Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? Cas. Brutus, bay not me ! I'll not endure it. You forget yourself, Bru. I say you are not. Cas. Urge me no more: I shall forget myself: Have mind upon your health: tempt me no further! Bru. Away, slight man! Cas. Is 't possible? Bru. Hear me, for I will speak. Must I give way and room to your rash choler? Shall I be frighted when a madman stares? Cas. Must I endure all this? Bru. All this? Ay, more! Fret till your proud heart break: Go, show your slaves how choleric you are, And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge? Under your testy humor? You shall digest the venom of your spleen, Though it do split you; for, from this day forth, I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for When you are waspish. Cas. Is it come to this? my laughter, Bru. You say you are a better soldier; Let it appear so; make your vaunting true, And it shall please me well. For mine own part, Cas. You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus ; I said an elder soldier, not a better. Cas. When Cæsar lived, he durst not thus have moved me Bru. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him. Cas. I durst not? Bru. No. Cas. What! durst not tempt him? Bru. For your life you durst not. Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love. I may do that I shall be sorry for. Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for. That they pass by me as the idle wind, For certain sums of gold, which you denied me;- I had rather coin my heart, And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring I did send To you for gold to pay my legions; Which you denied me. Was that done like Cassius! When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, To lock such rascal counters from his friends, Cas. I denied you not. Cas. I did not: he was but a fool That brought my answer back. Brutus hath rived my hear A friend should bear a friend's infirmities; But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. Bru. I do not, till you practice them on me. Bru. I do not like your faults. Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults. Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear As huge as high Olympus. Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come! Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius; For Cassius is a-weary of the world, Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother, When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better Bru. Sheathe your dagger: Be angry when you will, it shall have scope: Cas. Hath Cassius lived To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, When grief and blood ill-tempered vexeth him? Bru. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered too. Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humor which my mother gave me Makes me forgetful? Bru. Yes, Cassius; and, henceforth, When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, XXII. INVECTIVE AGAINST MR. CORRY. HENRY GRATTAN. The following speech was delivered in the Irish Parliament, February 14th, 1800, in reply to Mr. Corry who had said that Grattan, instead of having a voice in the councils of his country, should have been standing as a culprit at her bar. A duel, in which Corry was wounded in the arm, was provoked by this severe retort from Grattan. We do not commend the spirit either of the retort or of the duel, but the former has been rarely paralleled in power since the days of Demosthenes. For GOVERNMENT, LIBERTY, UTTERED, see § 7; WORSE, § 16; PARENT, § 11; CONSTITUTION, GRATITUDE, MAGNITUDE, § 23. See in Index, Against, councilOR or COUNCILLOR, DEFENSE OF DEFENCE, PARLIAMENT, PHALANX, SCAFFOLD, THEREFORE, Grattan. Delivery. The general tone is sarcastic, vehement, scornful. Several passages that might seem to require the high pitch would be more effective in a subdued middle pitch, with moderate if not slow time, deliberate pauses, and reserved force, as if the object of the invective were too contemptible for explosive anger. In the last paragraph, however, where government is defied, high pitch and loud force are appropriate. 1. HAS the gentleman done? Has he completely done ? He was unparliamentary from the beginning to the end of his speech. There was scarce a word that he uttered that was not a violation of the privileges of the House. But I did not call him to order. Why? Because the limited talents of some men render it impossible for them to be severe without being unparliamentary. But before I sit down I shall show him how to be severe and parliamentary at the same time. On any other occasion, I should think myself justifiable in treating with silent contempt anything which might fall from that honorable member; but there are times when the insignificance of the accuser is lost in the magnitude of the accusation. 2. I know the difficulty the honorable gentleman labored under when he attacked me, conscious that, on a comparative view of our characters, public and private, there is nothing he could say which would injure me. The public would not believe the charge. I despise the falsehood. If such a charge were made by an honest man, I would answer it in the manner I shall do before I sit down. But I shall first reply to it when not made by an honest man. 3. The honorable gentleman has called me "an unimpeached traitor." I ask, why not "traitor," unqualified by any epithet? I will tell him: it was because he dare not. It was the act of a coward who raises his arm to strike, but has not courage to give the blow. I will not call him villain, because it would be unparliamentary, and he is a privy councilor. I will not call him fool, because he happens to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. 4. But I say he is one who has abused the privilege of Parliament and freedom of debate, to the uttering language which, if spoken out of the House, I should answer only with a blow. I care not how high his station, how low his character, how contemptible his speech; whether a privy councilor or a parasite; my answer would be a blow. 5. He has charged me with being connected with the rebels. The charge is utterly, totally, and meanly false ! Does the honorable gentleman rely on the report of the House of Lords for the foundation of his assertion? If he does, I can prove to the committee there was a physical impossibility of that report being true. But I scorn to answer any man for my conduct, whether he be a political coxcomb, or whether he brought himself into power by a false glare of courage or not. 6. The right honorable gentleman says I fled from the country after exciting rebellion; and that I have returned to raise another. The charge is false. The civil war had not commenced when I left the kingdom; and I could not have returned without taking a part. On the one side there was the camp of the rebel; on the other, the camp of the minister, a greater traitor than that rebel. The stronghold of the constitution was nowhere to be found. |