cyclone as resistlessly as the Liberals and the Irish, and the Tory paeans in honour of the Old Man which were to be found in the Tory organs next day only echoed the bounteous and generous recognition of his matchless powers which one heard from Tories in the lobbies throughout the evening.  And as to the effect of the speech on Mr. Gladstone himself, it was to bring out a dramatic and mimetic power on which he very rarely ventures, and which in anybody but a perfect master of the House of Commons might descend into bad taste and bad tact.  I know that Mr. Gladstone is really triumphant when he brings these qualities into requisition.  I remember the last time he used them with any approach to the abundance of this occasion was when he was making the great speech which preceded his defeat in 1885 and the fall of his Government.  On that occasion I remember very well that the Old Man puckered up his forehead into a thousand wrinkles, turned and twisted that very wonderfully mobile mouth of his—­with its lips so full with strength and at the same time so sensitive with all the Celtic passion of his Highland ancestry—­until sometimes you almost thought it a pity he had not taken to the Lyceum and some of the great parts in which Mr. Henry Irving has made his fame.  There was another occasion which dwells in my memory.  It was on one of the nights of the debate on the Coercion Bill.  He was describing the promises of equal laws to Ireland, with the restrictions on Irish liberty which were contained in the Bill, and as he described restriction he gradually raised the fingers on one hand, then turned them spiral fashion until he had pointed the index finger to the roof—–­ as though he were describing the ascent of a funambulist to the top of spiral stairs.  It was at once eloquent and grotesque, and the House cheered and cheered yet again without any distinction of party—­the friends in admiration of the splendid eloquence of the gesture, the foes in hearty admiration of the great and perennial spirit of the great Old Man.

[Sidenote:  Comedy.]

But on May 11th there was a new and a bolder departure.  Most of my readers have seen that remarkable little lay written by Mr. Gilbert for Miss Anderson to display the range and variety of her powers—­“Comedy and Tragedy.”  Mr. Gladstone gave proof of powers of equally wide versatility; and all at the expense of poor Joe.  First for the Comedy.  I must quote the passage of the speech to explain what I mean:—­

“My right hon. friend has a bundle of quotations.  He says he has fortified himself. (Laughter.) He said he had fortified himself against me when I said there could be no supremacy without the presence of Irish members in this House.  I never asserted anything of the kind. (Cheers.) ‘Oh,’ he said, ’I have got the papers’—­(laughter)—­and the party opposite cheered at the expected triumph. (Laughter.)”