WHEN the House is and the members of the Ministry are more or less it might be expected that oratory would take (to use the slang of the day) But this is far from the case. Of late years the representatives of the people have used the recess for airing their eloquence in the presence of their constituents. The practice has found favour in the eyes of the conductors of the press, for almost anything is in the silly season. So have become quite welcome in October, and are sure of a hearty greeting at the hands, or rather the pens, of editors of all shades of political opinion. Under these circumstances it may not be entirely out of place to devote a chapter to the consideration of speech-making, the more especially as no Englishman, while residing in his native country, is safe from receiving an invitation at any time and almost on every occasion to those assembled before him. Speech-making is as popular at the end of the century.