Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/502

 498 ROCHE. waiting for a formal denouement, addressed him cordially with, “My dear friend Stanley, here is your speech again; and I thank you kindly for the loan of i t. I never was s o much a t a loss for a speech i n a l l my life; but sure i t i s not a pin worse for wear, and now you may g o i n and speak i t again yourself, a s soon a s you please.” The dis comfiture o f Mr. Stanley i s easier conceived than described; but the story caught wind, and excited infinite pleasantry a t his expense. On another occasion, a n opposition member had ap pointed a day for a popular motion, o n some national sub ject; and, for nearly a month before, h e had been daily moving for official documents, a s materials t o illustrate his observations. When the night for the discussion arrived, those documents appeared piled upon the table of the house i n voluminous array; and the orator, prepa ratory t o his opening speech, moved that they b e now read b y the clerk, i n order the better t o prepare the House for more clearly understanding the observations h e was about to submit. This operation would have occupied the clerk, and the silent attention o f the members, for a t least two hours. The House was extremely full; the whole assembly stared a t each other; a rueful buzz murmured from bench t o bench; and several members observed, that the reading would occupy the whole night, while others shrunk silently away, unwilling t o abide s o formidable a trial o f their patience. - Sir Boyle Roche, however, suggested a happy expedient for obviating the difficulty, b y rising t o move that a dozen o r two o f Committee clerks might b e called in, and each taking a portion o f the documents, a l l might read together, b y which means they might get through the whole i n a quarter o f a n hour. This suggestion, offered with profound gravity, was s o highly ludicrous, that the House joined i n a n universal laugh, and the question was actually postponed for the night, t o give time for the mover t o form a more succinct arrangement f o r introducing his motion,