244 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS [1661 



on his head, ascended his seat of state, the Peers being 

 in their robes. On the right hand of his Majesty 

 stood the Lord Great Chamberlain of England, the 

 Marquis of Winton, bearing the cap of state, and on 

 his left hand stood the Earl of Brecknock, Lord Steward 

 of his Majesty s household, bearing the sword. 



u And the Commons being below the bar, his Ma 

 jesty made a short speech, declaring the cause and the 

 reasons for his summoning this present Parliament.&quot; 



In all this august assembly the Marquis of Worces 

 ter, robed as were the other Peers, claims our special 

 notice. He sat there in strange contrast with that 

 gorgeous company, and the formalities which marked 

 every process of action or language. Was it possible 

 for him to be too expectant, seeing what he then saw 

 and hearing what he then heard ? Here was one who 

 was no obscure individual, no questionable professor, or 

 undeserved claimant on the patronage and smallest 

 available favours often solicited by him from the crowned 

 monarch in whose presence he then sat. 



We again miss his attendance until the llth of May, 

 and the 8th of June, from which time he attended twenty- 

 nine meetings, the last being on the 30th July, when his 

 Majesty in person adjourned the House, and again re 

 called it on the 20th November, when the Marquis was 

 present, as before. 



He again attended in his place on the 26th of Novem 

 ber, 1661, from which time to the 17th of May, when Par 

 liament was prorogued, until the 18th of Feburary, 1662, 

 he attended thirty-two meetings with much irregu 

 larity, being on one occasion absent for above a month ; 

 and he did not appear on the re-opening of Parliament, 

 when the House being called, he was declared absent ; 

 wherefore, it would seem he attended on the next meet 

 ing of the House, on the 25th of the same month, when 



