It was when he uttered the words, "if the iron had entered into my soul," that Mr. Gladstone ventured on the bold gesture of striking his hand against his breast--a simple gesture, and not an uncommon gesture in itself--but you should have heard the resonant and thrilling voice--you should have been under the entrancing and almost bewildering spell beneath which at this moment all the imagination and emotion of the House lay supine, helpless, and drugged--to have understood the shiver of feeling which passed through everybody. And so he went on--rising higher and higher--a deeper harmony in every note--a more splendid strength in every sentence--till you almost thought you were looking at some great bird--with the strength and splendour of the eagle, the full-hearted and passionate melody of the lark--as it soared on, on its even and well-poised wing, higher and higher to the dim and blue ether of the upper air. [Sidenote: A strange scene.] Right to the last word, there was the same unbroken, passionate strength and fervour, so that when it was all ended the House gave a start as though it had to rouse itself from some splendid vision. And then came that rude and quick awakening which, in the world of actualities, always bursts in upon the most solemn and moving hours. At about half-past eight every evening the Speaker or Chairman--whichever is in the chair--gets up and goes out to tea. Before doing so the presiding officer calls upon the next speaker, and when the speaker has been named, cries "Order, order!" and promptly disappears into the room where his meal is laid. Scarcely had Mr. Gladstone sat down when Mr. Mellor called upon Sir Richard Temple, then cried "Order, order!" and, almost within a couple of seconds after Mr. Gladstone had concluded, had vanished from the House. This was immediately followed by the stampede of the rest of the House--for by half-past eight everybody was famished with hunger--and the Chamber was left empty, silent, and dim, with a suddenness that was startling, disconcerting, and a little disillusioning. And then it was that the strongest proof was given of the effect of the speech. [Sidenote: The outburst.]