496 ROCHE. get off by rote, at one or two readings, any writted production of very considerable length. This faculty of his was well known to the ministers whom he supported; and there was rarely a fixed debate on any national sub ject, in which a part was not previously cast for Sir Boyle to act, and a speech written for him, by some of the grave wags of the treasury benches; which speech was furnished to him in due time for study, and which he contrived to translate into a version of his own. He acted as a sort of buffo in the political opera. The late Mr. Edward Cooke, who, in various departments, still acted as a political engi neer to the ruling party in Ireland, during the successive administrations of Lord Westmoreland, Lord Camden, and Lord Cornwallis, was known to have composed many of those orations for Sir Boyle. The author knew the whim both of the orator and the audience, and could skil fully anticipate where a peal of laughter could tend to damp the fire of debate, and restore good humour to the disputants; and Sir Boyle was selected as the fittest engine for this purpose. There were some occasions where the worthy baronet's eloquence was not previously thought necessary, and of course no speech was prepared for him. But he 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 all i t s genuine splendour, pure from the mine, and unmarred b y the technical touches o f any treasury artist;-then i t was, that a l l the figures o f national rhetoric, t o use the phrase o f Junius, “danced the hays through his speech i n a l l the mazes o f metaphorical confusion.” Upon one occasion o f this kind, the worthy baronet was doomed t o s i t dumb, while h e anxiously longed t o dis tinguish himself i n the contest. He felt his mind pregnant with ardour t o shine forth. He endeavoured t o collect his scattered sentiments and combine them into some shape for delivery; but i n vain. He retired t o the coffee-room l
