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    and reverberating with such passionate sublimity , that one actually , for a moment , felt a dread that the roof and walls would split under that mighty burst of voices ; while hats and arms shook and shivered like the crossed and splintering billows of the sea in a black night , when

    opposite and furiously sharp blasts are battling o ' er its surface . And , look there—I am supposing the reader has eyes—imagination would scarcely have helped me to the conception of such a scene and effect , if I had not witnessed them de facto . There were many dashings , rushings of those who were outside the building " , in bodies of some hundreds at once ,

    attempting to force themselves into that solid mass ; they seemed to drive into the compact body a huge inky billow—it swept on as if an ocean from without had made a tremendous send of its waters into the land-locked haven , which it caused to heave , and sway , and swell as though it would burst every barrier , and overwhelm all in its course . Another send—and another—and then I had the similitude of a dark

    pine forest , swinging its clinging and intertwisted branches , at one instant with one motion , as the rattling tempest rolled over them , unfeared and unscathing . I have seen many strange and stirring things in my time , but that is , perhaps , one of the most extraordinary . There was one thing which absolutely appalled for a moment , till repetition in some degree accustomed me to it . I have frequently

    heard ' groans / as they are called , from offended popular assembliesbut the ' hooting , ' as it is termed , ( though there is no t in the sound , ) on this day , is altogether different—it is a fierce howling wind . Perhaps the immense number of throats , belonging all to one mind—and the sounds being confined within walls—contribute ^ nruc ^ h to its peculiar and truly formidable character . Of all the sounds I ever heard , except the sighing in chorus of a swarm of alligators , at midnight , in a vast swamp , ( which I once had the felicity to hear , quite innocent of all

    suspicion that such charming neighbours were within a few yards of me , ) this hooing is the most strange and thrilling . My remembering ears are familiar with the hissing of the oriental Typhon , and the dense growl , flattening into a piercing scream , of the West India hurricane : this hooing , from ten or twelve thousand mouths at once , combines the fearful quality of either—it is as indescribably strange , as it is indescribably effective—it splits into millions of minute vibrations . My hat , as I held it in mv hand , had a tremulous motion from the

    concussive sweep , and the fur shivered like breeze-blown grass in a meadow . Let not the reader conclude that there was any bad feeling , any spite or malevolence in all this . I know the enemies of popular rights will gladly , if they can , 'by all that twisting , imputation , and gullery is able to eflect , fix a stain on the character of that assemblage , and quote its conduct as an argument to prove the mischief of extending elective privilege to the mass : but I take the liberty of hinting , that had the same strength been in their hands , it would not have been used with such

    noble—ay—such dignified moderation : broken heads and fractured limbs , by the hundred ; riot , destruction , and drunkenness , from one end of Birmingham to the other , would have signalized their triumph . In this instance the utmost fierceness T * as the mirth of strength ( not its insolence ) enjoying the defeat of arrogant weakness . And it was amusing enough to read the palpable affectation of indifference—and of deafness to all these assailing sounds—the glaring pretence—the trying

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    Notes on the Newspapers . 137

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1835, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2642/page/57/