Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1883 — A Blunderer’s Wit. [ARTICLE]

A Blunderer’s Wit.

A man can’t be all the time. Homer must nod now and then. Neither is it permitted for a fool to be always foolish. Sir Boyle Roche was the blunderer of the Irish Parliament, in the days when some Irishman thanked God they had a country to sell and—sold it. He has fathered many a “bull” and mothered a score of mixed meta* phors. Early in his career he was made famous by the remark that he could not be, “like a bird, in two places at once.’’ He added -to his reputation by saying, “I would gladly, Mr. Speaker, sacrifice not only a part of the constitution, but the whole of it, to preserve the remainder. ” Once, to express his horror at what might happen if the leaders of the Irish rebellion should succeed, he exclaimed, “Our heads will be thrown, Mr. Speaker, upon that table to stane us in the face!” “I smell a rat, Mr. Speaker, ” said he one day, trying his hand at a metaphor; “I see him in the air; but I will yet nip him in the bud.” Yet this blunderer, whose "bulls” and metaphors made him the laughingstock of an Irish Parliament, oftce gained a victory over Curran, the prince of wits and orators. “Do not speak of my honor,” said Curran to Sir Boyle once, in the Irish House. “I am the guardian of mine own honor.” “Faith,” replied Boohe, “I knew that at some time or other vou would accept a sinecure. ” Youth’s Companion.