elist, but I thought his lecture a prosaic performance. In a literary
sense the address was characteristic and interesting--as can be seen in
its printed form--but it gained nothing by its author's delivery. It was
a well-composed piece of work, and it had a composing effect upon those
who heard it. At least I know I found it dull, and half dozed during its
monotonous delivery. Indeed, it was not till Thackeray reached his
concluding words--which, by the way, were Shakspeare's, being an
effective quotation from "King Lear"--that I was roused from my dreamy
reverie.

I recollect seeing Charles Kingsley when he was President of the
Birmingham and Midland Institute, and noticed that though in speaking
he stammered perceptibly, when he delivered his presidential address he
adopted a sort of sing-song tone which more or less concealed his
impediment of speech. In fact he half intoned his discourse. I remember,
too, meeting Professor Tyndall at Mr. Chamberlain's table, and was
struck by the simple modesty of the eminent savant. I sat next to Mrs.
Tyndall, who was very unaffected, pleasant, and conversational. I have
often thought of this occasion, and did so especially when the sad and
tragic mistake occurred which ended in Professor Tyndall's premature
death. Mrs. Tyndall, it may be remembered, gave her husband a wrong dose
of medicine, which brought his illness to a sudden and fatal
termination. What an awful mistake. To live after this was pathetic.

Of course I remember a good deal about the late Mr. John Bright and his
visits to Birmingham. So do other people, and as many of these others
are scribes and quasi-historians who have published their records, there
is really not much for me to tell. I may say that I heard nearly every
speech our distinguished member delivered in Birmingham, for I hardly
ever missed a meeting at which Mr. Bright was a spokesman. Even now I
distinctly recall the first occasion on which he spoke after he became
M.P. for Birmingham. The Town Hall was more than crowded, it was packed;
indeed, I might almost say that herrings in a tub have elbow room
compared with the very compressed gathering that welcomed Mr. Bright on
the occasion.

In order to make more space the benches were removed from nearly all
parts of the Town Hall, and the curious sight of the sea of faces when
Mr. Bright appeared lingers in my memory still. One curious thing I
observed at this gathering was that so long as our member