NOTES OF THE MONTH. 329 



accident. This accomplishment is not confined exclusively to the 

 kings of Portugal. The late sovereign of Naples, Ferdinand, used 

 to practice upon his gamekeepers, and sometimes with splendid suc- 

 cess. The court used to be much diverted with the royal pastime. 

 With respect to the rumour of his majesty's equestrian talents, we 

 sincerely hope, for the sake of the people he is called upon to govern, 

 that the report may turn out to be well founded. 



OTIUM CUM DIGNITATE. The strange notions that some people 

 entertain of their own dignity, and of the dignified offices they may 

 at one period have held, are not a little perplexing to plain straight- 

 forward looking people. Here is a specimen, which we extract from 

 a newspaper : 



" Sir C. M. Sutton will, it is stated, retire from the Commons immedi- 

 ately, in consequence of the vote against him, and in compliance with his 

 own opinion, that to descend from the chair to the floor of the house, and 

 to mingle in its debates, would be to lower the dignity and character of 

 the chair." 



By what possible process of reasoning, Sir Charles Sutton could 

 have arrived at this opinion, we are utterly at a loss to discover. 

 Cincinnatus could return to his plough when he was no longer in 

 requisition ; and Sancho Panza, resigning the government of Bazu- 

 taria, condescended to withdraw himself from public employments 

 into a more humble sphere. But Sir Charles Sutton, it seems, has 

 invested the chair of the House of Commons with some mysterious 

 claims to respect ; or, rather, he respects himself, being once a portion 

 of the chair. He is no longer of the chair ; but the virtues of the 

 chair have been infused into him. That he should remain in a house, 

 of which he was once the servant, is, to him, strange and unaccount- 

 able. The wood of the chair has entered into his soul, and, therefore, 

 he has taken it into his head. We shall not be surprised if Lord 

 Winchester, upon the same principle, and in imitation of so great an 

 authority, should, when his mayoralty is expired, conceive it to be 

 beneath his dignity to descend to the floor of the court of aldermen. 

 We shall see him snugly seated in some mayor's nest of his own, sit- 

 ting upon the eggs of his own dignity, and hatching claims to a 

 peerage. We have often heard children wonder where the old moons 

 betake themselves, and have never been able to satisfy their curiosity. 

 We now, however, think it highly probable, that they feel certain 

 qualms of. dignity, and that, refusing any longer to dispense their 

 borrowed splendour, they are sent to some lunatic asylum, where 

 their comparative dimness will pass muster for very tolerable moon- 

 shine. Let Sir Charles Manners Sutton go to the House of Lords, 

 by all means. 



LIABILITIES OF "THE LORDS." This month has been unfortu- 

 nate to our aristocracy. The melancholy death of the Earl of Darnley 

 is fresh upon the recollection of our readers. The patriotic Earl 

 Fitzwilliam is likewise suffering from a similar accident, which caused 

 the death of the former nobleman. Lord Milton has been thrown 

 from his horse in a fox chase, and seriously hurt ; and an accident 



M.M. No. 3. 2 U 



