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ART. IV.-Random Recollections of the House of Commons. By One of No Party. Smith, Elder, and Co. 1835. WHOEVER has not been in the House of Commons, and who has never had the pleasure or the pain of judging for himself of the "first assembly of gentlemen in the world," can have formed nothing like an accurate idea of the tout ensemble which that house and legislative assembly presents. The composure of stoics, the dignity of Romans, the flow, fire, and majesty of orators, are attributes which one naturally attaches to the character of a legislator who has a voice in that assembly, which goes far to sway the destinies of all the nations on the face of the earth; and nothing contributes more to produce this presumption, than the newspapers, which by their reports of the parliamentary debates, give us such happy specimens of what the members have, or should have said, that the reader fancies all flowed from the speaker with the readiness, terseness, and power, with which he himself can now give it forth, from the well printed columns of the journal he patronizes. But the case is very different, and, in our judgment, more interesting. The House of Commons, talking generally, is an assembly of gentlemen of business, and more than average talent; but these being weak, faulty, and passionate as other men, it furnishes us also with an excellent and most natural representation of our race, when clothed with independence, and unlimited privileges, and when all feel themselves on an equal footing with one another, and looked to by the eyes of the country and the world. Men put into these circumstances, if they did not the most foolish as well as the most splendid things that were ever heard of, would be other and less than men. But the work before us, it may be said, presents a picture more unfavourable than could be taken of any equal number of well-educated persons, that we could suppose to meet for deliberation on grave questions. Supposing the statement to be true, we are to remember that many of the strange scenes that take place in the House of Commons, are like hereditary manners, which the usages and freaks of predecessors have bequeathed to a body, pertinaciously observant and imitative of what is old or established, especially if sanctioned by illustrious examples, and at memorable epochs. In short, considering the given circumstances, and the men, nothing could be better or more natural, than what this assembly is; nor need we go farther for a proof of its superiority, than to note the influenee it possessesthe obedience which it commands.

Every person we have ever heard describe his feelings on first visiting the House of Commons during parliament, has expressed great disappointment, and found it totally different from what he anticipated, however often he may have been warned that such should be the case, and however careful the attempt may have been to set his anticipations right. But we are sure that hereafter, the

misapprehension will not be so great, for we have in these "Random Recollections," one of the most faithful and lively representations of the scenes referred to, that has ever been given of a complicated, extended, and variable subject. We, who can speak from personal observation and feelings, assure strangers and country readers, that nothing could be put into the shape of written description, more satisfactory than what is here told. The author, who must himself be an M. P. or a reporter of considerable standing, is perfectly master of his subject in all its details, down to the form of the house, its lobbies, conveniences, and servants-the formalities of the members, and the minut est features, as well as the description of the whole panorama of a full, a boisterous, or an enchained assembly. We are greatly in error, indeed, if this work prove not the most entertaining of any that has been or will be published for six months. We have laughed a score of times, till our eyes were blinded, as we turned over its well written pages; for, with all his fidelity and partiality, the author is a bit of a wag. His style is remarkably plain and correct, and therefore what he wishes to convey is most happily communicated, because he has clear conceptions as well as a shrewd eye for observation. He never fails in completing a picture; which must not only have stood fairly and fully out to his own apprehension, but which is perfectly apparent and individual to the reader. In a few days or weeks, the "Random Recollections" will be in every legislator's hand, and on every drawing-room table in the kingdom. No Novel, no Annual, no Sketch-book of the year, is likely to contain so many striking papers or pictures; and, for all that we now have said, we are confident the passages about to be cited will be ample evidence.

The first four chapters treat of "The House," the "Forms, Rules, Regulations, &c. of the House," "Miscellaneous Observations," and "Scenes in the House.' There are many capital bits in the same chapters. After a description of the Old House of Commons, which, when there was a full attendance, suggested the idea of the Black Hole of Calcutta, we have an account of the order or rather disorder, which the members observe in relation to their seats.

