On a May evening of 1845 the present writer had the pleasure of watching him for an hour or more in the House of Lords. He was lank, as I have said; awkward, nervous, restless; twisting the great seals at his watch-chain; intent upon everything; now and then sniffing the air, like a terrier that has lost the scent; presenting a petition, in the course of the session, in favor of some Newfoundland clients who were anxious for more direct postal communication--who objected that their mails were sent in a roundabout way _via_ Halifax. Whereupon Lord Stanley (afterward Earl Derby), then Secretary for the Colonies, rose in explanation, “regretting that his Lordship had not communicated with the Colonial Office, which had considered the question raised; there was no communication by land; the harbor was often closed by ice; therefore present methods were followed,” etc. All of which was set forth with most charming grace and suavity; but Lord Stanley was no sooner ended than the irascible Scotch peer, nettled, as would seem, by the very graciousness of the explanation, was upon his feet in an instant, with a sharp “M’ Lards,” that promised fun; and thereafter came a fusillade of keenest, ironical speech--thanking the honorable Secretary for “the vera impartant information, that as St. John’s was upon an island, there could be no communication by land; and perhaps his learned _Lardship_ supposes, with an acumen commensurate with his _great_ geographic knowledge, that the sending of the mails by the way of Halifax will have a tendency to _thaw_ the ice in the Harbor of St. John’s,” and so on, for a ten minute’s storm of satiric and witty banter. And then--an awkward plunge backward into his seat--a new, nervous twirling of his watch-seals, a curious smile of self-approval, followed by a lapse into the old nervous unrest. There was no serenity in Brougham--no repose--scarce any dignity. His petulance and angry sarcasm and frequent ill-nature made him a much hated man in his latter days, and involved him in abusive tirades, which people were slow to forgive. _Francis Jeffrey._