Lord Randolph Churchill's reception at Bradford on Tuesday was a
triumphant one. He played the reformed political rake to perfection, and probably nine-tenths of his hearers had for-
gotten that he had ever had anything to reform. We confess that on reading his speech,—a speech for the most part advo- cating the most admirable measures,—we could not help recalling the first two lines of Gray's biting satire on Lord Sandwich :—
" When sly Jemmy Twitcher had smagg'd up his face, With a lick of Court whitewash and pious grimace."
However, on Tuesday Lord Randolph's wild-oats were as if they had never been at all; and though his double sneer at Mr. Gladstone for asking the indulgence of the House to speak somewhat more generally than the Speaker had allowed other Members to speak on Mr. Parnell's amendment, was indecent, his audience knew too little of the matter,—even if they were not too thoroughly partisan,—to feel offended. All the speeches were, in their main features, perfectly consistent with his reformed character.
