able to give his Grace's speech, to the extreme loudness of the tone in which he spoke. His action is correspondingly violent, and has, owing to the unwieldy character of his person, a very awkward effect. One wonders at seeing so much zeal and energy of manner displayed in a man who has reached the sixtieth year of his age.

any

The Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND never speaks in the House. I am not aware that he has for some years past delivered even a single sentence in it. In other words, he is never, according to the usual acceptation of the parliamentary phrase, to be seen "on his legs." And as I have never heard him speak at any public meeting, I am unable to give information as to what his qualifications as a speaker are, if he have any. But though he noble Duke never utters a syllable in the House, there are few noblemen whose names are better known to the public. His vast estates, bringing him in, it is said, an annual revenue of nearly 250,000l.,—being but little under that of any other peer of the realm, and half as large as that allowed his Majesty himself,-necessarily make him a person of so much importance as to keep his name continually before the public eye; and the eminence to which his great property and consequent influence have, as a matter of course, raised him,

has been largely increased by the circumstance of his having lately filled the important situation of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In person he is rather above the ordinary height, and of a slender make. His complexion is of a sandy colour. In his countenance there is nothing remarkable; but it is indicative of that illness to which the noble Duke has been subject for many years, and which, in addition to bodily suffering, is the source of much inconvenience to him. His appearance and manners are gentlemanly, without anything of the haughtiness of the aristocrat. He seldom attends the Housescarcely ever, except when some important question is before it. It was matter of surprise to many of his friends, that, with his bodily indisposition and princely income, he should ever have undertaken the arduous duties of the Viceroyship of Ireland. He merits praise for not neglecting the duties of the office so long as he filled it. It is true that he was not popular with the Roman Catholic part of the population of Ireland; nor was it to be expected, as he went there a decided friend to Protestant ascendancy under the auspices of a Tory government. But it is a fact which ought to be mentioned to his credit, that he was, perhaps, as popular a Tory Lord Lieutenant with the Catholics as any Viceroy appointed to the office by the same

Tory party for many years past. It is understood he did not feel the situation to be a bed of roses; and it is believed that, whatever future changes may take place in his day in the councils of the King, he will not aspire to any of the offices which the Government may have at its disposal. He is in the fifty-first year of his age.

The Duke of BUCCLEUGH must also, from the extent of his estates, which, with the property left him by a relation, are understood to bring him in an annual revenue of 250,0007., always possess considerable influence. His talents, from any indication he has yet given of them, certainly do not hold out any prospect of his ever acquiring much influence by any senatorial exhibitions he is likely to make. He never speaks, or at least but seldom, on any question except those which relate to Scotland. The little he does say is always to the point, but there is never anything in it above the merest commonplace. He seems incapable of penetrating the surface: I doubt if he have ever yet, on any occasion, or on any subject, been the author of a single felicitous idea. His voice is thin, but clear and pleasant. He has so much of the Scottish accent, that before he has uttered a dozen words any English ear would inevitably discover that he is a Scotchman. He talks with considerable ease, but

is always cold and monotonous. He has not the slightest animation in his manner, or energy in his action. He is good-looking: his features are small and regular, and wear an expression of mildness approaching to simplicity. His complexion is fair, and his hair is of a sandy colour. He is about the middle height, and rather handsomely made. He is one of the youngest Peers in the House, being only in his thirtieth year.

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CHAPTER VII.

TORY PARTY.-MARQUISES.

THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY-THE MARQUIS OF WELLESLEY-THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY.

THE Marquis of LONDONDERRY has made himself conspicuous, both within and without the House, by his extraordinary zeal, on all occasions, on behalf of the most ultra Tory principles. He is undoubtedly the most imprudent advocate in the Upper House of that class of principles. He never wastes a thought on the peculiar circumstances in which either himself personally or his party as a body may be placed by the course he pursues. Toryism is from heaven, and it would make a heaven on earth if it had only fair play. Of all this there can be no doubt. The noble Marquis, at any rate, has no more doubt of it than he has of his own existence. Why then, he argues, not of boldly assert Tory principles at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances? The extraordinary zeal he evinced in favour of Tory principles, and against