rn an opportunity of saying disagreeable things which he
subsequently spread over a fortnight. I might have been wearing a
coal-scuttle bonnet or a mushroom hat for all it mattered in a prison
like this. There was sufficient light for me to see with satisfaction
that other people had given themselves at least an equal amount of
trouble. Two had arrived in charming evening dress, with the loveliest
flowers in their hair. I dare say they were going out to dinner, and at
least I hope so, for it is a disgraceful thing that women should be
entrapped into spending their precious time dressing for a few hours'
stay in a swept and garnished coal-hole like this.

The smiling and obliging attendant offered me the consolation of knowing
that the Gallery is quite a charming place compared with what it used to
be. Thirty or forty years ago, whilst the business of Parliament was
carried on in a temporary building, accommodation for ladies was
provided in a narrow box stationed above the Strangers' Gallery, whence
they peered into the House through pigeon holes something like what you
see in the framework of a peep-show. The present Gallery formed part of
the design of the new Houses, but when it was opened it was a vastly
different place. It was much darker, had no ante-rooms worth speaking
of, and the leading idea of a sheep-pen was preserved to the extent of
dividing it into three boxes, each accommodating seven ladies. About
twelve years ago one of the dividing walls was knocked down, and the
Ladies' Gallery thrown into a single chamber, with a special pen to
which admission is obtained only by order from the Speaker. Still much
remained to be done to make it even such a place as it now is, and that
work was done by that much--and, as Chiltern will always have it,
_unjustly_--abused man, Mr. Ayrton. It was he who threw open the back of
the Gallery, giving us some light and air, and it is to him that we
ladies are indebted for the dressing-room and the tea-room.

This being shut up is one reason why I was disappointed with the House
of Commons. Another is with respect to the size of the chamber itself.
It is wonderful to think how _big_ men can talk in a room like this. It
is scarcely larger than a good-sized drawing-room. I must say for
Chiltern that we got seats in the front row, and what there was to be
seen we saw. Right opposite to us was a gallery with rows of men sitting
six deep. It was "a big night," and there was not a se