when the chancellor a third time anxiously required the minute, Sheridan, with great coolness and dignity, said: "On the part of the Commons, and as a manager of the impeachment, I shall conduct my case as I think proper. I mean to be correct, and your lordships, having the printed minutes before you, will afterwards see whether I am right or wrong." Fox, who was in the manager's room, ran eagerly to the Hall, and fearing that Sheridan would suffer inconvenience from the want of the bag, asked Taylor what could be done; he, hiding his mouth with his hand, whispered him, as Moore says, in a tone of which they alone who have heard the gentleman relate the anecdote can feel the full humour, "The man has no bag." The speech itself is so poor, when contrasted with his former efforts upon the same subject, that it is not surprising that it has been univer

sally condemned; and the introduction of some observations on woman, her fortitude, her power of bearing suffering, which have been much applauded, was altogether in worse taste than Sheridan usually exhibited. He had, however, upon the two former occasions, exhausted every source of interest, and spoke unprepared and almost forgetful of the subject of his former triumphs.

The session of 1795 commenced untowardly. The people of the humbler class in London were doubtless much irritated at the constant suspicions of disloyalty which the ministers so loudly proclaimed ; their irritation was excessive; they disliked the repeal of the Habeas Corpus Act, which they had been taught to believe was the palladium of their liberty. The line of conduct pursued by Mr. Pitt was too evidently in favour of rank and wealth, and of those classes that enjoyed privileges which were denied to them. There was no outlet for the expression of their feelings. The press was gagged; for prosecutions for libel, whilst they only pretended to prevent sedition, were most unwisely urged against the free expression of thoughts very generally entertained by those whom neither corruption nor power could intimidate. The hatred of the system showed itself on the occasion of his Majesty's progress to Parliament for the purpose of opening the session.

On the 29th of October the king went, with the usual pomp, to the House of Peers, an opportunity which the people of London usually embrace to receive the monarch with the expression of the loyalty which animates their hearts. It is not only curiosity which collects so many together, but there is always an anxiety to know how the sovereign will be received.

The park was on this day thronged, but instead of loud acclamations from a contented people, there were loud murmurs, groans, and threatening words. The carriage was surrounded by persons loudly demanding "the dismissal of Mr. Pitt"; "Peace"; and even the expression "Down with the king!" was heard. As it approached the Horse Guards, stones were thrown at the king's carriage. In passing through Palace Yard a window was broken, and it was asserted that this had been done by an air-gun. His Majesty, with great calmness and composure, proceeded to execute the function for which the day was to be remarked, the delivery of the speech from the throne, and then returned to Buckingham Palace. But the infuriated populace had increased in numbers, in daring, and in violence; and with considerable difficulty did the royal cortège proceed from St. James's to Buckingham Palace. The speech was in every sense of the word unsatisfactory. Sheridan was exceedingly happy in his comments upon it. It commenced with, "It is a great satisfaction to me to reflect that, notwithstanding the many unfavourable events:" he observed, “He would venture to say, if any person could have previously known the speech, and had written to any part of England or Scotland, they would not have found a single man who would not have been surprised at the first noun substantive being 'satisfaction,' or at that substantive being used in any other part of the speech. It was said to be the mark of a resigned and religious temper to be easily satisfied. If that were true, there never were ministers of more meek and primitive piety than the present; for what they had been satisfied he knew not.” He then took a view of affairs foreign and domestic, and expressed

his astonishment that ministers could suffer the king, when he passed through his starving and oppressed people and, sorry was he to hear, irritated and clamorous people-to come down to the House and express his satisfaction. He spoke of the wretched and miserable expedition to Quiberon, where, it was true, the blood of French emigrants only had flowed. It was not British blood but British honour that bled at every vein. He believed that all the efforts made were to restore the House of Bourbon, a race always inimical to England as far as he could judge of the spirit of their intentions. From their prevarications he thought they were simply watching for an opportunity of effecting a counter-revolution for the establishment of monarchy, and placing Louis XVIII. upon the throne.

"The

The violent conduct of the people had now given to the administration the pretence which they had so long wanted. They could no longer be told that disaffection existed in their own imaginations, that the plots were of their own begetting, that their spies and their informers had concocted the tales which alarmed the timid and imposed upon the credulous. King of England had," said they, "encountered a reception such as the regicides of Paris had given to their king." The Lords and the Commons addressed the king after evidence had been taken of the outrage of the day. A bill was brought into the House of Commons for securing the king's person and Government against treasonable and seditious practices, and several days were occupied in its consideration. Sheridan took a prominent part in the discussion, and his speeches were full of vigour, thought, and wit. During one of the debates he related a curious anecdote