120 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK oh. 



the Duke of Devonshire, the Due de Broglie, Sir E. 

 Sabine, President of the Royal Society ; Sir H. Holland, 

 President of the Royal Institution ; Sir C. Lyell ; Mr. 

 Lassell, President of the Astronomical Society, and the 

 Astronomer Royal. The service was very impressive, 

 all the leading scientific men were there. Then I went 

 to the Science Committee; then to the House of Commons, 

 where we had two divisions on the Westmeath Bill. We 

 dined at Cecil Chaplin's, where we spent the night. The 

 Chaplins themselves were dining out, so we had a 

 pleasant tete-a-tete. Then we went to the Queen's Ball, 

 after which I dressed again, and down to the House. 

 Lastly, at two this morning, I got the House to consider 

 the Lords' amendments to the Bank Holiday Bill, 

 though it had only this evening come down from the 

 Lords, and also to adopt them, so that the Bill now only 

 wants the Queen's consent, which we shall no doubt 

 get in time for Whit Monday. The House was very 

 kind, and would no doubt have been counted out, if the 

 Government had not kept a House to get my Bill 

 through. 



The following comment, in Sir John's own 

 hand, is interesting both in itself and as a reply 

 to the assertion which has sometimes been made 

 that it was only by an accident in the wording 

 of the draft of the Bill that its provisions were 

 made to apply to any other people than those 

 engaged in banking. His own words show that 

 this was not the case, but that its wide scope was 

 part of his original design. And at the same 

 time he replies to certain criticism levelled at the 

 universal character of the holiday by those who 

 have thought that it would have been better 

 had it been more partial. The explanation of 

 the name given to the Bill is also fully set out : 



As regards the Bank Holiday I will only say that I 

 never intended it to apply solely to banks. In fact the 

 Bill expressly provides that nobody shall be compellable 



