620 Notes for the Month. [NoV. 



plaintiff. The cause upon the merits of which, we mean to give no 

 opinion whatever arose out of the wreck of a vessel, in which the de- 

 fendant was a passenger, and on which he publicly imputed unskilfulness 

 to the plaintiff, who was the commander. And the learned Judge is 

 reported to have said, in his summing up, " Though the commander, to 

 whom this unfortunate accident had occurred (the plaintiff) might be 

 considered at the time to have wanted the experience, which such a situa- 

 tion as he held at particular times required ; yet, it did by no means follow, 

 that the proceedings of that day might not prove a useful lesson to him, 

 and that he might in time coming make a most excellent commander!" 

 Now upon this, the jury found a verdict of fifty pounds damages for the 

 plaintiff! But if the case was, as the learned Judge said, that the 

 "lesson" of that day was likely to be so valuable to the plaintiff does it 

 not seem to be the hardest thing in the world, that the defendant should 

 have to pay fifty pounds for having given it to him ? 



Cobbelt, we see, by his Register of this day, the 20th of October, 

 announces his intention to stand for Preston again at the approaching elec- 

 tion, in opposition to Mr. Stanley. This writer seems to "give medi- 

 cines," as Falstaff expresses it, to all men that can appreciate faculty, to 

 make them, if not " love," at least endure him. His Register of this day 

 there is not a line in, that is not as false, and as flimsy, as matter or 

 argument well can be ; and yet, it is all written with such force, and such 

 freshness, that one would read it ten times over, and be pleased with every 

 word. Even his panegyric on his own honesty, we were obliged seriously 

 to recollect that it was Cobbett who spoke, before we could convince our- 

 selves that some passages in it were not true. 



In parliament, however, even should he be elected (we have hazarded 

 an opinion upon this point before) Cobbett assuredly will sink. He can 

 do nothing in the House of Commons, because he must stand alone -no 

 party can or will support him. But his estoppal would arise even before 

 the matter came to this : he would never speak five minutes in parliament 

 that is, in the manner in which he speaks and writes elsewhere and, if he 

 did not use the same style, he would cease to be effective without bringing 

 up the Speaker upon the always-convenient point of "Order." The forms 

 and usages of the House of Commons are spread, to wind round every man 

 of violence like a web. Sometimes a very great blue bottle like Mr. 

 Brougham bounces through : but the smaller flies are caught, and dis- 

 posed of by the gentleman in the great wig, in a moment. There is this 

 wide difference too besides the mere difference of strength and character, 

 between the two men (Mr. Cobbett and Mr. Brougham:) " disorder," 

 sharpened with a great deal of poignancy and wit, is only the occa- 

 sional garnish to the speeches of the one : it would be the whole dish the 

 staple article seasoned only with coarseness and fury of the other. Cob- 

 bett will never make an impression on the House of Commons : for the 

 interests and the dispositions of all who sit there, are alike against him. 

 Should he even so far command himself, as, for any length of time, to be 

 permitted to speak, he can only look to make his impression (through the 

 newspapers), upon the people without doors: and the people out of doors 

 have heard already, and do hear, all that he has to say ! The only people 

 in England, we believe, to whom his election would be likely to produce 

 any serious advantage, are the door-keepers, who take half crowns in the 

 lobby of " St. Stephen's :" his appearance, we have no doubt, for the first 

 six weeks, would draw as full "galleries," as the debut of a new Mazurier 

 at Covent Garden or Drury Lane. 



