But then mark the singular courage and audacity of the whole proceeding.

There are traditions still in the House of Commons of the marvellously stimulating effect upon followers of leaders, who were proverbial for their oratorical impotence.

Everybody remembers the scornful description of Castlereagh which Byron gave to the world; and yet it has been said in some memoirs that the moment Castlereagh stood up and adjusted his waistcoat, there was a thrill in the House of Commons, and his followers bellowed their exultation and delight.

In a more recent day, Lord Althorpe was able to bear down the hostility of some of the most powerful orators of his time by a bluff manliness which no rhetoric could withstand.

And so also with Jimmy--his sheer audacity carries him along the slow, dull, inept, muddy tide of his inarticulate speech.
[Sidenote: An irrepressible nuisance.] And curiously enough, it is impossible to put him down.