Show FTER DINNER ORATORS = I Most Englishmen Arc Failures as Such but Coleridge Was n Shining Exception r Lord Coleridge had a record as ther best English after dinner speaker whoever who-ever came to America As a rule the Englishman does not shine postpran dially in comparison with the average American of the same grade in law politics literature the drama or journalism jour-nalism Most of them in f ljct are dire failures Coleridge and Iifing are the shining exceptions Sergeant Ballan tyne who came with a great flourish of trumpets and was received with much cordiality by his professional brethren was tIm worst that we ever had to endure en-dure Maitin Farquhar Tnpper was insufferably in-sufferably dull Toole the comedian who was considered funny on the other side was lugubrious here It took several sev-eral seasons to break in Wilson Barrett Lord Aberdeen is genial but prosy j Dickens was the best man who preceded pre-ceded Coleridge but to the present generation gen-eration of diners he is only a tradition nO TTT and does not count Sir Richard Webster Web-ster I fancy would have shown himself him-self a good second to Lord Coleridge but his visit here was short and very few had the pleasure of hearing him 1 had that pleasure here as well as in England and he certainly has a remarkable remark-able facility of expression combined with a fine vocabulary a keen sense of humor and a thorough knowledge of human nature Coleridge however I repeat took the palm and has worn it in the memory of friends whom he met here to this day Chicago Inter Ocean I |