364 RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 



caused by the lighted candles, had a fine effect. Probably this was the first 

 occasion on which a King of England ever read his speech by candle-light, at 

 the opening of his Parliament. 



" Shakspeare lays it down as a maxim — ' Uneasy lies the head that wears 

 a crown.' It is no doubt true as a general rule, but it does not admit of 

 universal application. Had Shakspeare lived in the reign of William the 

 Fourth, he would never have penned the observation in the unqualified way 

 in which it stands. He would have seen, in the person of our present Sovereign, 

 an exception to the rule. His head does not lie uneasily. The Crown sits lightly 

 on it. Not that he is indifferent about the welfare of his subjects ; far from it; 

 but because he believes that they live under a mild and paternal and enlight- 

 ened Government, and that, conscious of nothing but the most kindly feelings 

 towards them, he never allows his mind to be haunted for one moment with 

 any suspicion of their loyalty to his person or fidelity to his throne. It is 

 one of the irresistible tendencies of his nature to look on the sunny side of 

 the picture ; in this case his unsuspecting disposition will not betray him into 

 any error. The generous confidence he reposes in the friendly feelings of his 

 subjects towards him is not misplaced. Few monarchs have reigned more 

 in the affections of his subjects than does William the Fourth of England." 



The third Chapter is headed " Miscellaneous Observations." We 

 extract the following passages : — 



" Every one who has had an opportunity of observing the proceedings in 

 both Houses, must have been struck with the decided superiority of the Upper 

 over the Lower House in regard to the talent, order, and good taste displayed 

 in debating on public questions. 



" Observations to this effect are invariably made by those who have been 

 present during debates in both Houses ; and they have generally expressed 

 their surprise at the circumstance. It appears to me that nothing could be 

 more capable of easy explanation. In the first place, the Peers being here- 

 ditary, and once in the Upper House remaining there for life, have, in the 

 great majority of cases, been members for a long course of years, and, conse- 

 quently, have all the advantage of experience in regard to its proceedings over 

 the other branch of the legislature. Then, again, the greater part of them 

 have the further advantage of having been drilled into habits of public speak- 

 ing and transacting public business, by a sort of apprenticeship in the House 

 of Commons. And how much long practice sharpens the faculties of the 

 mind, as well as in most cases improves the manner of public speaking, must 

 be known to every body who has ever thought on the subject. The Commons 

 have no such advantages : a great number of the members of that House re- 

 tire at every general election, — not to mention the changes which take place 

 in the representation of the country in the interval ; while their places are 

 supplied by raw country gentlemen, and persons who know nothing of public 

 business or public speaking, — many of whom perhaps never were in the House 

 in their lives. To school such persons into a knowledge of the rules and 

 forms of a House, requires, in many cases, a period of some years. But this 

 is not all. In the House of Commons, the members being responsible to 

 their constituents, and liable to be dismissed on the recurrence of every new 

 general election, are often, for the sake of retaining their good opinion, obliged 

 to make speeches whether Nature has intended them for public speaking or 

 not ; and often, too, on particular subjects with which they are but very im- 

 perfectly acquainted. Indiflerent exhibitions on the floor of the Lower House 

 must, in many cases, be the result of this disagreeable necessity. In the 

 Upper House, the members are more fortunately circumstanced. Respon- 

 sible to no constituency or person, and certain of their seats for life, unless 

 they commit any serious crime against the State, they are perfectly free to act 

 as they choose — to make a speech or maintain an unbroken silence, just as 

 they feci inclined. 



