ANDJRELIGION 



leading men at Pitt Clubs all over the country ; they were the 

 foremost to defend the .peculation^of .Melville . In short, there 

 has been no public man guilty of an InTahTolis ^ct, of whom they 

 have not taken the part ; and no act of tyranny of which they have 

 not been the eulogists and the principal instrument. ; ; &amp;lt; r 



444. But, why do I attempt to describe Parsons to Hampshire 

 men ? You saw them all assembled in grand cohort the last time 

 that I saw any of you. You saw them at Winchester, when they 

 brought forward their lying address to the Regent. You saw 

 them on that day, and so did I ; and in them I saw a band of more 

 complete blackguards than I ever before saw in all my life. I then 

 saw Parson Baines of Exton, standing up in a chair and actually 

 spitting in Lord Cochrane s poll, while the latter was bending his 

 neck out to speak. Lord Cochrane looked round and said, 

 &quot; B. G Sir, if you do that again I ll knock you down.&quot; &quot; You 

 &quot; be d d,&quot; said Baines, &quot; I ll spit where I like.&quot; Lord Cochrane 

 struck at him ; Baines jumped down, put his two hands to his 

 mouth in a huntsman-like way, and cried &quot; whoop ! whoop ! &quot; 

 till he was actually black in the face. One of them trampled upon 

 my heel as I was speaking. I looked round, and begged him to 

 leave off. &quot; You be d d,&quot; said he, &quot; you be d d, Jacobin.&quot; 

 He then tried to press on me, to stifle my voice, till I clapped my 

 elbow into his ribs and made &quot; the spiritual person &quot; hiccup. 

 There were about twenty of them mounted upon a large table in 

 the room ; and there they jumped, stamped, hallooed, roared, 

 thumped with canes and umbrellas, squalled, whistled, and made 

 all sorts of noises. As Lord Cochrane and I were going back to 

 London, he said that, so many years as he had been in the navy, he 

 never had seen a band of such complete blackguards. And I 

 said the same for the army. And, I declare, that, in the whole 

 course of my life, I have never seen any men, drunk or sober, 

 behave in so infamous a manner. Mr. PHILLIPS, of Eling, (now 

 Doctor Phillips) whom I saw standing in the room, I tapped on 

 the shoulder, and asked, whether he was not ashamed. Mr. LEE, 

 of the College ; Mr. OGLE, of Bishop s Waltham ; and DOCTOR 

 HILL, of Southampton : these were exceptions. Perhaps the&quot; 2 

 might be some others ; but the mass was the most audacious, 

 foul, and atrocious body of men I ever saw. We had done nothing 

 to offend them. We had proposed nothing to offend them in the 

 smallest degree. But, they were afraid of our speeches ; they 

 knew they could not answer us ; and they were resolved, that, if 

 possible, we should not be heard. There was one person, who 

 had his mouth within a foot of Lord Cochrane s ear, all the time 

 his Lordship was speaking, and who kept on saying : &quot; You lie ! 

 &quot; you lie ! you lie I you lie ! &quot; as loud as he could utter the words. 



445. BAKER, the Botley Parson, was extremely busy. He acted 

 the part of buffoon to LOCKHART. He kept capering about behind 

 him, and really seemed like a merry andrew rather than a 

 &quot; spiritual person&quot; 



191 



