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[Illustration:  “THE MAHOGANY TREE.".]

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[Illustration:  JUBILEE SHADOWS; OR, THE WHIRLIGIGS OF TIME.]

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ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P.

[Illustration:  “Dizzy,” 1847.]

House of Commons, July 14th, 1891.—­Things going on here much as usual.  Rapidly winding up Session amid familiar surroundings.  OLD MORALITY in seat of Leader of the House; Mr. G. opposite; SPEAKER in Chair; Sergeant-at-Arms on guard by the door; and WINDBAG SEXTON on his feet.

Brings back to my mind the first time I saw House.  Wasn’t in the House then; a mere puppy, which, indeed, some say I remain to this day.  The date was August the 19th, 1841, and from seat where Strangers were admitted in the old House (the temporary building occupied whilst BARRY was erecting this lofty pile) I looked on at the opening of the first Session of the Fourteenth Parliament of the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, appointed to meet at Westminster in the fifth year of the Reign of HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.

[Illustration:  “The Sphinx is Silent,” 1876.]

Remember it as if it were yesterday.  It was MELBOURNE’s Ministry; but he of course sat in another place.  On the Treasury Bench, distinctly visible under his hat, was JOHNNY RUSSELL, Colonial Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons.  At a safe distance from him sat PAM, then in the prime of life, and at the time holding the post of Foreign Minister, in which he was able to make a remarkably large number of people uncomfortable.  There was Sir GEORGE GREY, Chancellor of the Duchy, whilst a sturdily built gentleman, then known as the Right Hon. THOMAS BABBINGTON MACAULAY, was Secretary for War; HENRY LABOUCHERE (not the SAGE OF QUEEN ANNE’S GATE) was President of the Board of Trade, and Master of the Mint; whilst FRANCIS BARING was Chancellor of the Exchequer, all untroubled by the necessity of constructing a Budget since he knew he would never be called on to bring one in.

On the Front Bench opposite was Sir ROBERT PEEL with JAMES GRAHAM at his right elbow.  In modest retirement at the end of the Bench sat a young man, of full height, and good figure, with a mass of black hair crowning a large, well-shaped head.  Remember noticing how carefully the hair was parted down the middle, in a fashion then unusual with men.  His face was pleasant to look upon, even mild in its expression; but from time to time, more particularly when he spoke, there flashed from beneath his dark and bushy eyebrows a pair of eyes that shone like stars.  This was the Mr. G. of those days, whose highest Ministerial office, as yet, had been the Under-Secretaryship for the Colonies, held for a few months six years earlier.

[Illustration:  “W.E.G.,” 1860.]

Big House on this first night, as Houses were counted then, when the number of Members was considerably less.  First business was to choose SPEAKER.  SHAW-LEFEVRE (not the Member for Bradford, but a forbear) had been SPEAKER in last Parliament; re-elected now, PEEL, who, by the lifting of a finger, could have put his own nominee in the Chair, graciously consenting.