632 The Baron Court of Little Brought-in. 



sturdy maintenance of virtue, and really the great joy upon earth, 

 and in the Baron Court among other places, seems to be that there 

 are some sinners who will not repent, and that thus, however bad a 

 member of the court may be, he has always the consolation of being 

 able to refer to some other one, who, in public opinion at least, may 

 be considered still worse. 



It is proper to mention farther, that the proceedings usually admit 

 of divisions into "the orders of the day," and "the disorders of the 

 night." The first are in general made short work of, as they form 

 the business part, or the only useful part ; while the second are chiefly 

 devoted to personal displays and party squabbles. But, even on the 

 former, a member will take occasion to give himself a hitch in the 

 way of popularity. For instance, 



An honourable member, MR. DUNDER-HEAD DEEDSMAN, had got- 

 ten rather into bad odour, not only with all parties in the court, but 

 with nearly every body out of it ; and so he cast about to find some 

 grand project for saving his bacon in the case of an election. He 

 was making his escape one day through one of the wickets that led 

 from court to court of a house of notoriously bad fame, called " the 

 temple," where he had been prowling about in order to find grounds 

 for laying an information, out of spite, as some say, that the old land- 

 ladies would not allow him to have access at unseasonable hours. 

 Be that as it may, in peeping about, as he was slipping out of the 

 wicket he hit the iron bar which parts it in the middle a terrible 

 bang with his sconce, till both rang again. But brass against iron 

 for ever for musical purposes; and the head proved by far the most 

 sonorous of the two. 



The instant that he struck his head against the iron bar, an idea 

 struck him. He knew that it was an idea, from the very unusual 

 sensation attending it ; and so he chuckled as much as some vain men 

 do when they find a title, and resolved to leave the old ladies this 

 time, and work upon the idea. So he posted off to the court, and, 

 catching " the eye," rose to give notice of a motion the object of 

 which, as he said, was to effect " A FAMOUS IMPROVEMENT OF THE 

 HUMAN RACE." (Hear, hear.) Finding that they would hear him, 

 he would just make one or two observations. It was well known 

 that his whole life had been devoted to the charitable labour of 

 clothing the naked and feeding the hungry (hear, hear). He had 

 done so, he could assure the house, morning and evening, ever 

 since he could recollect, and he would tell the house that it was the 

 first duty of every man, more especially of every member of that 

 honourable house, to do so (loud cheers). He would not detain the 

 house ; he would not boast of the success which had attended his 

 self-devotion (ironical cheers from the Porks, answered by loud 

 cheers from the cross benches). He did not care for that cheer, for 

 he would maintain that it is the duty of every man to make sure of 

 his own cheer, and that it should be good cheer (cheers and laughter). 

 He would not now occupy the time of the court ; but in order that 

 honourable members might not be wholly unprepared, he would 

 mention that it was as notorious as the moon at midnight (the full 

 moon said some one across the table). The honourable^gentleman 



