London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
THE PARLIAMENTARY MANNER.
I have been told, for I cannot speak from experience as I have never had the honour of sitting in the House myself, that | |
236 | is everything. Young fellows who have come fresh from the of Oxford and Cambridge, unless they can catch the mode are nowhere. Many a man who has made a reputation even in oratory outside the House has lost it the moment he has passed the portals guarded by the Serjeant-at-Arms. And a first impression is very important. A man very frequently does more in his initial couple of sessions than in his whole parliamentary career. If he fails he falls like Lucifer never to rise again. An once told me that a first oration should be short and good, so that the rest of the House might ask for more. The should know his subject well and have something to say worthy of attention. If possible, it should be new and certainly true. The day may come when the good young man may enhance his reputation by laying himself open to correction, and then pave the way to that most popular of performances, And at first he should be as reliable as ( person the periodical) themselves-he cannot indulge in imagination until he is at least five sessions old. |
