As a rule, however, modern Speakers seem able to exercise complete self-control, and, bored though they must often be, are polite enough to hide the fact. They cannot now have recourse to that flowing bowl of porter which Speaker Cornwall kept by the side of the Chair, from which he drank whenever he felt the need of a mental fillip, subsequently falling into a pleasing torpor which the babble of debate did nothing to dispel. To-day, indeed, the Speaker neither slumbers nor sleeps, and the advice given by the poet Praed to the occupant of the Chair during one of the debates of the first reformed Parliament would fall on deaf ears. "Sleep, Mr. Speaker; it's surely fair, If you don't in your bed, that you should in your chair; Longer and longer still they grow, Tory and Radical, Aye and No; Talking by night, and talking by day; Sleep, Mr. Speaker, sleep, sleep while you may! "Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sweet to men Is the sleep that comes but now and then; Sweet to the sorrowful, sweet to the ill, Sweet to the children who work in a mill. You have more need of sleep than they; Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sleep, sleep while you may!" It is very necessary for the proper performance of his duties that a Speaker should possess good eyesight, and a memory exceptionally retentive of names and faces. In 1640, when a heated dispute rose between members of the House, several of whom claimed precedence of speech, a rule was made that whoever first "caught the Speaker's eye" should have the right to address the House.[197] This rule still holds good. Much confusion may therefore arise if the Speaker happens to suffer from obliquity of vision. Sir John Trevor squinted abominably; consequently two members would often catch his eye simultaneously, and decline to give way to one another.[198] To obviate this, a further rule was framed to the effect that the Speaker should call by name upon the member privileged to address the House--a rule which must often prove a severe tax upon a Speaker's memory. [197] "People say, when you get on the blind side of a man, you get into his favour; but it is quite the reverse with the members when they get on the blind side of the Speaker." Pearson's "Political Dictionary," p. 53. [198] When Trevor was Master of the Rolls, a post he combined with that of Speaker, it was said that if Justice were blind, Equity was now seen to squint! In former days, when there was any doubt as to who should speak, the matter was referred to the House, as is still the practice of the House of Lords. Nowadays it is settled by the Speaker. It is the usual practice of the Chair to fix an alternate eye upon either side of the House, and thus provide both parties with equal opportunities of speech.