"I have already mentioned, that the members of government, and their leading friends, occupy the first row of benches on the right hand side of the Speaker's chair, and that the most influential of the opposition occupy the first row on the left; the other supporters of each party range themselves on the benches behind their respective leaders; consequently when there is a change of government, the quondam ministry and their supporters move over in a body from the right to the left side of the house, to make way for the new administration and their friends. There are, however, a few members belonging to the extreme radical party who never change their seats, whatever ministry may be in power, because no men sufficiently liberal for them have ever yet been in office. Among these are Hume, Cobbett, Roebuck, and several others. Their seats are therefore always on the opposition benches, and when the whigs have

been in power, the circumstance has often led to strange associations. When Sir Charles Wetherell and the late Henry Hunt, men whose politics were wide as the poles asunder, were both in parliament, it was no uncommon thing to see them sitting in close juxtaposition with each other, often, too, engaged in most earnest conversation together, as if the utmost cordiality and the most perfect unanimity of political feeling existed between them. In the Reformed Parliament might be seen Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Cobbett sitting cheek-by-jowl, while close by them. were to be found Sir Robert Inglis, the great advocate of the Church of England and ecclesiastical establishments in general, and Mr..Gillon, the sworn foe of both, apparently as friendly together as if of one heart and one soul in such matters.

"There are some members who not only never change from one side of the house to the other, whatever alteration may take place in the ministry, but who never change their identical seats; they invariably occupy the same twelve or fourteen inches of space. Mr. Hume is one of the most noted members in this respect; his seat in the old house was close to one of the posts which supported the side gallery on the left of the Speaker's chair; there he was constantly to be found. There is not nor has there been since he was first returned to parliament, a single member whose attendance on his legislative duties has been so regular and close as that of Mr. Hume; the moment the doors were opened there was he, and never until the adjournment was his seat to be seen vacant. There were many other members who made a point of looking in to see what's doing,' almost every evening; but they soon left the house again. Not so Mr. Hume. He was there at all times and during every debate, however dry and uninteresting. He was looked on by honourable gentlemen' as a sort of animated fixture. His contiguity to the post and the regularity of his attendance made a tory baronet, who was in the house during the close borough régime, waggishly remark, There is Joseph always at his post.' Whether Sir Charles Wetherell, or Sir William Cumming, a Scotch baronet, is entitled to the credit of the witty observation, I have not been able to ascertain, as both graced the last unreformed parliament by their presence, and both were equally lavish of their waggeries. It has often been a matter of surprise how Mr. Hume's constitution could stand such close attendance in the house, especially when the unhealthy atmosphere he had to breathe, and the quantity of speaking he went through were taken into account: and yet, excepting on one or two occasions, he was never heard to complain of illness. Can it be that there are any peculiarly salubrious qualities in pears? for, by his own admission, he always filled his pockets with this species of fruit when it was to be had, and ate the pears in the house, making them answer as a substitute for dinner."-pp. 4-7.

Of the Strangers' Gallery a good deal is here told, especially of the one in the old house. It could comfortably accommodate a hundred and twenty persons, but sometimes thirty more would be wedged in it, among whom not unfrequently peers might be seen, jammed like other men, and treated with as little ceremony. At such times, although these might have obtained seats elsewhere, they wished of course to witness the proceedings incognito. No ladies are ever admitted. The only possible way by which the fair VOL. III. 1835.) No. IV.

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could in the old house either see or hear what was going on, was by mounting above the ceiling of the house, and looking down through a large hole which was made immediately above the principal chandelier, for the purpose of ventilation, where fourteen only could at once have a peep, at the expense of inhaling the smoke of candles, and an atmosphere otherwise very foul. They had also to assume a very awkward position; however, sisters, daughters, wives and sweethearts of the orators sometimes submitted to all these inconveniences.

Attached to the house, there were and are various apartments for the accommodation of members, such as a library, refreshment and smoking rooms, &c.; the former frequented chiefly by those who are in the habit of speaking, the latter by those who seldom enlighten parliament or the country by their eloquence. There were so many passages and rooms in the old house, that strangers sometimes made very awkward mistakes to gain the gallery.

