Nor, indeed, was there much in the opening sentences that seemed to indicate the fact--the great fact--that the House of Commons was about to listen to one of the most extraordinary manifestations of eloquence it has ever heard during its centuries of existence.

For the Old Man was in his most benignant mood.

He spoke of his opponents and their case in sorrow rather than in anger.

Evidently, the House was about to listen to one of those delightful little addresses--half paternal, half pedagogic--to which it has become accustomed in recent years, since Mr.Gladstone threw off the fierce, warring spirit of earlier days, and became the honey-tongued Nestor of the assembly.

But, as time went on, the House began to perceive that the Old Man was in splendid fighting trim, and seized with one of those moments of positive inspiration, in which he carries away an assembly as though it were floated into Dreamland on the waves of a mighty magician's magic power.