the raised dais on which is the throne, an elaborate, gothic-looking chair, resplendant in crimson velvet and gilding, with the royal monogram conspicuous on the back of it, the legs resting on four lions couchant a very imposing affair altogether; uncovered for the House as it never is, except when the Majesty of the sovereign is supposed to be asserted, viz., when the royal assent is given to the passing of a bill, and occasions of the kind.

In the front of this throne stood the Lord Chancellor; and the red-robed peers, who, in the case of a duke, wear scarlet cloth lined with white silk, tied upon the left shoulder with a bow of white ribbon; while on both shoulders are four guards of ermine at equal distances. The robes of a marquis are exactly similar, except that there are four guards of ermine on one shoulder, and three on the other, while an earl has three on each; a viscount two on each shoulder of plain white fur, not ermine. When I had noticed all this, and heard the speech which is generally delivered in a very clear, audible voice, I had seen all there was to be seen.

But this meagre ceremonial has not always sufficed to dismiss the Representatives of the People and the members of the Upper House to their homes. Time was, when the Queen with all the outward semblance of regal authority, and all the state observed at the opening of parliament, accompanied by the late lamented Prince Consort, the Prince of Wales, and such other of her children as were old enough, left Buckingham Palace in the ponderous gilt carriage, and escorted by a detachment of horseguards, trumpeters, outriders in scarlet and the like, alighted at the Victoria-Tower entrance, and repaired at once to the robing-room, whence followed by a long line of ministers, officers of the household, &c., she passed in regal procession through the royal gallery to the House of Lords, full then to suffocation of peers and peeresses, the former in their robes, the latter in all the splendour of the family diamonds, and the most brilliant attire they could appear in. Methinks I can see the House now, the first row of seats only occupied by the lords, while the rest, tier upon tier, as well as every nook and corner of the gallery, was crammed with the fairer sex. How well I remember it! the hour of anxious waiting; then the sound of the royal salute, which announced that Her Majesty had left Buckingham Palace; then the band playing outside, and the trumpets sounding as she passed through the robing-room; and then the sight which burst upon us as she appeared in the long, sweeping, crimson-velvet robe trimmed with ermine and gold lace, worn over a white silk dress with stripes of gold woven in it, all of which was so exceedingly becoming to the pretty bust and shoulders for which she was celebrated. Her hair was plaited in front, and on her head was the crown, made expressly for her, lighter than those of

any of her predecessors, weighing only three pounds; while that of George IV. weighed five-and-a-half. It was composed of a hoop of silver covered with precious stones, enclosing a cap of velvet, and on the top was a Maltese cross and brilliants, while the rim was ornamented with Maltese crosses and fleurs-de-lis alternately. The Queen, of course, was the principal figure in the group, the cynosure of all eyes; while the bright robes and uniforms that surrounded her, made a very brilliant spectacle, indeed. Peers and peeresses, and the vast mass of spectators, stood in breathless silence while she took her seat on the throne, the Lord Chancellor in his wig and gown on the right, the Prince Consort on her left; then we were informed it was Her Majesty's pleasure we should be seated, and the speech was read, after that long and telling pause during which the speaker and the commons are summoned to the bar, when they announce their advent in most cases, by a very unseemly noise, totally forgetting the dignity of their body in their over-anxiety for a good place, for not more than twenty out of the six hundred odd, have a chance of either seeing or hearing. After the reading of the speech, the procession left in much the same order as it had come, and the state pageant was over. Now we look back regretfully to those old happy days when Victoria the Good was more with us, and look for. ward to the time when she may again think fit to be so among us once again.

Our English parliament has grown with the country's growth, and dates its origin so far back, that its actual commencement is wrapped in mystery. The Anglo-Saxon witenagemots were a kind of dim foreshadowing of what followed, but it was not until Henry III.'s time, that anything like an assembly of king, lords, and commons was thought of. He took council of his barons and his tenants concerning affairs of state, and subsequent monarchs bound themselves by an article of Magna Charta, to summon such advisers whenever advice was required. Then it came about that the barons objected to the other tenants mixing with them, and so constituted themselves into a separate assembly. Then it was found that what with the lesser tenants, their body became too numerous, and it was agreed, that they should among themselves, select certain of them, who should appear at these assemblies of the king's advisers, and represent the rest of them; and so slowly, very slowly, the great power of parliament grew. The American Indians were not so very wrong when they called a similar assembly, "A Great Talk." We, of course, derive our word from the same root as the French verb, parler, to speak. At first parliament was a mere vassal of the throne, though always a formidable and dreaded rival, but it was many a year before it became a distinct power as now.

At first it assembled where and when the sovereign pleased; the earlier parliaments met at Wallingford, York, Lincoln, Northampton, Winchester, Marlborough-anywhere, in fact, where the king happened to be; but as time went on, it most usually met at Westminster, and after Charles I.'s time, nearly always there. None of us, however, are likely to forget the memorable one in his reign held at Oxford, while the plague raged in London.

