'TOPICS OF THE DAY, HOUSE OF COMMONS WIT.
Gotnsmirit observes, that the witticism which calls forth one uni- versal smile. in the circles of Grosvenor Square would drop un- heeded on the grosser ears of the lathes and gentlemen at Billings- gate ; and vice vend. To render a joke successful, it must be addressed to a fitting audience. We suppose it is a consequence of this rule, that so many of the bon mots vented in the House of Commons, and which shake the benches there with unextin- guishable laughter, appear so stale, flat, and unprofitable, by the time they have travelled as far as Wellington Street. Indeed, we are often tempted to believe, when we see "laughter"-" great laughter"-" continued laughter"-" shouts of laughter "-or, which is the no plus ultra, "roars of laughter,' appended to- sayings which have neither humour of sentiment nor felicity of in- terpolations to recommend them, that these are the libellous of some Radical reporter, bent on bringing the taste of the Honourable House into contempt. The speech of Sir CHARLES WETHERELL on Tuesday is studded with these parenthe- tical comments, as indeed Sir CHARLES'S speeches generally area We shall put down the remarks that called for such boisterous applause, one by one, and let our readers choose whether they will laugh with the Commons or yawn with the critic. Joke 1st. "The calumnies against him were not merely diffused in Err,- land, through the veins and arteries of the public press, but at last echoed 'in Paris by one of the prints there. [Great laughter.]" Joke 2nd. "The morning calumny of the 7'ilnes was not eclipsed by the evening irradiation of the Sun. [Laughter.)"
Joke 2nd continued-" and at length the Courier carried it off to Paris. [Laughter.)"
Joke 3rd. "The Paris paper proclaimed that he had been condemned by the coteries. [Laughter.]"
Joke 3rd continue!-" To what coteries the Parisian journalist alluded- whether those of the Rue des Tuileries or the Rue de la Paix-he could not divine. [Roars of laughter.)"
Joke 4th. "Had he attempted a contradiction of the charges made against him, there was not a solitary fragment of the Radical press to which he must not have addressed a letter. [Laughter.] " Joke 5th. "He feared he could not have so fashioned his letters as to combine civility with truth. [Laughter.]" Joke 6th and last. "Lord Braux and Vaux-Lord Brougham and Vaux- blended political with judicial functions. [Laughter.] " These specimens are copied verbatim from the Times of Wed- nesday. Now we do not deny that, there may be some novelty, some singularity even, in.the notion of diffusing calumnies through veins and arteries, and in echoing the calumnies so diffused by a print ; we admit that we have now heard for the first time of "calumny" being "eclipsed," and "eclipsed" by "irradiation ;" but we would humbly submit, that the pun on the title of an evening journal is not new, nor did'it require much brilliancy of fancy to per- petrate it when it was new. Coteries, to our ears, has nothing in its sound or its signification essentially mirth-provoking; nor does the antithesis of Palace Street and Peace Street appear a whit more obvious in French than in English. That Sir CHARLES'S in- capacity to combine civility and truth in a letter or any thing else, should excite a smile, is surely unnecessary, seeing that it is a truth not quite so old but quite as notorious as the combination of political and judicial functions in the person of the Lord Chan- cellor. Lastly, the- phrase "solitary fragment of the Radical press," we really must look on, admiring its elegance all the while, as much less intimately allied to humour, than the premeditated blunder of " Braux" for "Brougham," euphoniev gratia, is to sheer dulness. Such, however, are the "right merry jestes" of Sir CHARLES WETHERELL, which the gentle dulness of the Com- mons House so kindly encourages.
Previous page
