To detach its attention from questions of table.
Their tongues and their brains all the Members exhaust in
Discussing the rights of O'Brien and Austen.
They debate in an access of anger and gloom
As to who took from which what was kept, and for whom.
The letters they wrote, the retorts they made tartly
Are detailed—gracious Powers preserve us—by Bartley,
Who can bend—only statesmen are formed for such feats—
His mind, which is massive, to questions of seats,
And discuss with a zest which is equal to Tanner's,