The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-12

| GARRICK IN THE HOUSE OF Com
MONS. 1t was in the spring of IT'S du-
| ring the height of the struggle be-
tween the followers of Lord Rock
| ingbam and Lord Norths admin
| istration, that n fierce alteration arose
| in the House of Commons between two
honorable members. Strangers were Or
dered to Withdraw, and the gallery
emptied gradually. The most notice
able among the tenants of the front seat
of the gallery was small, restless man
Of sixty, handsomely dressed, with dark
eyes of extraordinary lustre, strongly
lined face, and singularly flexible fea-
lures. He had been the subject of much
whispered comment, and very marked
respect from the other occupants of the
gallery; and when they left ii he linger-
cred to watch the excited and noisy
scene below. Sir II. Bridgman, POM
pous Shropshire baronet, member for
Wenlock. rose, and observed that the
motion to clear the galleries had not
been observed--that a stranger was still
present; that the stranger do withdraw"
An honorable member interposed. HIe
was tall, gaunt, and powerfully built,
witha massive brow, square and pro-
jecting upper lip, and contrasted re-
markably with the keen, nervous eX-
citability of which, when he spoke,
worked in every line of his face. He
was plainly, almost shabbily dressed, i'm
rusty, brown black, and wore an eye
glass round his neck, hanging by a
frayed black ribbon. He spoke with
singular tluency, even vehemence, with
a very traceable Irish brogue, and his
language was cOpious, swelling, and
rhetorical. He appealed to that honor
able assembly whether il would proper
ly he consistent with the rules of
decency and liberality to exclude
from the hearing of their debates a
man to whom they were all obliged
one who was the first master of
elOquence, in whose school they had all
imbibed the art of speaking, and had
been taught the elements of rhetoric.
For his part he was proud to own that
he had been greatly indebted to that
gentleman's instruction. This is but
meagre outline of the matter, which
was eloquently amplified by all the re
sources of the rlietorician, and Illus
trated with all the fancy of the poet.
When the tall speaker sat down, he was
followed, in the same straiu, Ny n mem
ber even more remarkable in appear
ance--short, with Herculean limbs,
though overloaded with fat, complex
ion at once swarthy and sanguine,
bushy black eyebrows overhangng eyes
of rare sweetness and fire, a double chin,
black hair dishevelled and scantily
powdered, and a dress rs remarkable for
slovenliness as that of the last speaker
was for shabbiness. The voice of the
speaker was shrill and hgh-pitched.
almost to discordauce, and his utterance
at first thick, hurried and indistinct. 1t
seemed at starting as If his ideas crowd
ed to his tongue too fast for passage;
but when they had once made way,
their thronging prOfusion gradually
cleared itself into the most lucid. har-
mcnious, persuasive utterance that ever
flowed from human lips. His speech
was asplendid variation on the same
theme, which the hearers might have
thought had been exhausted by the
preceding speaker. From this new
mouth the same thoughts came with
new phrase and original play of fancy
but there was a simplicity, directness
and spontaneOusness in the thoughts
that won upon the heart even more
than the wonderful felicity of the Ian
guase upon the ear. The House voted
almost by aceIamntion that the stranger
should not Withdraw. That stranger
was David Garrck. Those speakers
were Edmund Burke and Charles Fox.u