60 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



with his colleagues of the British and Foreign 

 Marine Insurance Company. On the 24th he had 

 an Early Closing meeting at 11, in the Town Hall, 

 presided over by the Lord Mayor (Lord Derby) and 

 afterwards a meeting of the British and Foreign 

 Marine. At 3 he gave an address to the Liver- 

 pool Chamber of Commerce on Bimetalhsm ; at 

 5 he had a conference with the Liverpool Con- 

 ciliation Board ; and in the evening dined with 

 the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce — a fairly 

 full day, yet only typical of his energy ! 



On the 29th he took part in a meeting at the 

 Mansion House to inaugurate the British Empire 

 League, to which reference has been made in 

 former chapters. 



Parliament met early in February. He brought 

 in the Early Closing Bill at the beginning of 

 the Session. It was read a second time without 

 opposition and referred to the Grand Committee 

 on Trade, through which it passed before the 

 end of March, with only a few trifling verbal 

 amendments. There were only some five or six 

 opponents, who were however very pertinacious, 

 and by using the forms of the House they again 

 prevented him from getting the Bill through the 

 final stages. 



At this period he was giving occasional lectures 

 on the yet unpublished Scenery of Switzerland. 

 The title is one that has misled a good many. 

 The book is descriptive of the Swiss scenery in a 

 number of its splendid manifestations, no doubt, 

 but it has besides, and more essentially, an under- 

 lying purpose — to demonstrate how the magni- 

 ficent effects have been produced by the geo- 



