the full length of Treasury
Bench on which to lounge. Occasionally Division-bell rings; Members
troop in by the hundred; follow their leaders into Lobby right or
left, deciding question they haven't heard debated, and mere drift
of which two-thirds don't understand.

BRER FOX absent to-night, which precludes possibility of flare-up
in Irish Camp. TIM faithful to his post, but lacks inspiration of
contiguity to BRER FOX.

"PARNELL's played out," said TIM, referring in course of evening to
BRER FOX's reception in his latest run through Ireland. "He may ramp
and roar here, but his game's up in Ireland."

"And is he resigned to the situation?" I asked.

TIM looked at me, half winking his miraculously preserved right eye.

"Did you ever hear, TOBY, what the weeping widow said to the parson,
who asked, 'Was your husband resigned to die?' 'He had ter be,' she
said, choking a sob."

_Business done._--Very little in the Irish Land Bill.

_Tuesday._--Mr. G.'s presence at Morning Sitting gave only possible
fillip to interminable Debate on Land Purchase Bill. BRER FOX still
away, so comparative peace reigns in Irish Camp. TIM HEALY no one to
butt his head against; COLONEL NOLAN too busy deploying his army of
five men; showing them how to retreat in good order when Division-bell
rings, and how, when it is decided to vote, they shall pass out
through one door, march in at the other, cross the floor, and look
as much as possible as if they were ten instead of five. T.W.
RUSSELL--"Roaring" RUSSELL, as his old colleague in Temperance fights,
WILFRID LAWSON, calls him--frequently on his legs. At sound of
his voice, Mr. G. gets his back up; interposes interjections and
corrections; and presently, when he can stand it no longer, plunges
into a speech.

Another time SAUNDERSON draws him. "I am very sorry," said Mr. G.,
who has been itching to speak for last half-hour, "that the hon. and
gallant Gentleman has dragged me into debate by gross misstatements."

Being there, however, Mr. G. enjoys himself passably well, grinding
SAUNDERSON to powder, and hewing RUSSELL to pieces before the Lord
STRATHEDEN AND CAMPBELL, who are sleeping peacefully together in
the Gallery. "Like the Babes in the Wood," said PLUNKET, looking up
smilingly at the face in the Gallery, which looks twice as wise when
asleep as the ordinary man does in full possession of his senses.

[Illustration: "Roaring" Russell.]

"I know," Mr. G. continued, in measure