And he wanted very badly to finish that sentence; for over and over again, with an obstinacy that suggested the delighted author, he sought to get the sentence out; and no doubt he was very disappointed that the guillotine finally fell upon him with that sentence still unuttered.

And there is one other point about this moment which I see has been completely lost.

It is supposed that I and the others who shouted "Judas, Judas," did so in pure provocation--with deliberate intent to apply the word to Mr.Chamberlain personally and with fierce political and personal passion.

That was not my impression of what was meant; and that certainly was not what I meant.

I took Mr.
Chamberlain's mood as I think anybody looking at him could see that he meant it to be taken; that is to say, I did not regard his speech as in the least serious; and his allusion to Mr.Gladstone as "Herod" appeared to me a self-conscious joke, and not, as some earnest Liberals seemed to think, a gross, foul, and deliberate insult.