’There are one or two things I would ask you to remember;—­and firstly this, that as you have voluntarily undertaken certain duties you are bound as an honest man to perform them as scrupulously as though you were paid for doing them.  There was no obligation in you to seek the post;—­but having sought it and acquired it you cannot neglect the work attached to it without being untrue to the covenant you have made.  It is necessary that a young member of Parliament should bear this in mind, and especially a member who has not worked his way up to notoriety outside the House, because to him there will be great facility for idleness and neglect.

’And then I would have you always remember the purpose for which there is a parliament elected in this happy and free country.  It is not that some men may shine there, that some may acquire power, or that all may plume themselves on being the elect of the nation.  It often appears to me that some members of Parliament so regard their success in life,—­as the fellows of our colleges do too often, thinking that their fellowships were awarded for their comfort and not for the furtherance of any object such as education or religion.  I have known gentlemen who have felt that in becoming members of Parliament they had achieved an object for themselves instead of thinking that they had put themselves in the way of achieving something for others.  A member of Parliament should feel himself to be the servant of his country,—­and like every other servant, he should serve.  If this be distasteful to a man he need not go into Parliament.  If the harness gall him he need not wear it.  But if he takes the trappings, then he should draw the coach.  You are there as the guardian of your fellow-countrymen,—­that they may be safe, they may be prosperous, that they may be well governed and lightly burdened,—­above all that they may be free.  If you cannot feel this to be your duty, you should not be there at all.

’And I would have you remember also that the work of a member of Parliament can seldom be of that brilliant nature which is of itself charming; and that the young member should think of such brilliancy as being possible to him only at a distance.  It should be your first care to sit and listen so that the forms and methods of the House may as it were soak into you gradually.  And then you must bear in mind that speaking in the House is but a very small part of a member’s work, perhaps that part he may lay aside altogether with the least stain on his conscience.  A good member of Parliament will be good upstairs in the Committee Rooms, good downstairs to make and to keep a House, good to vote, for his party if it may be nothing better, but for the measures also which he believes to be for the good of the country.

’Gradually, if you will give your thoughts to it, and above all your time, the theory of legislation will sink into your mind, and you will find that there will come upon you the ineffable delight of having served your country to the best of your ability.