But through all the various changes which time brought, the monarch retained in his hands the power of calling parliaments together, and proroguing and dissolving them, and whenever the faithful Commons failed to please their royal masters by their measures, parliament was dissolved, and very probably not called together again for several years. The Commons, nevertheless, had always a very powerful weapon at their disposal, for on them devolved all questions of public expenditure, and sooner or later the sovereign would be sure to have to apply to them for a vote of money, either for his personal use or for the nation. Things are so ordered now that it would be impossible for a length of time to elapse without a sitting of Parliament; for all supplies are voted yearly, and many necessary Acts, too, have to be renewed every year; in fact, Parliament, in the present century, is never prorogued for more than eighty days, because, at the end of that time, all privileges of Parliament enjoyed by members cease, and these privileges are great; for the persons of the people's representatives are sacred, and are free from arrest, and the like, with many other advantages too numerous to mention. This is the reason why the Lord Chancellor declared the present Parliament to be prorogued to a certain day in October, not to February, when the Houses will virtually reopen, and the work of the Session commences. When this said day in October arrives, the form of an extended prorogation will be gone through by the Chief Clerk of the House, but there will be scarcely any one present, and the building, which for the past month has been given up to an almost unbroken stillness, will return to its quiet rest again for some months longer. Unless the notice of the reassembling of Parliament is followed by the words "for the despatch of business," there is always certain to be a further prorogation.

A dissolution is the close of a Parliament, and is followed by a general election; a prorogation is merely the last of a session, and foretels the birth of another. Each House can adjourn itself, independently of the other, as at the Easter recess, and other occasions. When Parliament is prorogued, all matters then in progress are quashed, and have to be recommenced at the next session. Bill can go on from one session to another; it must be read a first, second, and third time, and receive the royal assent, during

N

the session, or all the preliminaries through which it has passed are rendered null and void, and have to be done all over again; this is why, towards the end of July and beginning of August, so many Bills are withdrawn; and if there is any truth in what gossips say, goodnatured M.P.s-over-persuaded by zealous constituents-ofttimes bring in measures which they have never the slightest wish or intention of carrying out, and quietly let the time go by, so that at last they are compelled to withdraw them, for want of time for the necessary stages. Two Bills of the same nature cannot be introduced the same session. William III. took advantage of this during the progress of the Bill of Rights, and prorogued Parliament for a few days, in order that it might be recommenced under more favourable auspices. Parliamentary Committees, however, are not affected by these rules, and they are simply adjourned from the last of one session until twelve o'clock of the day of the re-assembling of Parliament, sometimes even going on long after the session All these are somewhat dry details, but they ought to be interesting to us as a nation, for they tend materially towards the maintaining of our rights and liberties, and a great deal of patriotic blood has been shed to assert and maintain them.

is over.

THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

PART II.

THE LAST PARLIAMENT ATTAINDER OF STAFFORD THE ARREST OF THE FIVE MEMBERS-THE RAISING OF THE STANDARDMILITARY OPERATIONS-FIRST BATTLE OF NEWBURY.

THE last parliament of King Charles's reign met on the 3rd Nov., 1640, this time in a mood very dangerous for such as put their trust in princes. It was necessary, it would seem, to strike a blow, and the blow fell like a thunderbolt in the attainder of Strafford, who had provoked a degree of hatred almost without parallel in the history of our country. Probably no state trial ever raised more delicate points of constitutional law, or had in it more of melodramatic interest than that of this ill-fated statesman. Fifty-six members only voted against the Bill of attainder, and they were held up to execration as traitors. The question of Strafford's guilt or innocence is one which seems to have taxed to the uttermost the acute discriminating powers of Hallam. The trumpet gives a very uncertain sound in such utterances as these-" The attainder of Strafford" could not be justifiable unless it was necessary, nor necessary if a lighter penalty would have been sufficient for the "public security;" and again, if, then, we blame, in some measure, the sentence against Strafford, it is not for his sake, but for that of the laws upon which he trampled, and of the liberty which he betrayed."

There is something prophetic in Strafford's last words wherein he prayed" that every man would lay his hand on his heart, and consider seriously whether the beginning of the people's happiness. should be written in letters of blood. I fear they are in a wrong way."

Enactments restricting the prerogative were now debated, and passed with alarming rapidity. In May, 1641, appeared the protestation of both Houses-a kind of feeble reproduction of the solemn league and covenant, which bears upon it the appearance of no little jesuitry. After making a forcible protest against popery, the protestors go on to pledge themselves that "to the duty of their allegiance, they would defend and maintain His Majesty's person, power, and estate; also the power and privilege of Parliament, and the lawful rights and liberties of subjects.' protestation are appended the names of seventeen bishops.

To this

These