The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-08-23
a cnarass sa Elaaasss

.
From pleasant paper 10 Once a Vel,
devoted TO Sir Boyle Roche, tho ecoen-
trio Irish orator, wo make the following
extract
Thus far the public life Of Sir Boyle
Roche. There is now another view Of
him to be considered--the pleasant little
Glitter dtctd which have been put down 20
his score, and which there Is no reason
TO doubt he really gave utterance TO.
After all, IL is natural TO suppose that
the constrsint Of public speaking must
have fettered the bovine fancy and
checked the more frequent Introduction
Of the conversational bulls, in the read.
ing Of which he is supposed to have had
great skill.
Many Of these arc hnppily preserved.
"Sir, l would give up halfway, the
whole of the Constitution TO preserve the
remainder" This, however, was parlia-
mentary. Hearing that Admiral Howe
was in quest Of the French he remarked
somewhat pleasantly that the Admiral
would soon "sweep the French fleet from
the face of the earth"
By-and-by came dangerous times of
disafectiOn, and honest mems lives were
insecure. Sir Boyle writes from the
country 10 a friend in the capitol this
discoursgjng view of his position "You
may judge" he says, "of our state, when
| tell you that [ write this with q sword
in Que hand and pistol in the other"
On one occasion, when the famous let
ters to the Public advertiser were attract
ing public attention, Sir Boyle was heard
| 10 complain bitterly of the attacks "of
| certain anonymous writer called Junius"
lie il was who recounted that marvel
lous act in gymnastics, when, in tumult
| of loyalty, he "stOOd PROSTATE at the feet
of his sovereign" He il was who de-
nOunced in whitening language the apos-
tate politician who turned bis back upon
himself" He it was who introduced 10
public notice the ingenious yet partially
confused metaphor of the rat. "Sir,"
said he, addressing the Speaker of the
Irish House, 81 smell a rat l see him
floating in the aiF-but, mark me, l shall
nip him in the bud"
1t was Sir Boyle who spoke in feeling
terms of the gentleman with whose fami-
ly he was connected by marriage He
gave me his eldest daughter, sir" he said
to one OF the professional wits of the
Irish bar; "his eldest daughter, sir"
To him the wit replied; off he had had
an older one be would have given her to
you"
Mr.. Ourran used humorously to insist
that these strange bits of confusion were
all the result of careful preparation
perhaps scarcely crediting that there
could be found mind with such an in
veterate constitutional twist in it. In
The Irish House these sayings were vel
coined with uproaIious hilarity. There
was the famous speech which oOnfound-
ed generations: Z" | don't see, Mr.. Speak
er, why we should put ourselves out of
the way to serve posterity. What has
ever posterity done for us p He was a
little Disconnected by the burst of laugh
ter that followed, and proceeded TO ex-
plain bis meaning: "By posterity, sir,
do not mean our ancestors, but those
VINO are to come Immediately after
them"
His invitation to the gentleman on his
travels, was hospitable and well meant
but equlvOcal. IL hope, my lord, if you
ever cOme within a mile of my house, you
will stay there all night" He it was
VINO stood for the proper dimensions of
the wine bottle, and proposed to Parlia-
ment that it should be made compulsory
that every quart bottle should contain
"a quart" Very pleasant, and yet per-
iectiy Ineligible, was his meaning
though II unhappIly took a bovine shape
in his rebuke TO the shoemaker, when
getting shoes for his equity limbs: IL
told you TO make one longer than the
other and instead of that, you have made
one smaller than the other, the very OPP
poslte.
Still, he could hit hard, and for once,
avoided his natural laundering turn
Mr. Ourran stated he was quite capable
OF being the guardian of his own honor.
Sir Boyle retorted: II wish the honor able
gentleman joy Of his sinecure.