“Tired of talking, Whalley finished, and my list was thus diminished By the Bill on ‘Open Spaces’――this it was his name that bore―― Next, I saw with heartfelt pleasure, came an agricultural measure; For methought no member surely over this dry Bill will pore―― They will not discuss its details, they will never o’er it pore; Merely pass it――nothing more. “So I thought, until up-glancing, I beheld a form advancing From the seats below the gangway, boldly out upon the floor, ‘Stay,’ mused I; ‘I know that figure. Yes, it is――it must be Biggar!’ Through the House there passed a snigger, but my heart was very sore; For he caught my eye, confound him! and my heart was very sore; Hope was left in it no more. “Not the least obeisance made he, nor where he had risen stay’d he; But he strode across the gangway, nearer to me than before. All the time that he was walking, he was hoarsely at me talking, Nothing stopping him nor baulking, not a moment he forebore, Caring not for sneers nor laughter, not a moment he forebore,―― But talked on for evermore. “Much it grieved me this ungainly man to hear discourse so plainly, Though his phrases little meaning, little relevancy bore, For I knew his stubborn nature, knew, too, in the Legislature, That so obstinate a member it had never known before; That a member so pig-headed never had been known before, Never would be evermore. ‘‘Far too “narrer” is this measure,’ quoth he, slowly, at his leisure; ‘Yes, it’s very much too “narrer!”’ then he went its clauses o’er; Turn’d it inside out, and twisted its provisions, as he listed; While his friend Parnell assisted――helped this most portentous bore; Backed him up, and often prompted this unmitigated bore; Who kept speaking evermore! “Presently my wrath grew stronger, hesitating then no longer, ‘Sir!’ I said, ‘you’re not in order; keep in order, I implore! This is but the second reading, yet you are in sooth proceeding As though in Committee pleading; cease from this or leave the floor! Mean you long to go on speaking, mean you long to keep the floor?’ Quoth J. Biggar, ‘Evermore!’ “Then methought his voice grew hoarser, and his manner rather coarser; Till that he my eye had ever caught, I did at heart deplore; Why, I thought, has Cavan sent thee? can no earthly power prevent thee? None bring respite and nepenthe, from thy rudeness and thy roar? Am I doomed to always listen to thy inharmonious roar?’ Quoth J. Biggar, ‘Evermore.’