Newspaper reporting in olden time and to-day / by John Pendleton.

  • Pendleton, John.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Newspaper reporting in olden time and to-day / by John Pendleton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    53/264 (page 39)
    exclaimed, “The eloquence of Greece and Rome is revived in the British Senate.” One of the most notable speeches credited to the elder Pitt was written by Dr. Johnson in a garret in Exeter Street; and, when asked, at a dinner given by Foote, how it was possible for him to write the speech, he retorted, “Sir, I wrote it in Exeter Street. I never was in the gallery of the House of Commons but once in my life. Cave had interest with the doorkeepers; he and the persons employed under him got admittance, they brought away the subjects of discussion, the names of the speakers, the side they took, and the order in which they rose, together with notes of various arguments adduced in the course of the debate. The whole was afterwards communicated to me, and I composed the speeches in the form they now have in the parliamentary debates.” It was a strange expedient, and would not be tolerated now, especially if the modern