58 RANDOM RECOtLECTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 



the Speaker," then Sir Charles Manners Sutton, whose visual organs 

 were always allowed to be as acute in this respect as they were said by 

 the Liberals to be in first recognizing a talented Tory, when a Tory and 

 Reformer rose at the same time to address the house. The Speaker 

 seemed quite delighted with the novelty of a politician in petticoats ; he 

 never withdrew his eye from the fair intruder an instant during the short 

 time she remained in the house. She was infinitely more attractive 

 than the eloquence of the orator who, for the time being, chanced to be 

 addressing " the house." Until the lady vanished, Mr. Speaker was as 

 inattentive to the arguments of the honourable member " on his legs," 

 as was the wig on his head or the chair on which he sat. Had the in- 

 truder been of the masculine gender, he would, if observed, have been 

 pounced on by the officer in a moment, but gallantry forbade taking a 

 lady into custody ; and therefore, as in the event of its being known 

 that he had seen the transgressor in petticoats, and had failed to do his 

 duty, he would have subjected himself to something more than reproof, 

 he, unlike the Speaker, contrived to appear as if the lady had not caught 

 his eye. After she had been in the prohibited place for nearly a minute, 

 it occurred to her that she was in the wrong locality, and accordingly 

 she made her exit forthwith. 



But the most amusing mistake of this nature which occurred in my 

 time, was in the case of a young gentleman from the north of Scotland. 

 It happened in April, 1833. A member having taken him into the 

 house, pointed him to a seat under the gallery, of which he immediately 

 took possession ; but he had not been above half an hour in it M'hen he 

 began to feel the inconvenience of which the reporters so often com- 

 plain, namely, that of certain members being " totally inaudible," and 

 as the orator who then addressed the house happened to speak from the 

 third bench on the left of the Speaker's chair, the young Scotsman 

 very naturally concluded that the best way to remedy the evil of not 

 hearing at all, or hearing but very imperfectly, would be to place him- 

 self as nearly as possible in the vicinity of the orator ; and as he had 

 always taken it for granted that if introduced into the house by a mem- 

 ber, he might take any of the back seats, if not occupied by the legisla- 

 tors themselves, he very deliberately walked himself to the bench imme- 

 diately behind that whence the honourable member poured forth his elo- 

 quence. The house chanced to be pretty full at the time, and there he 

 remained undiscovered upwards of two hours, when it adjourned, and 

 he went out amidst the crowd of honourable and right honourable gen- 

 tlemen. Mr. Hume, who sat only about two yards distant, cast sundry 

 very suspicious looks trwards him, as if apprehending that he was some 

 spy from the Tory camp on the opposite side. Had the house come to 

 a division on the debate during part of which the young Scotchman was 

 present, he would have made the discovery, to his cost, that there is all 

 the difference in the world in the house itself, whatever there may be 

 elsewhere, between a private individual and he whose name is graced by 

 the appendage of an M. P." 



Again, at page 64, we have a very amusing relation of a " parliamen- 

 tary " mistake, which is not only strictly characteristic, but true to the 

 letter C :— 



" There are several naval members in the house, who, though they have 



