An amusing episode of the Middlesex election of 1868 was the mistake which the supporters of Mr. Labouchere made in mistaking Mr. Henry Irving for their defeated candidate. Mr. Labouchere himself related the story some sixteen years later, when there was a report current that the famous actor was about to offer himself as a parliamentary candidate. "Irving did once appear upon the hustings," he said, "and it was in this wise. I was the defeated candidate at a Middlesex election. Those were the days of hustings and displays, and it was the fashion for each candidate to go down to Brentford in a carriage and four to thank his supporters. On the morning of the day when I had to perform this function, Irving called upon me, and I invited him to accompany me. Down we drove. I made an inaudible speech to a mob, and we re-entered our carriage to return to London. In a large constituency like Middlesex, few know the candidates by sight. Irving felt it his duty to assume a _mine de circonstance_. He folded his arms, pressed his hat over his brows, and was every inch the baffled politician--defeated, sad, but yet sternly resigned to his fate. In this character he was so impressive that the crowd came to the conclusion that he was the defeated candidate. So woebegone, and so solemnly dignified, did he look that they were overcome with emotion, and, to show their sympathy, they took the horses out of the carriage and dragged it back to London. When they left us, I got up to thank them, but this did not dispel the illusion. 'Poor fellow,' I heard them say, as they watched Irving, 'his feelings are too much for him,' and they patted him, shook hands with him, and thanked him."[23] A _Times_ leader of November 30 made the following comments on the Middlesex election: "In Middlesex, the minority has been allowed not only a representative, but a {93} place at the head of the poll, by the selection of two Liberal candidates, almost avowedly in competition, and with some unexplained circumstance of personal antagonism. Though it is likely enough many of the votes have been split between the two successful candidates, it is evident on the face of the return that a better selected pair of Liberal candidates might have carried both seats. Few persons will quarrel with a result which gives one of the most important minorities in the kingdom a voice in Parliament, but the result is a fluke rather than the consequence of a sound intention or of a wise provision of law."