THE FIRST PARLIAMENTARY BEPOXTS. 



203 



thing might as well be going for- 

 ward, he called out lustily, "A 

 song from Mr. Speaker." Imagine 

 Addington's long, prim, upright 

 figure, his consternation, and utter 

 want of preparation for, or of a 

 clew to repel, such an interruption 

 of the rules and orders of Parlia- 

 ment. The house was in a roar. 

 Pitt, it is said, could hardly keep 

 his seat for laughing. When the 

 bustle and the confusion were 

 abated, the sergeant-at-arms went 

 into the gallery to take the auda- 

 cious culprit into custody, and in- 

 dignantly desired to know who it 

 was ; but nobody would tell. Mark 

 sat like a tower on the hindennost 

 bench of the gallery, imperturbable 

 in his own gravity, and safe in the 

 faith of the brotherhood of report- 

 ers, who alone were in the secret. 

 At length, as the mace-bearer was 

 making fruitless inquiries, and get- 

 ting impatient, Supple pointed to a 

 fat Quaker, who sat in the middle 

 of the crowd, and nodded assent 

 that he was the man. The Quaker 

 was, to his great surprise, taken 

 into immediate custody ; but after 

 a short altercation and some fur- 

 ther explanation, he was released, 

 and the hero of our st&ry put in 

 his place for an hour or two, but 

 let off on an assurance of his con- 

 trition, and of showing less wit and 

 more discretion in future. 



JOHN PUOBT. 



John Proby had never been out 

 of London, never in a boat, never 

 on the back of a horse. To the end 

 of bagwigs he wore a bag ; he was 

 the last man that walked with a 

 cane as long as himself, ultimately 

 exchanged for an umbrella, which 

 he was never seen without in wet 

 weather or dry ; yet he usually re- 

 ported the whole debates in the 

 Peers from memory, without a 

 note, for the Morning Chronicle, 

 and wrote two or three novels, de- 

 picting the social manners of tho 



times. He was a strange feeder, 

 and ruined himself in eating pastry 

 at the confectioners' shops (for one 

 of whose scores Taylor and I bailed 

 him) ; he was always in a perspira- 

 tion, whence George christened 

 him " King Porus ;" and he was 

 always so punctual to a minute 

 that when he arrived in sight of 

 the office window, the hurry used 

 to be, " There's Proby it is half- 

 past two," and yet he never set his 

 watch. If ever it came to right 

 time I cannot tell ; but if you asked 

 him what o'clock it was, he would 

 look at it, and calculate something 

 in this sort "I am twenty-six 

 minutes past seven four, twenty- 

 one from twelve forty, it is just 

 three minutes past three !" Poor, 

 strange, and simple, yet curiously- 

 informed Proby, his last domicile 

 was the Lambeth parish workhouse, 

 out of which he would come in his 

 coarse gray garb, and call upon his 

 friends as freely and unceremo- 

 niously as before, to the surprise of 

 servants, who entertain " an 'orrid" 

 jealousy of paupers, and who could 

 not comprehend why a person so 

 clad was shown in. The last letter 

 I had from him spoke exultingly of 

 his having been chosen to teach 

 the young children in the house 

 their ABC, which conferred some 

 extra accommodations upon him. 

 Among my other coadjutors were 

 Mr. Kobinson, educated for the 

 Kirk, and a quiet man ; and Mr. 

 Cooper, the author of a volume of 

 poetry, which procured him the 

 countenance of the beautiful 

 Duchess of Devonshire ; and Mark 

 Supple, an Irish eccentric of the 

 first water. (Jerdan's Autobio- 

 graphy.) 



THE FIRST PARLIAMENTARY REPORTS. 



The first attempt at a monthly 

 publication of the pai-liamentary 

 debates was made in the 6V 

 man's Magazine, for August, 1735 ; 

 and the practice was continued in 



