Our readers will remember that when Mr. Grossmith used to
sing his famous song, "They Never Will be Missed—They Never Will be Missed," he did not mention any politician by name, but would alter his voice or change his look, sink his chin in his collar, screw up his eyeglass eye, or twirl imaginary moustaches in such a way that Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Chamber- lain, or Lord Randolph Churchill immediately jumped into the minds of his audienoe. When Mr. Asquith uses the language we have just quoted, one seems in. the same way to see his colleagues looking over his shoulder. Lord Morley, Lord Wolverhampton, Mr. Runciman, and Mr. Burns appear shaking their heads at the " over-rapid progress and unforeseen. changes " ; while on the other side, Mr. Winston Churchill, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. Lewis Harcourt are seen scouring the plain in "the precipitate pursuit of unpractical ideals." We never thought of Mr. Asquith as a satirist before, but his latest speech is a proof of how extraordinarily elastic and adaptable, as well as essentially Whig, is his temperament.
Previous page
