334 



TABLE-TALK AND VAKIETIES. 



lished as an apothecary and accou- 

 cheur in Warwick Street, Golden 

 Square ; Angelo is celebrated as a 

 fencing -master in the Albany ; 

 Borneo, having been promoted to a 

 captaincy, is beating up for volun- 

 teers in the cause of liberty; Paris 

 is in full practice as a popular 

 physician ; and Hamlet himself 

 keeps a silversmith's shop at the 

 corner of Sydney's Alley ; Otway 

 is a major-general in the army; 

 Milton breaks in horses in Picca- 

 dilly; Rowe and Waller are in 

 partnership as stationers in Fleet 

 Street, and Isaac Newton flourish- 

 ing as a linen-draper in Leicester 

 Square ; Alexander Pope, made 

 straight and fattened up, acts 

 tragedy at Drury Lane ; Addison 

 sells globes in Regent Street ; 

 Richardson and Swift keep lot- 

 tery offices in the City ; Congreve's 

 pieces (which continue to go off 

 remarkably well) are cannon, not 

 comedies ; and Farquhar, instead 

 of a poor author, is a rich banker 

 in St. James's Street ; Gay, " in 

 wit a man, simplicity a child," 

 makes , dolls in Goswell Street ; 

 Cowley is a blacksmith ; Phillips 

 is poetical only in his prose ; Prior, 

 till very lately, was an ensign in 

 the 12th regiment of foot ; Collins, 

 instead of odes, makes glass chan- 

 deliers ; Butler grinds Greek at 

 Harrow ; and Cowper may be seen 

 writing his "task" at the table of 

 the House of Lords any day dur- 

 ing the sitting of Parliament. 

 (Book of Table Talk.) 



HOUSE OF COMMONS THE SPEAKER'S 

 MACE. 



There are certain odd forms of 

 proceeding connected with our le- 

 gislative assemblies, which, it may 

 be presumed, that very few but 

 those acquainted with the details 

 of Parliamentary business have any 

 notion of. Many persons, for in- 

 stance, may have seen, while stand- 

 ing in the" lobby of the House of 



Commons, Mr. Speaker in his robes, 

 enter, preceded by a tall gentleman 

 with a bag-wig and a sword by his 

 side, carrying on his shoulder a 

 heavy gilt club surmounted by a 

 crown in short, a Mace : but few 

 people are cognizant how import- 

 ant this toy is to the legislative 

 duties of their representatives. Be 

 it known, then, that without it the 

 House of Commons does not exist 

 and that it is as essential that the 

 mace should be present at the de- 

 liberations of our senate, as that 

 Mr Speaker should bei there him- 

 self: without a Speaker the House 

 never proceeds to business, and 

 without his mace Mr Speaker can- 

 not take the chair. At the com- 

 mencement of a session, and before 

 the election of a Speaker, this valu- 

 able emblem of his dignity is hid- 

 den under the table of the House, 

 while the clerk of the table presides 

 during the election ; but no sooner 

 is the Speaker elected, than it is 

 drawn from its hiding-place and 

 deposited on the table, where it 

 ever after remains during the sit- 

 ting of the House; at its rising, 

 Mr Speaker carries it away with 

 him, and never trusts it out of his 

 keeping. This important question, 

 of the Speaker's duty in retaining 

 constant possession of this, which 

 may be called his gilt walking- 

 stick, was most gravely decided in 

 the year 1763, as appears by the 

 Journals of the House of Commons. 

 On that occasion, Sir John Gust, 

 the Speaker, being taken ill, sent 

 to tell the House by the clerk at 

 the table, that he could not take 

 the chair. It appears that there 

 was considerable discussion whether 

 the mace ought not to have been in 

 the house when this important 

 communication was made. No 

 one, however, presumed to say that 

 it ought to have been on the table ; 

 but many maintained that it ought, 

 for the dignity of the House, to 

 have been underneath it. It was 



