Now, I happen to have a short-hand writer's notes of every word uttered by Mr. Titmouse, together with an account of the reception it met with: and I shall here give the reader, first, Mr. Titmouse's real, and secondly, Mr. Titmouse's supposed speech, as it appeared two days afterwards in the columns of the Yorkshire Stingo.

"Look on this picture————————and on THIS!"
Mr. Titmouse's Actual Speech. Mr. Titmouse's Reported Speech.
"Gentlemen,—Most uncommon, unaccustomed as I am, (cheers)—happy—memorable,—proudest—high honor—unworthy, (cheering)—day of my life—important crisis, (cheers)—day gone by, and arrived—too late, (cheering)—civil and religions liberty all over the world, (immense cheering, led off by Mr. Mudflint.) Yes, gentlemen,—I would observe—it is unnecessary to say—passing of that truly glorious Bill—charter—no mistake—Britons never shall be slaves, (enthusiastic cheers.)—Gentlemen, unaccustomed as I am to address an assembly of this—ahem! ('hear! hear! hear!' and cheers)—civil and religious liberty all over the world, (cheers)—yet the tongue can feel where the heart cannot express the (cheers)—so help me——! universal suffrage and cheap and enlightened equality, (cries of 'that's it, lad!')—which can never fear to see established in this country—(cheers)—if only true to—industrious classes and corn-laws—yes, gentlemen, I say corn-laws—for I am of op—(hush! cries of 'ay, lad, what dost say about THEM?') working out the principles which conduce to the establishment a—a—a—civil and religious liberty of the press! (cheers!) and the working classes, (hush!)—Gentlemen, unaccustomed as I am—well—at any rate—will you—I say—will you? (vehement cries of 'No! No! Never!') unless you are true to yourselves! Gentlemen, without going into—vote by Ballot (cheers) and quarterly Parliaments, (loud cheering,) three polar stars of my public conduct—(here the great central banner was waved to and fro, amid enthusiastic cheering)—and reducing the over-grown Church Establishment to a—difference between me and my honorable opponent, (loud cheers and groans,) I live among you, (cheers)—spend my money in the borough, (cheers)—no business to come here, ('No, no!')—right about, close borough, (hisses!)—patient attention, which I will not further trespass upon, ('hear! hear!' and loud cheering,)—full explanation—rush early to the—base, bloody, and brutal (cheers)—poll triumphant—extinguish forever, (cheers.)—Gentlemen, these are my sentiments—wish, you many happy—re—hem! a-hem—and by early displaying a determination to—(cries of 'we will! we will!')—eyes of the whole country upon you—crisis of our national representation—patient attention—latest day of my life.—Gentlemen, yours truly." "Silence having been restored, Mr. Titmouse said, that he feared it was but too evident that he was unaccustomed to scenes so exciting as the present one—that was one source of his embarrassment; but the greatest was, the enthusiastic reception with which he had been honored, and of which he owned himself quite unworthy, (cheers.) He agreed with the gentleman who had proposed him in so very able and powerful a speech, (cheers,) that we had arrived at a crisis in our national history, (cheering)—a point at which it would be ruin to go back, while to stand still was impossible, (cheers;) and, therefore, there was nothing for it but to go forward, (great cheering). He looked upon the passing of the Bill for giving Everybody Everything, as establishing an entirely new order of things, (cheers.) in which the people had been roused to a sense of their being the only legitimate source of power, (cheering.) They had, like Samson, though weakened by the cruelty and torture of his tyrants, bowed down and broken into pieces the gloomy fabric of aristocracy. The words 'Civil and Religious Liberty' were now no longer a by-word and a reproach, (cheers;) but, as had been finely observed by the gentleman who had so eloquently proposed him to their notice, the glorious truth had gone forth to the ends of the earth, that no man was under any responsibility for his opinions or his belief, any more than for the shape of his nose, (universal cheering.) A spirit of tolerance, amelioration, and renovation, was now abroad, actively engaged in repairing our defective and dilapidated constitution, the relic of a barbarous age—with some traces of modern duty, but more of ancient ignorance and unsightliness, (cheers.) The great Bill he alluded to, had roused the masses into political being, (immense cheering,) and made them sensible of the necessity of keeping down a rapacious and domineering oligarchy, (groans.) Was not the liberty of the press placed now upon an intelligible and imperishable basis?—Already were its purifying and invigorating influences perceptible, (cheering)—and he trusted that it would never cease to direct its powerful energies to the demolition of the many remaining barriers to the improvement of mankind, (cheers.) The corn-laws must be repealed, the taxes must be lowered, the army and navy reduced; vote by ballot and universal suffrage conceded, the quarterly meeting of Parliament secured, and the revenues of the church be made applicable to civil purposes. Marriage must be no longer fenced about by religious ceremonials, (cheers.) He found that there were three words on his banner, which were worth a thousand speeches—Peace, Retrenchment, Reform.—which, as had been happily observed by the gentleman who had so ably proposed him"——

