nfrequently displayed a want of judgment which was nothing less than
lamentable. We might give many instances of these regrettable scenes,
but one shall suffice. On the 29th of September, 1831, the Lord
Chancellor made the following answer to a question put by the Marquis of
Londonderry:--"My lords," he said, "I beg to state to you once for all,
that I will not sit here to be _bothered_ with questions which emanate
from the ridiculous ideas of certain absurd individuals who cannot or
will not see anything, however clear, and seem lamentably incapacitated
by nature from comprehending what is going on. Moreover, I beg to state
to the noble marquis, that for the future I will answer no question of
his,--will give him no information whatever." The amazed patrician said
in reply, "As to the language which the noble and learned lord has
ventured to apply to me here, I will only say that I shall wish those
words to be repeated in another place." The Lord Chancellor rejoined
that he had said nothing which he was not prepared to repeat elsewhere;
and here the matter appears to have ended, for strange to say it was the
Marquis of Londonderry and not the irascible Brougham who subsequently
apologised, a circumstance which occasioned the artist's satirical and
telling sketch of _The Duel that did Not Take Place_. These scenes do
not appear to have been the result of any mere ebullition of temper; on
the contrary, Brougham would seem to have delighted in these
undignified exhibitions. "The Chancellor, who loves to unbosom himself
to Sefton, because he knows the latter thinks him the finest fellow
breathing, tells him that it is nuts to him to be attacked by noble
lords in the Upper House, and that they had better leave him alone if
they care for their own hides. Since he loves these assaults, last
night," continues Mr. Greville, "he got his bellyful, for he was baited
by a dozen at least, and he did not come out of the _melee_ so chuckling
and happy as usual."[119]

Parliament was dissolved on the 15th of August, 1834, and by that time
his party, the king, and everybody else, had grown pretty well tired of
Lord Chancellor Brougham. His head would seem to have been almost turned
by his success; for he employed the recess which followed the
prorogation in making a sort of royal progress through Scotland,
parading the Great Seal on his way, to the great disgust of the king,
who seriously thought he had taken leave of his senses, and pro