264 Life and Times of " The Dntid." 



then elect him without asking his opinions on 

 any point. No wonder, then, that Macaulay's 

 friends spoke with affected horror of his 

 having to face 'the coarse realities of Leeds,' 

 when he wanted a seat. On coming back 

 from India, he remarked that he thought his 

 speaking had rather left him, and that he 

 had resolved to speak on every subject, ' if 

 it's only soap, to get into practice again.' 

 The news that he was 'up,' or intended to 

 speak, always drew a very large and atten- 

 tive House ; but even on the India Charter 

 he was not so great as was expected, and his 

 remarks upon gentlemen who had just Ben- 

 galee enough in them to call for Bass's Pale 

 Ale or for more violent motion on the part 

 of the punkah, was the only much enjoyed 

 sally that fell from his mouth. Latterly, he 

 seldom took any part in debate, and with the 

 exception of saying a few words when he 

 presented a petition, he never once spoke 

 in ' The Scarlet Chamber.' His last great 

 speech in the Commons was against Lord 

 Hotham's motion for excluding Judges (it 

 was aimed at Sir John Romilly) from the 

 House, and in that he fairly exhausted and 



