is entrusted now, as he was in the old edifice, with the care of that part of the House. Strangers, when visiting other places sometimes experience uncivil treatment from the officers; but any one who has been in the gallery of the House of Lords must have quitted it with a grateful sense of the kind and polite deportment of Mr. Maggs.

On the right of the throne was a door at which the King entered when he visited the House. On the left was the door at which the Peers entered. The door on the right led to a room appropriated to the King, for dressing in, and for other purposes. That on the left led to an apartment belonging to the Lord Chancellor.

The present House is a small narrow apartment. Last year it was but very imperfectly lighted, and had altogether a very sombre appearance. It is more cheerful now, owing to the new windows added to it during the recess. It is incapable of containing more than two hundred and fifty of their lordships with any degree of comfort. It is right to mention, however, that it is but seldom a greater number are present, and it is not often there are so many. It is unnecessary to repeat, that what has been said respecting the arrangement of the old House equally applies to that of the present.

9

CHAPTER II.

FORMS, RULES, REGULATIONS, &c., OF THe house.

THE opening either of a new Parliament, or of a new Session of Parliament when the latter is opened by the King in person, is a very imposing spectacle. The former is always done by the King in person, except under very extraordinary circumstances. The interior of the House on such occasions presents a most interesting sight.

The ceremony usually commences at a quarter past two in the afternoon. As early as twelve there is always a large attendance of Peeresses, Peeresses' daughters, and other female members of the aristocracy, all in full dress. The attendance of Peers on such occasions is usually limited; their absence is chiefly owing to a wish to accommodate the ladies with their seats. The number of ladies generally present when the King opens a new Parliament, or a new Session of Parliament, in person, is from two to three hundred. Notwithstanding the extremely unfavourable state of the weather on

the opening of the present Session, the number of female members of the aristocracy could not have been much under two hundred and fifty. As the present House is of such very limited dimensions, a considerable number found it impossible to procure comfortable seats in the body of the House, and therefore stationed themselves in the two side galleries which extend along that part of the House nearest the throne. The scene, altogether, when the King arrived, was one of unusual splendour. In the side galleries, as just mentioned, and along the two first rows of benches on either side of the floor, with the exception of the Ministerial bench, and that occupied by the leaders of the Opposition, the ladies were ranged, arrayed in their most splendid apparel; while the other parts of the House were occupied by the Peers, the Foreign Ambassadors, and other distinguished persons from every court in the world maintaining at the present time a friendly understanding with this country. The Peers were all clothed in the robes of state peculiar to their respective ranks. The Foreign Ambassadors, and the other distinguished persons from foreign courts, were also dressed in the court costume of their different countries. The Foreign Ambassadors have a place allotted to themselves on the seats immediately behind Ministers.

Between the Ministerial bench and the right of the throne, are, as observed in the previous chapter, the seats appropriated to the Lords Spiritual, on which the Bishops sat, dressed in full canonicals. Outside the bar were the members of the House of Commons, headed by their Speaker. The gallery for strangers was on this, as on all similar occasions, shut to the public. Peers' orders, which on other occasions command the instant admission of those who are fortunate enough to procure them, always go for nothing when the King opens Parliament in person; and also, indeed, when it is opened by commission. Nothing but the signed and sealed order of the Lord Great Chamberlain will prove a passport to any one. The select character of the company, even in the strangers' gallery, on such occasions, may, therefore, be at once inferred. The parties consist in a great measure of the male relatives or friends of Peers.

As on all similar occasions, the firing of cannon announced the arrival of his Majesty outside the House. In a few minutes after, the flourishing of a trumpet intimated that he was on the eve of making his entrance. The Peers all rose; the King made his appearance and advanced to the throne. He seated himself on it, and then desired

the Lords to resume their seats.

When he is

absent they usually sit with their hats on their heads; when he is present they are all uncovered as a mark of respect to him. Shortly after, when the necessary arrangements were completed, and every one who had taken part in the forms was in his proper place, the speech, written out, as it invariably is, in large legible penmanship, on two or three folio sheets of paper, was put into his hands. He instantly, after looking first at the Lords, who were all in the immediate vicinity of the throne, and then at the Commons outside the bar, commenced reading the speech. A breathless calm ensued, which was preserved to the close.

I may here be allowed to make a slight digression, while I endeavour to give a sketch of his Majesty, interspersed with some further observations respecting the opening of the present Session of Parliament.

In person the King is about the middle height. He can scarcely be said to be corpulent, but his stoutness approaches to it. His shoulders are rather high, and of unusual breadth. His neck has consequently an appearance of being shorter than it is in reality. He walks with a quick but short step. He is not a good walker. I know of no phrase which could more strikingly characterise his