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LECTURE THE SECOND CONGREVE AND ADDISON A great number of years
ago, before the passing of the Reform Bill, there existed at
Cambridge a certain debating club called the " Union;" and I
remember that there was a tradition amongst the undergraduates who
frequented that renowned school of oratory, that the great leaders
of the Opposition and Government had their eyes upon the University
Debating Club, and that if a man distinguished himself there he ran
some chance of being returned to Parliament as a great nobleman's
nominee. So Jones of John's, or Thomson of Trinity, would rise in
their might, and draping themselves in their gowns rally round the
monarchy, or hurl defiance at priests and kings, with the majesty
of Pitt or the fire of Mirabeau, fancying all the while that the
great nobleman's emissary was listening to the debate from the back
benches where he was sitting with the family seat in his pocket.
Indeed, the legend said that one or two young Cambridge men,
orators of the " Union," were actually caught up thence, and
carried down to Cornwall or Old Sarum, and so into Parliament; and
many a young fellow deserted the jogtrot university curriculum, to
hang on in the dust behind the fervid wheels of the parliamentary
chariot. Where, I have often wondered, were the sons of Peers and
Members of Parliament in Anne's and George's time ? Were they all
in the army, or hunting in the country, orboxing the watch ? How
was it that the young gentlemen from the University got such a
prodigious number of places? A lad composed a neat copy of verses
at Christ- church or Trinity, in which the death of a great
personage was bemoaned, the French king assailed, the Dutch or
Prince Eugene complimented, or the reverse; and the party in power
was presently to provide for the young poet; ...
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