Changing Times?

Last night, without even knowing I had been looking for it, my other half spotted the following quotation in chapter 13 of Compton Mackenzie's The Monarch Of The Glen (1941) - I'd convinced myself it was in a John Buchan novel which explains why I couldn't find it again. Anyway, here goes ...

"He had a forefinger which when pointed at his audience had the admonitory force of a loaded pistol. He was as warm and fluent as the hot water tap of a hotel bath, as self-confident as an Orangeman contesting a seat in County Down, and as full of catchpenny emotion as an illustrated daily."