speaking and method of work at this time.^2 Baron de Loève-Veimars
(1801–54) gives a lively picture of the parliamentarian in action:
One saw him arrive at the Chamber always a few minutes before
the sitting, dressed in his gold-embroidered deputy’s uniform so as
to be ready to address the House from the tribune where it was
obligatory to wear this formal dress. His hair was blond and turning
white, and on his head he wore an old round hat. He carried under
his arm a coat, books, manuscripts, printer’s proofs, a copy of the
budget and his crutch. Once he had got rid of all these impedimenta
and was seated on his bench, on the far left, he began to write and
to send off an unbelievable quantity of letters and notes to people,
to the great annoyance of the gentlemen ushers of the Chamber.
Then—or rather at the same time—he corrected the proofs of his
latest book, took notes to enable him to reply to the person
speaking from the tribune, answered the questions of all those
crowding around him to ask for information on different subjects,
and tried to attract attention so as to be allowed to speak himself.
And when it was his turn to address the Chamber, he picked up
seemingly at random a few scraps of paper from the mass of
documents around him and he made his way slowly up to the
tribune.... His pale forehead and long face, so like that of a Puritan,
were not well suited to expressing emotion, and his slow and
monotonous delivery at first surprised those whom his reputation
for eloquence had drawn to the Chamber. But gradually his voice
grew louder, became impassioned and filled the room. His great
blue eyes flashed with sudden brilliance, and the most lucid
reasoning, irony, wit and well-chosen quotations all poured forth in
abundance in his improvised speeches. One could listen to him for
hours without tiring of hearing him speak. It was a delight to see
him calmly drive his opponents into a fury and then, as if it were
merely an amusement for him, meet the paroxysms of rage on the
right-wing benches with cold and cutting politeness—which only
exasperated his adversaries all the more. He was quite untroubled
by other deputies insolently calling him a blackguard, a fomenter of
sedition, a revolutionary, or by the loud shouts of many of them
claiming that he was out of order. He carried on speaking as if he
were in a quiet drawing room, and more than once he disconcerted
his enemies by a witticism so apt that it completely disarmed them
by provoking their laughter.^3Benjamin constant 242