340 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



opponent acquit himself? did he touch on the shop in 

 his speech 1 " 



" Not he, indeed," replied Frank, " but he touched on 

 most other subjects, for he spoke for above two hours. In 

 fact, he appeared to pride himself on his eloquence, and to 

 place his chief dependance upon it ! Indeed, the opening 

 sentence of his speech and he might as well have told us 

 that Queen Anne was dead was this : ' Speech being 

 the faculty which exalts man above the rest of the crea- 

 tion, we may consider eloquence as the talent which gives 

 him the most distinguished pre-eminence over his own 

 species ! ' " 



" Capital ! " exclaimed Sir John ; " and what next 1 " 

 " Oh," replied Frank, " I might as well endeavour to 

 remember last year's clouds. He said a good deal about 

 the dearth of good speakers in the House of Commons, 

 declaring that they drowned the poverty of their concep- 

 tions in the excess of fine words, while he himself was 

 dealing out tropes and figures by the dozen, on mere 

 commonplace subjects. But it struck me his favourite 

 figure was the synecdoche, which implies saying one thing 

 and meaning another ; for, although he more than once 

 spoke of 'our good King George,' it is well known he 

 would rejoice to see him dethroned to-morrow, because he 

 refused to make him a baronet. And in the course of 

 his speech he let the cat out of the bag, by quoting from 

 Shakspeare in support of his assertion, that he himself was 

 neither to be bought nor sold 



-' 0, how wretched 



Is that poor man, that hangs on princes' favours ! 

 There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, 

 That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, 

 More pangs and fears than war and women have ; 

 And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, 

 Never to hope again.' 



" He, however, concluded his oration with a very sensible 

 remark, and which showed that he has looked into books 

 as well as into sugar, and I question whether he might 

 not make a much better M.P. than myself. When allud- 

 ing to the measures proposed in Parliament, he said, it was 

 the duty of its members, when any great undertaking is 

 proposed, to ask themselves these questions : ' First, is it 

 practicable? secondly, ie it consistent with the interest, 



