e, senior, sitting at that time next me, said
he could remember when no man was allowed to take notes, and wished it to
be now forbidden." At present the gentlemen of the Press are taking it
easy, and favouring each other with criticisms on the speakers by no
means flattering. In a little while they will have to suspend their
criticism and work hard enough. Above them are gilt wires, behind which
we perceive the glare of silks and satins, and faintly--for otherwise
attention would be drawn from the speakers below to the ladies above--but
still clearly enough to make us believe--

"That we can almost think we gaze
Through golden vistas into heaven,"

we see outlines of female forms; and we wonder if the time will ever
arrive when Lucretia Mott's dream shall be realised, and woman take her
seat in the senate, side by side with the tyrant man. Under the
Reporters' Gallery, and immediately facing us, sits the Speaker, in his
chair of state. On his right are the Treasury Benches; on the left,
those where the Opposition are condemned to sit, and fume and fret in
vain. Between these benches is the table at which the clerk sits, and on
which petitions, when they are received, are ordered to lie, and where
are placed the green boxes, on which orators are very fond of striking,
in order to give to their speeches particular force. At the end of this
table commences the gangway, which is supposed to be filled with
independent statesmen, and to whom, therefore, at particular times, the
most passionate appeals are addressed. Lower down is the Bar of the
House, where sits the sergeant-at-arms on a chair of state, with a sword
by his side; but him we cannot see, as he is immediately under us. At
the end of the table lies the "gilt bauble," as Cromwell called the
mace--which is the sign of the Speaker's presence, and which is always
put under the table when the Speaker leaves the chair. At one time, when
a message from the Lords was announced, the Mace-bearer, bearing the
mace, went to the Bar of the House, and met the Messenger, who came
forward bowing, and retired in the same manner, with his face to the
Speaker; for it would have been a terrible breach of etiquette had the
Messenger favoured that illustrious personage with a glimpse of his back.
When the Speaker leaves the chair, no one else occupies it. The House
then goes into committee, and a chairman is appointed, who sits by the
clerks at the table. On such