142 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
vinced, though he did not know enough about the Bible to hold his ground.^^ Oh, to have been present at that dinner I What conversation — and what wine and cigars !
As this discussion may imply, and as abundant evi- dence proves, Benjamin, for all his smiles and all his optimism, was neither cold nor always perfect in com- mand of his temper. " He was like fire and tow," says Mrs. Davis, perhaps exaggerating in view of an incident to be shortly mentioned, " and sensitive about his dig- nity." ^^ I do not imagine this went very deep, but at any rate the Southern sun had touched the surface with a singular vivacity and petulance. Even in age and in Lon- don fogs the temper would fly out. As when, before the solemn dignity of the House of Lords, Benjamin was arguing a case and heard the Lord Chancellor mutter
- ' Nonsense"; the barrister stopped, gathered up his pa-
pers, and abruptly departed. So high was his standing at that time that the Chancellor felt obliged to make things right by an apology.
Even more entertaining is the earlier spat between Benjamin and Davis. Senatorial tempers were high- strained in Washington in the fifties and men sometimes fell foul of friends as well as foes. The slap-dash, boyish interchange of curt phrases, even as staled in the cold storage of the ** Congressional Globe," must have re- joiced Seward and Sumner. Its straight-from-the-shoul- der quality, coming from such reverend sages, recalls the immortal dialogue which Dr. Johnson reports as occur-
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