Page:My Life in Two Hemispheres, volume 2.djvu/393

 his Parliamentary supporters, Mr. Berry proposed that the deputation should be composed of the Speaker and the Chief Secretary, to represent the Legislature and the Executive. I read next morning in a paragraph in the Argus that some of the members suggested that I did not authentically represent the democracy, and as I thought their objection a perfectly reasonable one, I wrote immediately to the Chief Secretary that I must decline to act. Mr. Pearson was chosen in my place and the deputation departed for London.

My occupation of the Chair gave me such a release from political contests as I had never enjoyed before. In one respect only I found it necessary to interpose in the current business. The Assembly address the Secretary of State and the Governor, and as such addresses must be signed by the Speaker, I either drafted or revised them that they might contain nothing to which I objected. In other respects my leisure was given to writing either correspondence or history.

Among matters of personal interest I must note that in the November of this year the Governor laid on the table a despatch from Lord Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, informing the Governor that the Queen, on his recommendation, was pleased to give directions for the appointment of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Knight, Speaker of the Assembly of the Colony of Victoria, to be a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George.

My diary of this date deals chiefly with literary or social subjects. I borrow a few scraps:—

Read Thackeray's "Philip." The prompter is too constantly making his voice heard above the actors', he plays chorus as well as prompter. And the Thackerayan trick, pleasant enough for once, of exhibiting the author's supposed motives for praising or disparaging the dramatis personæ, is worked to death. The novel is diffuse, overlaid with moralising and banter, and it is nearly as hard to like the tempestuous hero as an associate as to love Dr. Johnson in the same character.

St. Patrick's Day. This is a holiday in the public offices, courts, and banks in honour of the day: a recognition the Apostle does not receive in Ireland. There are outdoor sports and gambols of many sorts projected, for which I find I have no longer the adequate animal spirits, but I will dine with my countrymen in the evening.