[And so on for a column more; in the course of which there were really so many flattering allusions to the opening speech of the proposer of Titmouse, that it has often occurred to me as probable, that the "Reverend" Mr. Mudflint had supplied the above report of Mr. Titmouse's speech.]

[CHAPTER II.]

Mr. Titmouse, on concluding, made a great number of very profound bows, and replaced his hat upon his head, amid prolonged and enthusiastic cheering, which, on Mr. Delamere's essaying to address the crowd, was suddenly converted into a perfect hurricane of hissing; like as we now and then find a shower of rain suddenly change into hail. Mr. Delamere stood the pitiless pelting of the storm with calmness, resolution, and good-humor. Ten minutes had elapsed, and he had not been allowed to utter one syllable audible to any one beyond four or five feet from him. Every fresh effort he made to speak caused a renewal of the uproar, and many very offensive and opprobrious epithets were applied to him. Surely this was disgraceful, disgusting! What had he done to deserve such treatment? Had he been guilty of offering some gross indignity and outrage to every person present, individually, could he have fared worse than he did? He had conducted his canvass with scrupulous and exemplary honor and integrity—with the utmost courtesy to all parties, whether adverse or favorable. He was surely not deficient in those qualities of head and of heart—of personal appearance, even, which usually secure man favor with his fellows. Who could lay anything to his charge—except that he had ventured to solicit the suffrages of the electors of Yatton, in competition with Mr. Titmouse? If men of a determined character and of princely means have to calculate upon such brutal usage as this, can those who sanction or perpetrate it wonder at bribery and other undue means being resorted to, in absolute self-defence? Is it meant to deter any one from coming forward that has not a forehead of brass, leathern lungs, and heart of marble? After upwards of a quarter of an hour had been thus consumed, without Mr. Delamere's having been permitted to utter two consecutive sentences, though he stood up against it patiently and gallantly, the returning officer, who had often appealed to them in vain, earnestly besought Mr. Titmouse to use his influence with the crowd, in order to secure Mr. Delamere a moment's hearing.

"'Pon my life—I—eh?" quoth Titmouse. "A likely thing! He'd do it for me, wouldn't he? Every man for himself—all fair at an election, eh, Gammon?"

"Do it, sir!" whispered Gammon, indignantly—"do it, and instantly—or you deserve to be kicked off the hustings!" Titmouse, on this, took off his hat with a very bad grace, and addressing the crowd, said—"I—I—suppose you'll hear what he's got to say for himself, gents"——But all was in vain; "Off! off! No!—Go home!—ah!—ah!—a—a—a—h!——St!—St!—Get away home with you, you young boroughmonger!—a—a—h!" came in louder and fiercer tones from the mob. Yet Mr. Delamere did not like to give up without another and a desperate effort to catch the ear of the mob; but while he was in the act of raising his right hand, and exclaiming—"Gentlemen, only a word or two—I pledge my honor that I will not keep you three minutes"—some miscreant from the body of the crowd aimed at him a stone, not a very large one to be sure, yet flung with very considerable force, and hitting him just about the centre of the upper lip, which it cut open. He instantly turned pale, and applied to the wound his white pocket-handkerchief, which was speedily saturated with blood. Still the gallant young fellow stood his ground with firmness, and the smile which he endeavored to assume, it was enough to have brought tears into one's eyes to witness. The instant that Gammon had seen the stone take effect, he rushed over towards where Mr. Delamere stood amid his agitated friends, who were dissuading him from persevering in his attempt to address the crowd?—