SCENE in PART FIRST
Our people know it too—those who can peer
Behind the scenes of this poor painted show
Called soldiering!—The Act has failed, must fail,
As my right honourable friend well proved
When speaking t'other night, whose silencing
By his right honourable vis-a-vis
Was of the genuine Governmental sort,
And like the catamarans their sapience shaped
All fizzle and no harm. (Laughter.) The Act, in brief,
Effects this much : that the whole force of England
Is strengthened by—eleven thousand men !
So sorted that the British infantry
Are now eight hundred less than heretofore !
In Ireland, where the glamouring influence Of the right honourable gentleman Prevails with magic might, eleven men Have been amassed. And in the Cinque-Port towns, Where he is held in absolute veneration, His method has so quickened martial fire As to bring in—one man. O would that man Might meet my sight! (Laughter.) A Hercules, no
doubt,
A god-like emanation from this Act, Who with his single arm will overthrow All Buonapartes legions ere their keels Have scraped one pebble of our fortless shores! . . . Such is my motion, sir, and such my mind.
' [He sits down amid cheers.
The candle-snuffers go round, and PITT rises. During the momentary pause before he speaks the House assumes an attentive stillness, in which can be heard the rustling of the trees without, a horn from an early coach, and the voice of the watch crying the hour.
PITT
Not one on this side but appreciates Those mental gems and airy pleasantries Flashed by the honourable gentleman, Who shines in them by birthright. Each device
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