lain of the Household, delivered HIS MAJESTY's reply to the
Address the House of Commons was chiefly interested in watching how he
would accomplish the feat of walking backwards from the Table to the
Bar. More than once in past history the task has proved too much for the
man who essayed it, and the orderly retreat has degenerated into a
shambling rout. But there was no such hitch to-day. Progressive
politician though he is, Mr. BECK retraced his steps with graceful ease,
and fully deserved the applause that rewarded his effort.

[Illustration: FINANCIAL OPTIMISM.

Mr. Micawber Asquith.]

Irreverent opponents of the PRIME MINISTER have sometimes compared him
to _Micawber_, on the ground that he was always waiting for something to
turn up. I found another link to-day between these celebrated
characters. As Mr. ASQUITH unfolded the details of the two new Votes of
Credit, one of 120 millions to clear up the present financial year, the
other of 300 millions to start the new one, he reminded me of _Micawber_
calculating his indebtedness to _Traddles_. While professing a proper
alarm at the colossal amount of the expenditure--nearly two thousand
millions already, or twice the cost of the twenty-two years' war against
NAPOLEON--he rolled these gigantic figures off his tongue as if he loved
them. You will remember _Copperfield's_ remark when the famous I.O.U.
had been handed over: "I am persuaded not only that this was quite the
same to Mr. Micawber as paying the money, but that Traddles himself
hardly knew the difference until he had had to think about it." The
PRIME MINISTER'S financial optimism left the House under much the same
impression, and Mr. MCKENNA rather deepened it by the declaration that
with prudence and statesmanship our credit would survive the War however
long it might last.

_Tuesday, February 22nd._--For nearly ten years, without a break, Mr.
GEORGE LAMBERT, Yeoman, as the reference-books describe him, sat on the
Treasury Bench as Civil Lord of the Admiralty. Then the Coalition came
along and his place knew him no more. For eight long months he has
yearned to let the new Administration know what he thought of them, and
to-day he seized the opportunity furnished by the Vote on Account.

Beginning with a moving tale of how the War Office took several weeks
and a traction engine to move a load of hay two miles from a rick to a
railway station in his native Devon, the Yeoman proceeded with other
counts of h