of  the  Ministry  as  the  Duke  of  Portland,  were  published  day-
after  day  by  an  adventurer  whom  the  Earl  of  Sandwich  had  re-
warded with  a  living  that  was  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown.'  A
dispute  as  to  which  of  two  members  had  been  the  first  to  get
upon  his  legs  drew  from  Burke  a  withering  impeachment  of  the
novel,  improper,  and  irregular  doctrine  of  the  Speaker's  eye ;
and  the  scruples  of  the  great  constitutional  philosopher  could
not  be  set  at  rest,  until  an  honest  attempt  had  been  made  to
define  the  properties  of  that  magic  organ  in  a  solemn  declara-
tory resolution.  The  absurdity  of  the  enterprise,  to  which  the
British  senate  had  stooped,  remains  to  all  time  reflected  on  the
pages  of  its  journals.  The  childish  malice  of  this  attack  upon
the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  upon  the  right  of  the  nation  to
know  how  its  own  affairs  were  managed,  inspired  the  defenders  of
those  great  principles  with  a  grim  humour  that  overflowed  from
their  speeches  into  the  formal  amendments  on  which  they  chal-
lenged the  decision  of  Parliament.  When  it  had  been  resolved
that  the  publisher  of  the  London  Packet  should  be  summoned  to
the  bar,  a  quiet  Whig  member,  who  had  never  before  got  nearer
to  a  joke  than  an  occasional  stock  quotation  from  Horace,  pro-
posed that  the  man  should  be  ordered  to  attend  "together  with
all  his  compositors,  pressmen,  correctors,  and  devils  ; "  and
Burke's  ironical  argument  against  striking  out  the  last  of  the
four  classes  is  among  the  happiest  samples  of  his  lighter  vein.
