The Irish standard., 1896-11-07
were being from some other sphere.
When he entered the hall uncssen tatious
lly--1aGarh2nS auan with ncrtci,1 alNlE-

| iy--perhapS even with a certain aWk-
Wardness Of carriage, for even then he
/ was rather stout felt a certain surprise
| don't know how I expected him to
appear; but distinctly ther was a certain
awe and wonder that such a being could
appear on the platform OF a hail with the
awkward carriage of a stout, rather snort
and thick-set man. watched his every
movement at the luncheon table. and to
this day / have the strong impression that
l saw him take Zip one OF the clarel jugs
and pour himself out glass OF wine--an
| impression which may be mista ken. as he
may have already begun that abstention
| from ali stinlulants which he practlced
| for SO many years of his later life.
! When he rose to speak my attention
| had to be divided between this apt and
exalted admiration and the then very
difficult task to me OF reporting Ills
words was never a really good short
hand writer, though l worked at short
hand with greater application than! al
most any other subject ever took Up
except, perhaps, when ! started learning
German. used to spend al least two
! hours a day at shorthand and before |
! became Journalist. But as every un-
fortunate shorthand writer has found
| out, there was q mighty difference be-
tween taking down words in shorthand
(; When read by a relative Or Il teacher
whose every movement you could control,
and taking down words from the orator
who IVES unconscious, or at least indie
| PENDENT of your existence. But though
| l was tortured by the effort to write
| shothand we'll, and to get every word of
a very big speech, there was room left
| for many varying sensations as listened
to- the speech. I rarnsulbeq that one Of
my first first surprises was the calnnes
Of the voice and the delivery Those
who never heard John Bright will never
know what q. tremendous impression an
orator can make on a multitude by the
appearance Of massive and impertnrba-
BILE calm. I have heard many tbories to
account for the..'truly wonderful effect
which John Bright always had, and one
of the best and most .observant critics
of his speeches ever met always de-
clared that it was this massive calm
which was the greatest factor in produc-
ing the mighty results. On the other
hand. Sir Charles Dixie used to say
that John Br:ght's oratory depended
entirely an his voice. The instance he
! used to give in proof of this. was q, pass
age in a great speech Bright made, |
think 1t was ON the deceased wifes sis
ter. bill There was q thrill that lasted
for moments through the house when
Bright ended q sentence by asking
whether the house would call the chill
dran OF such a marriage bastalds." :"
The word moved and thrilled the. Whole
assembly, but, after all, there was not
so mucl}s in the word, but in the terrible
force of& passion appeal, and horror
which the orator was able to put the
WGrd. NY 4
Next tc The calm of Nh. Bright's .deliv-
cry was struck with the Slightly nasal
twang Of the voice, with certain forms
OF pronunciation which were quite new
Ito me-. with the calmly argumentative
1asn nars. safs ss tl,all y, when read or Mr.:
Bright as! n 4 tx sli lpu1 1le=--=-Wh hen, as was
much more fre1uen GF the case, Iread Of
him as the dernagogls or the unscrnpu-
'lcus agitate1,- lang gH'age which was
then applied to- him n nost Journals
l figured to myself a raHcous and Wild
eyed Boaferges-a creature with long
ha:r. passionate gesticulation and high
ly lurid vocabulary and, manner. This
calm gentleman With the slightly nasal
accent, with the easy and pleasant man
ner, with voice raraay raised beyond a
conversational pitch was the reverse
Of this Rreconcesyed notion. [ have
spoken OF this strange pronunciation
One word in particular remember. Mr..
Bright was speaking of the depop,llation
of Ireland and he described it an Nur1-
exawmpled'' in the history Of any coun
nounce the letter t:a'' as though it we're
spelt .ah. 'fnever as though it were spelt
sav,'' as Bright did when he used the
word Funexanlpl led.'''} also remember
that the speech h5wa $ delivered apparently
without any notes Until the perorat:on
came Then Mr. Bright took up a small
piece of paper, and delivered that won
tlerfu, percration which is familiar to all
readers of his speeches. It is the pass
age beginning with the words, Tn IS is the
city Of the Violated Treaty an historical
allusion to. the fact that the treaty Of
which Sarsield surrendered had been
violated for centuries by British States
men well calculate to stir Bright's
hearers to the Depths. The few sentences
that followed were delivered with the
perfect orgal~like melody which Bright
could throw into; his per orations, and the
impression If was naturally profound
When Bright sat down my feeling was
as one who has suddenly awakened from
q nlesneric dream. Ill
a short time afterwards, saw MI.
Bright driving through the streets OF
Limerick in "a carriage, ut the side of Mr.
Peabody, his host remember distinctly
the vivid impression the face made upon
me. Photographs never gave anything
like a true impressionSof Bright's face--
any more than does that knock-kneed
and baggv-trousered nonstrosity which
| is called his static in the outer LOBBY OF
| the House Of Commons The photographs
always gave you the impression Of a raan
who had the full, fierce, and even, some
what coarse, face Of a prizetlghter, and
| this association Of IDEAS was confirmed
! uy the caricatures of The time, in which
he was constantly presented in the guise
| of q pr:zefisifter AS "a matter Of fact,
| what struck me then about Bright's face
as he passed me in the carriage was its
delicacy of feature. The nose which came
out almost saub in theSphotogTaph pms. was
| in reality, small, with beautiful nostrils.
i but the feature which, above all, inn
| pressed me even in the swift look was
| the mouth, with it's compressed and rather
Ithin lips, It's look Of set, immoyable, and
| almost awe-inspiring strength and inflay-
| ibility. / listle knew THAT in after years I
should often gaze at that set moulin, and
see in its hard, firm lines one of the
greatest obstacles to tie. welfare OF that
! country which at that moment, found
lin those same lips it's most eloquent and
fearless advocate. & q 81 g
l. lE.,5s