"In Ancient Days"

Mr. Braybrooke opened in the approved sonorous style, but before long conveyed the suspicion that he was attributing to Strafford an influence on English history which in other circumstances he would not subscribe to. It was possibly a little much to expect the audience to believe that Wentworth's desertion to the King could be explained by his "honest conviction."

The main part of the speech was too much a chronicle to allow the speaker to climb to real oratory. Mr. Braybrooke's posture militated against this also. At times, the position of his hands and notes was strongly suggestive of a telegraph messenger offering what he knew to be unwelcome news.

In offering him for our consideration (3 times), Mr. McCulloch explained to us that the character of Edmund Burke was without moral blemish and he made some extravagant claims to back this statement. "No one who has ever lived has used the principles of the thinkers to Judge the immediate problems of the statesman so successfully." I wonder how this can be reconciled with "Thoughts on the French Revolution"? If Mr. McCulloch gave more Ideas and fewer words it would be a big improvement. To say that Burke (rep resenting a Rotten Borough in a nation which was then less than 20 per cent enfranchised) "held himself trustee for the interests of the whole nation" is a little hard to expect even a Plunket Medal audience to swallow, accustomed as it is to hyperbole.