how much better is their position than they thought when it was
recommended or extolled from their own side. JOSEPH not nearly so
acrimonious to-night as sometimes. Still, as usual, his speech
chiefly directed to his former Brethren who sit attentive, thinking
occasionally with regret of the fatal shallowness of the pit, and
the absence of arrangement for hermetically sealing it. If only--But
that is another story. COURTNEY at end of Bench is thinking of still
another, which has the rare charm of being true. It befel at a quiet
dinner where JOSEPH, finding himself in contiguity with Chairman of
Committees, took opportunity of rebuking him for his alleged laxity
in repressing disorder.

[Illustration: The Fighting Colonel.]

"I should like to know," he asked, "whether, supposing I were to fire
a pistol across the House, you would call it a breach of order."

"I don't think, CHAMBERLAIN," said Prince ARTHUR, who was sitting at
the other side of the table, "that if you were going to fire a pistol
in the Commons, you would point it across the House." TIM HEALY just
back from Dublin, where he's been appearing in his favourite character
of pacificator; followed CHAMBERLAIN, and later came SAUNDERSON. But
even he suffered from prevailing tone of dulness, and WILFRID LAWSON,
fast asleep in the corner by Cross Benches, did not miss much.
_Business done._--More talk on Local Government Bill.

_Tuesday._--If anyone looking on at House of Commons at three o'clock
this afternoon had predicted that within an hour it would be teeming
with life, brimming over with human interest, he would have been
looked upon with cold suspicion. NOLAN had taken the floor, and was