THE POETRY OF PARLIAMENT.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1295, 23 September 1872, Page 2

THE POETRY OF PARLIAMENT.

The Wellington correspondent of the Nelson Colonist furnishes the -following illustrations of the acquaintance of honorable members with the writings of our national poets :— Mr Murray began it. He is unmistakeably one of the Scottish Brigade, for his speech, like that of a certain Galilean, unquestionably bewayeth him. But the gentle, yet determined Murray would never think of concealing the place of his nativity. Now I think of it, it was not Mr Murray but Mr Tribe who began it. His speech was unexpected by himself. It was made to fill a gap, on the night the debate showed signs of flagging, and' he was put upon the Government side. His then was the first quotation, and it ran thus : — "Tis good to be merry and wise ; 'Tis good to be honest and true ; 'Tis well to be off with the old love, Before you are on with the new. A sound practical advice, by no means new, but unceasingly required in feminine affairs and politics. Mr M'Gillivray had briefly referred to the same idea, but did not quote the lines. Next day, Mr Murray took up his parable, and qnoted the following lines, as having been given by Mr Yogel in a speech to his constituents many years ago at Tolcomairiro : — Ye friends of truth, ye statesmen who survej The rich man's joys increase, the poor* » decay, . 'Tis yours to state how far the limits stand) Between a splendid and a happy land. Then on his own account, Mr Murray with voice tremulous, and visage pale wiU earnestness, held forth thus : — To see a land from shadowy forests won, In youthful beauty wedded to the sun ; To pkirt our homes with harvests widel; 1 sown, And claim the blooming landscape for ou own, Our children's heritage through ages long | Such are the hopes—high-mincled hopes an< i : strong i , Which beckon Britons o'er the stormy brine Then followed sundry speeches, ..whenc , poetry and its graces, either in comic o in serious mood, were mingled, until uj rose Mr Reader Wood. He referred to th I Colonist as a paper "independent of th Government or any one connected wit] [ the Government ;" and which continue( to support the Government policy, an< which, he said, was thus exceptional t< • the Press generally, and he applied to it action the devotion of Tom Moore's line thus : — ' Always the same, Through grief and through danger, Through sin and through shame. 1 Then he spoke of Mr Vogel's visit t Australia, and his return here at;thi summit of his renown : — His sublime head striking tli6 stars. ' * Pen and ink fail me to describe th 8 vocalisation of this line. It was as gbo< a3 a play to hear Mr Wood spout it i How he turned up his eyes, then thre\ a out his hands, and worked the voca ° modulations ! And then, suddenly as Burning the grave role of a parson poet s touching what he termed the failure o r fiasco of the San Francisco arrangeraen with Australia, he rolled forth in stage struck tones these lines which, I think have been qitoted before more thai * once : — , o And like the baseless fabric of a vision .LpAves.not.ajffrack-bebind. UJJ j Only he said, track, and it appears i Hansard "rack," which is aU right Then he made another mis-quotatioi l " from "The Pajllock," or rather th epilogue to the play, if my memory serve ,t me. This had reference to the action c the late Ministry and its defenders :• — : Be to our faults a little blind Be to our virtues very kind ; Let am. our ways be unconfined, a i And clap a padlock on the mind. ; The line I have put in larger type h( omitted, and so far spoiled his quotation What, a nice hit he might have madi '" about "ways" and railways, for he wa 0 occasionally in funny, as well as tragi] j mood. From the stage to the pulpit ii 1 not a long distance sometimes, and M Wood made it at a. stride, for he began t< quote scripture ; and re the . generalities o s Mr- Stafford's opening speech (and the] . ipcra generalities, the speech being mncl r inferior to the reply), he represented Mi Fox as saying with Goliath :-- Give me a man that I may fight with him. Query— Was Mr Wood educated for the 3 Ministry (the church ministry I mean, ] 5 hear he has declined to sic in Mr Stafford's, as too insecure in his view), o\ r brought up for the stage 1 ■'■-.'■ 9 ; Mr Bluett also quoted poetry. ; Refering to the mellifluous meandering of Mr 1 Wood's speech, he gave two lines from Tennyson's " River :"— g But men may come and men may go, . But I go on for ever. . - ; ;r He too, of course,"went in for Scripture, comparing some gentleman's eloquence to 3 A sounding brass and a tinkling cyinball. Wilson, who :paid '. a i rhigh complit ment to the Colonial Treasurer (Mr T Yogel), who, he said, had been traduced, ' applied to him and to himself also these lines. ' ■-.:'.■■ —If Tarn • t Traduced by ignorant tongues which neither.know . My faculties nor person, yet 'will be I The chroniclers of my doings, let me say . 'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake . . ' That virtue must go through. : Various other members quoted verses. • Mr Hunter, referring to the delay which i had occurred in the production of the : Financial Statement and the Statement of the Resident Minister, aud that of the Public Works, said it would have been better had these been produced earlier, as that would have saved the hatching of mischief which had been going on in the House ; and he quoted the lines which most people will read not for the first time: — For Satan finds some mischief still ) ..For idle hands to do. MrSheehan made a comparison very complimentary to Mr Fitzherbert, by applying to him the attributes of the bird of Jove, in reference to a keen criticism of that geatleman. Quoth he — An eagle towering in his pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed! But he obligingly "explained that the eagle was not killed, which was so far satisfactory. Mr John Williamson informed the House that The best laid schemes of men and mice ' ; Gang aft agley-*-

and he alluded to his illustrious countryman, who pictured Ireland as . First flower of the earth, : And first gem of the sea — adding; that when Tom Moore wrote that he had not seen New Zealand, which he said was, in many respects, %fac simile of Ireland. And there 1 cease the quotations. There were a few more broken lines, which, like stars. in a. dark night, besprent tbo firmament of dullness which now and then a weaiy speech created. In an idle hour 1 thought it worth while to brin.<» the gems together, and here they are. I conclude by Mr Stafford's classic reference t(» the position of the late Ministry, with which he wound up his well-delivered reply :— " Like a dying : swan it h^id ; warbled its expiring lay, and he would not prolong the painful scene. ' Then came the division ; and I shall not pro- ' long the agony of the reader.