Ifi29.3 Conversazione. 253- 



*' On another occasion^ when he rose to signify his intention of with- 

 drawing his opposition from some ministerial measure, then before the 

 House, he illustrated his reason for doing so, by telling the following 

 story. ' I remember, my lords,' said he, ' an anecdote told of a great re- 

 lative of mine, the late Earl of Chesterfield. He was walking along the 

 street one day, when he met a drunken man, of whom he wished to 

 take tlie wall. ' No — no,' hiccupped tlie fellow, ' I never give way to a 

 rascal.' — 'I alwciys do,' said Lord Chesterfield, pulling off his hat and bow- 

 ing as lie passed. And, now, the noble lords opposite know why / do 

 not mean to offer any further opposition to them.' 



" Once, when he wished to have witnesses examined at tlie bar of 

 their lordships' House, he said, ' Only let them come here, my lords- 

 only let me once have them at that bar, and I'U examine their guts ovit 

 ef them.' 



" A great laugh was excited, on one occasion, when he was vehe- 

 mently urging the adoption of a clause he had proposed in some bill 

 which was going through a Committee. The clause in question had been 

 as vehemently opposed by the other side of the House, and Lord Stan- 

 hope was inveighing against them with great earnestness. At List, 

 stretching his outspread hands, which were never remarkably clean, 

 across the table, towards his opponents, he exclaimed, ' You wont have 

 Tjry clause — (claws) — No — you wont have my clause — and why wont 

 you have ?«?/ clause ? Because you are afraid of 7ny clause' — (a loud 

 laugh) — ' Yes — I tell you, you are afraid of my clause' — shaking his 

 hands violently all tlie time. 



" It was this same eccentric nobleman Avho gave the nick-name of 

 one and sixpence to a certain amiable ear], who has one eye considerably, 

 or at least very perceptibly, less than the other. 



" A country member. Sir E. K , rose suddenly, one evening, in 



the House of Commons, and thus addressed the chair. ' Mr. Speaker, 

 I wish to call the attention of the House to a subject which personally 

 concerns myself, and almost every member in it.' There was a pro- 

 found silence ; for it was immediately concluded the Hon. Baronet had 

 an important question of privilege to submit. ' I wish to give notice, 

 Mr. Speaker, that on Tuesday next I shall move for a repeal of the act, 

 passed last session, relating to rogues and vagabonds !' A tremendous 

 roar of laughter followed this announcement, for which the House cer- 

 tainly was not prepared, when the worthy baronet told them the sub- 

 ject so nearly concerned them all. The act alluded to was one relating 

 to the game laws. 



" A Committee of the House of Commons was appointed, a few years 

 Bince, to inquire into the state of Lunatic Asylums in Ireland. The 

 clerk of this committee, in affixing the usual notice upon the door of the 

 room where it was held, for the guidance of individuals who had to 

 attend it, unfortunately worded it in the following manner — The Com- 

 iniitee of' Iris)i Lunatics. 



" But tlie most extraordinary thing I ever witnessed in Parliament 



was during the administration of Mr. Pitt, when " 



The liighi Hon. J. W. C — r. This is provoking ! I am at the end 

 of the page, just as I have arrived at so tantalizing a commencement. It 

 is as bad as if the divine Sontag were to be seized with an irrepressible 

 fit of sneezing in the middle of one of her most enchanting and soul- 

 diseolving cadences : or the bell ringing for one of Hume's divisions, at 

 the moment you are sitting down to an incomparable rump-steak, up at 

 Bellamy's. — f Turning over the other leaves.) — Hah — liah — I see your 

 lordship has hit upon the true method of making an agreeable book ; 



