ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT. When the Royal Marriage Act was in Parliament, it met with a powerful opposition from Mr. Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, who opposed it in every stage, and succeeded in grafting several amendments upon it. In the discussion that took place on the third reading in the House of Commons, some member charged Mr. Fox with its being his Bill. On hearing this he instantly took fire, and running to the Speaker's table where the Bill lay, with all the amendments marked as usual in red ink, and holding it up in the face of the House, exclaimed, " And am I and my friends charged with bringing in a Bill of this kind, after you all know how much we opposed it? "Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through; Mr. Burke also took a distinguished part in opposition to the Bill. In one of his speeches, after pathetically depicting the mischiefs which, if passed into a law, it must one day bring upon the nation, and reprobating the unfeelingness of the parent who could ask for such a restraint on his children, he concluded with this affecting climax: "But why do I speak of a parental feeling?-The framer of this Bill has no children." SIR JOSEPH MAWBEY. Sir Joseph Mawbey, who had been a distiller, and one of the popular party in the House of Commons, having made a somewhat embarrassed speech in favour of the ministry, one of the members was ridiculing it before Charles Townshend. "Poh, poh." said the latter, "poor Sir Joseph means very well; he only mistakes in not bringing with him, what he constantly leaves at home,—a still head." SIR GILBERT HEATHCOTE. Sir Gilbert Heathcote, who was a member of Parliament in the early part of late century, was esteemed one of the great patriots of the age in which he lived. In his time, a gentleman proposed to the House of Commons a scheme for improving the West India trade, to the benefit of this kingdom. This proposal was introduced by a very sensible and modest speech, which seemed to have gained the attention and approbation of the House. Sir Gilbert, who had not been previously consulted in this affair, stood up in reply, and the whole of his speech was no more than thisThe Lord help thy weak head, brother! The opinion the House entertained of Sir Gilbert's patriotism, and perfect knowledge of that branch of trade, prevailed over the strong reasons and arguments by which the proposal was introduced; and the motion was carried in the negative. The gentleman who made the motion, meeting afterwards with Sir Gilbert, expressed his surprise at Sir Gilbert's opposing a motion so reasonable, and of the utility of which he must be fully con vinced, from his own knowledge of that branch of trade. Sir Gilbert's answer was by the following question-Why did you not acquaint me with it before you brought it into the House? SIR BOYLE ROCHE. An opposition member of the Irish Parliament had appointed a day for a popular motion on some national subject; and for nearly a month was daily moving for official documents, as materials for illustrating his observations. When the night for the discussion arrived, these documents appeared piled upon the table of the House in voluminous array; and the orator, preparatory to his opening speech, moved that they be now read by the clerk, in order the better to prepare the Housefor more clearly understanding the observations he was about to submit. Several members observed, that the reading would occupy the whole night, while others shrunk silently away, unwilling to abide so formidable a trial of their patience. Sir Boyle Roche, however, suggested a happy expedient for obviating the difficulty, by suggesting that a dozen or two of committee clerks might be called in, and each taking a portion of the documents, all might be read together, by which means they might get through the whole in a quarter of an hour. This suggestion, offered with a profound gravity, was so highly ludicrous, that the House joined in an universal laugh, and the question was actually postponed for the night, to give time for the mover to form a more succinct arrangement for introducing his motion. Sir Boyle was more remarkable for his disposition, than his abilities, to serve the government: but as he had a very extensive memory, speeches were prepared for him by Mr. Edward Cooke, which he used always to deliver very correctly. However, on some occasions, the worthy baronet's eloquence was not previously necessary, and of course no speech was prepared for him; but Sir Boyle was an old soldier, and too full of the esprit de corps, to look calmly on the conflict without a zeal for taking his share of the battle. He sometimes, therefore, ventured to volunteer an extempore philippic of his own; and then it was, that his native genius shone with its genuine splendour, pure from the mine, and unmarred by the technical touches of any treasury artist: then it was, that all the figures of natural rhetoric, to use the phrase of Junius, "danced the hays through his speech in all the mazes of metaphorical confusion." Upon one occasion of this kind, the worthy baronet was doomed to sit dumb, while he anxiously longed to distinguish himself in the contest. He felt his mind pregnant with ardour to shine forth. He endeavoured to collect his scattered sentiments, and combine them into some shape for delivery, but in vain. He retired to the coffee-room to reconnoitre his notions, and endeavour to marshal them into some form for operation, but without effect; all was "confusion worse confounded." A lucky expedient crossed his fancy, and he was determined to seize the opportunity. There was a ministerial member in the House, a learned Serjeant Stanley, who was usually in the habit of rising towards the end of a long protracted debate, and about three or four in the morning, amusing the House with an important speech of an hour or more, ingeniously compiled from the fragments of other speeches which he had previouly heard in the course of the discussion: but, having so often played off this manoeuvre, he was a good deal bantered by his senatorial colleagues upon his skill in selection: so that he at last determined on attempting something original. He composed a long speech for the purpose, and anxiously waited to catch the Speaker's eye, that he might take the earliest opportunity of delivering his oration, adorned as it was with all the flowers of his wit and fancy. : Serjeant Stanley had just stepped into the coffeeroom, to cast an eye over his composition, and refresh his memory, when Sir Boyle took a seat near him, and entered into conversation; the serjeant soon darted off in a hurry to catch an opportunity of speaking, but unfortunately, his speech fell from his pocket on the floor. Sir Boyle picked it up, and on reading it over, discovered that it would admirably suit his own purpose; in fact, that it was just the very thing that he wanted a second reading enabled his powerful memory to grasp the whole. He returned to his seat in the House, and took the earliest opportunity of delivering the borrowed oration, to the great astonishment of the whole assembly, and to the utter consternation of Mr. Stanley, who sat biting his nails with anguish, at hearing his elaborate performance, which cost him a week to manufacture, and which had vanished he knew not how, delivered by Sir Boyle, and lost to his own fame for ever. The worthy baronet, having finished his oration, amidst the plaudits of his friends, returned to his coffee-room, where he met the mortified composer; and without waiting for a |