"It was no uncommon thing for them to go in through the lobby and advance to the door by which the members entered, with the most perfect nonchalance; not taking the trouble to inquire whether they were right, because it never for a moment occurred to them that they were wrong. Judge of a stranger's surprise, when the first intimation made to him that he was treading on forbidden ground, was the being seized by the neck by one of the officers of the house, who on such occasions are as unceremonious, both in their words and actions, as if they were so many Great Moguls, and the hapless stranger the most degraded of slaves. It was a wonder if the confusion consequent on the first blunder was not the parent of a second; and if, when told that the gallery was up stairs, he did not, on the principle, in such a case, of taking the first open door, drop in' among the M.P.'s in the smoking-room. Recollecting the treatment he had received from the officers in the lobby, he would, on discovering his mistake, resign himself to the expected calamity of being bundled down stairs, head or heels foremost, as the case might be -running the imminent risk, of course, of having his neck broken in the descent. He would, however, soon find his fears happily dispelled, by being told, in the most civil and good-natured manner possible, by one of the officers-for those in that department were remarkable for their urbanity to strangers-that he had gone to the wrong place, and by being directed up seven or eight stairs to the passage leading to the gallery. If he was surprised at the roughness of his treatment in the lobby, he is now no less so at the attention shown him, and the readiness with which a merciful consideration is, in his case, extended to the very heinous sin of ignorance of the gallery's locale.

"Some amusing mistakes from ignorance of the rules of the House occasionally occur. In the session of 1833, a Scotch Highlander, newly arrived from his native hills got, by some strange oversight of the officers, into the side gallery appropriated for members, on the right of the Speaker's chair. He knew no more of the rules or localities of the house than he did of the politics of Timbuctoo. Never suspecting that he was transgressing any law, human or divine, in entering the side gallery, or when there, taking the best place he could find, he at once advanced to one of the front benches, and there seated himself with the utmost imagi

nable coolness-just as if about to rest himself' on the brow of some of the heath-clad mountains of Caledonia. There were a few straggling members in the side gallery at the time, and perceiving at once from his Highland costume-he was dressed in tartan-that he did not belong to the fraternity of St. Stephen's legislators, they richly enjoyed the amusing blunder which Donald had committed. He, meanwhile, after gazing with boundless astonishment on the huge proportions of the Speaker's wig, and witnessing the bustle that was going on on the floor of the house, turned his eyes towards the strangers' gallery, and seemed quite amazed that so many persons should quietly submit to be so closely squeezed together-to the imminent hazard of their ribs-that they looked one solid mountain of mortality, while there were so many cushioned and comfortable unoccupied seats in the place where he had located himself. At this moment one of the members on an adjoining seat, seeing poor Donald had transgressed from ignorance, whispered to him to make himself scarce in a moment, or that otherwise he would be taken into custody. A word to the wise is enough: the mountaineer took the hint of the friendly M.P., and darted out of the house as well as the gallery in a twinkling. I am credibly assured that he ran at his full speed, not casting one longing lingering look behind,' till he reached Somerset House in the Strand, a distance of full one mile and a half.”—pp. 14—17.

On one occasion, as the author describes it, a Highlander, who had been taken into the house by a member, and placed in a particular situation under the gallery appointed for persons so introduced, found that some of the orators were totally inaudible where he sat, and seeing room amongst the members, actually went thither, where he sat for more than two hours, and till the House adjourned, without being detected, excepting by Mr. Hume, who was only two yards distant, and who cast sundry suspicious looks towards the Celt, supposing him, no doubt, a spy from the tory camp.

As regards the forms and regulations of the House,nothing is detailed in this volume more interesting and curious according to our ideas of the present day, than what occurs on the choice of a Speaker. The ceremonies observed on this occasion, and when the election is approved of by the king, were first used in the time of Charles the Second, and have ever since continued to be adopted. The Speaker's situation was so lately the subject of unusual anxiety, that we must cite some particulars of the ceremonies in question. After he has been elected, and other observances gone through, a day is appointed for his appearance before the king inthe House of Peers. He is summoned by the Usher of the Black Rod, who as he advances to the bar of the Commons, makes three low bows, doing the same as he retires when he walks backwards. On proceeding to the Upper House, the Speaker utters the following humble and self-denying speech.

"The knights, citizens, and burgesses of your House of Commons, in obedience to your royal command, have proceeded to the choice of a Speaker. They have among them many worthy persons, eminently qualified for so great a trust; yet, with too favourable an eye, have cast it