But he does not shine in the House of Commons.

His voice is thin and feeble, and his arguments, somehow or other, always appear wire-drawn.

And then the House of Commons is a place, above all others, where physical qualities go largely towards making success or failure.

A robustious voice and manner are the very first essentials of Parliamentary success; and no man who is not gifted with these things has really much right to try Parliamentary life.
However, Sir John Lubbock was not strong enough to withstand the temptation of making capital out of Irish misfortunes; and he pointed to the Irish Benches, with their yawning emptiness, as a proof that the Irish members took no interest whatsoever in the Home Bale Bill.
[Sidenote: Irish objections to divorce.] Meantime, in the House itself the Home Rule Bill was crawling slowly along.

The Unionists were at their sinister work of delaying its progress by all kinds of absurd and irrelevant amendments.