He displayed here a peculiarity
which soon came to be remarked in him; on public occasions and in regard
to public audiences he possessed a tact and a power of understanding the
feelings of his company which entirely and even conspicuously failed him
in private life. The House did not like being stormed, especially on the
strength of an outside reputation; he addressed it modestly, bringing
into play, however, resources with which he had not been credited--a
touch of humour and a pretty turn of sarcasm. He knew his facts too, and
disposed of contradictions with a Blue-book and a smile. The
hypercritical were not silenced; Marchmont still found the smile oily,
and his friends traced the humour to districts which they supposed to lie
somewhere east of the London Hospital; but they were bound to admit
sorrowfully that, although all this was true, it might not, under
democratic institutions, prove fatal to a career.
Dick Benyon was enthusiastic; he told his friend that he had scored
absolutely off his own bat and that there was and could be no more
question of help or obligation.
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