quotations, but he knows the importance of suppressing such instincts
and tendencies if he is to be taken seriously and regarded as a
statesman. Blue books and Biglow, Bills and Sam Slick, do not make the
sort of political punch that an influential leader can afford to ladle
out at St. Stephen's. At the same time, if he cared to indulge his own
ready wit, or to make use of the amusing extracts he has stored away in
his memory, he could doubtless make some lively and diverting speeches.

I remember when Mr. Chamberlain was Mayor of Birmingham, the late Mr.
George Dawson at a little dinner proposed his health, and in doing so
indulged in some characteristic banter and chaff. Mr. Chamberlain, then
as now, was not a man of Aldermanic girth, and Mr. Dawson in the course
of his humorous remarks took occasion to allude to his slight and
slender proportions, and said he wished there was more of the Mayor to
look at, and that he should like to see him "go to scale better."

When he rose to reply Mr. Chamberlain, in a quiet, dry manner, and
without a smile on his face, remarked, "Mr. Dawson has been good enough
to refer to me as a Mayor without a Corporation." This was so neat and
smart that I need hardly say the company laughed most amusedly.
Probably, if I had kept a notebook, or were now to search well my
memory, I might give other instances of Mr. Chamberlain's smart, ready
wit.

Now, however, as most people know, his speeches are remarkable for their
point, force, logical reasoning, incisive language, and straight, hard
hitting, but, as I have observed, he rarely if ever essays to be funny.
By his sharp remarks and his adept turns of speech he often, however,
creates much laughter--as, for instance, when he once spoke of an
ex-Premier's opportunism and readiness to make promises which, when