are aware that the Khedive of Egypt was seen yesterday wearing a
Turkish Tarbosh. Ministers say very humbly that they hadn't known
it, and a thrill runs through the whole country. The members can
apparently ask any questions they like. In the repeated
visits which I made to the gallery of the House of Commons I was
unable to find any particular sense or meaning in the questions
asked, though no doubt they had an intimate bearing on English
politics not clear to an outsider like myself. I heard one member
ask the government whether they were aware that herrings were being
imported from Hamburg to Harwich. The government said no. Another
member rose and asked the government whether they considered
Shakespere or Moliere the greater dramatic artist. The government
answered that ministers were taking this under their earnest
consideration and that a report would be submitted to Parliament.
Another member asked the government if they knew who won the Queen's
Plate this season at Toronto. They did,--in fact this member got
in wrong, as this is the very thing that the government do know.
Towards the close of the evening a member rose and asked the
government if they knew what time it was. The Speaker, however,
ruled this question out of order on the ground that it had been
answered before.

The Parliament Buildings are so vast that it is not possible to
state with certainty what they do, or do not, contain. But it is
generally said that somewhere in the building is the House of Lords.
When they meet they are said to come together very quietly shortly
before the dinner hour, take a glass of dry sherry and a biscuit
(they are all abstemious men), reject whatever bills may be before
them at the moment, take another dry sherry and then adjourn for
two years.