ions for
the social hour, the night would flee away like a shadow. His wit
was of the rarest order. He would have been on terms of recognized
kinship with Sydney Smith and Charles Lamb. He once said of a
vinegar-visaged member that the only regret he had on earth was
that there were no more commandments to keep; what few there were he
kept so easily. As illustrating his readiness and elasticity,
whatever the emergency, two instances, out of the many that crowd
upon memory, will be given. During an all-night session of the
House, amid great confusion, the roll-call was ordered. The first
name, "Mr. Archer," was called, and the response "Aye" was given.
The clerk, failing to hear the response, immediately repeated, "Mr.
Archer," to which the latter, in tones heard above the din of many
voices, again answered "Aye." Instantly Mr. Cox exclaimed:
"Insatiate Archer, would not one suffice?"

A new member from a district far to the westward entered the House.
His advoirdupois was in keeping with the vast territorial area
he represented. As a wit, he was without a rival in his section.
The admiration of his constituents over the marvellous attainments
of the new member, scarcely exceeded his own. Only the opportunity
was wanting when the star of the gentleman from New York should go
down and his own be in the ascendant. The opportunity at length
came. Mr. Cox was the victim of the hour; the recipient of many
compliments much more fervid than kind. The seven vials of wrath were
opened upon him. A vast storehouse of wit, ancient and modern,
was literally exhausted for the occasion. Even the diminutive size
of the New York member was mentioned in terms of disparagement.
The speech caused much merriment in the House during its delivery,
and its author with an air of self-satisfaction rarely witnessed
even in that body, resumed his seat. Mr. Cox at once took the
floor. No attempt will be made to do justice to his speech.
The manner, the tone of voice, which caused an uproar upon the
floor and in the galleries, can never find their way into print.
Referring to the ill-mannered allusion to his size, he said "that his
constituents preferred a representative with brains, rather than
one whose only claims to distinction consisted in an abnormal
abdominal development." In tragic tones he then pronounced a
funeral eulogy over his assailant, and suggested, as a fitting
inscription for his tombstone, the pathetic words of B