in this information, I went again the next day; when the same man
who before had sent me away, after I had given him only two
shillings, very politely opened the door for me, and himself
recommended me to a good seat in the gallery.

And thus I now, for the first time, saw the whole of the British
nation assembled in its representatives, in rather a mean-looking
building, that not a little resembles a chapel. The Speaker, an
elderly man, with an enormous wig, with two knotted kind of tresses,
or curls, behind, in a black cloak, his hat on his head, sat
opposite to me on a lofty chair; which was not unlike a small
pulpit, save only that in the front of there was no reading-desk.
Before the Speaker's chair stands a table, which looks like an
altar; and at this there sit two men, called clerks, dressed in
black, with black cloaks. On the table, by the side of the great
parchment acts, lies a huge gilt sceptre, which is always taken
away, and placed in a conservatory under the table, as soon as ever
the Speaker quits the chair; which he does as often as the House
resolves itself into a committee. A committee means nothing more
than that the House puts itself into a situation freely to discuss
and debate any point of difficulty and moment, and, while it lasts,
the Speaker partly lays aside his power as a legislator. As soon as
this is over, some one tells the Speaker that he may now again be
seated; and immediately on the Speaker being again in the chair, the
sceptre is also replaced on the table before him.

All round on the sides of the house, under the gallery, are benches
for the members, covered with green cloth, always one above the
other, like our choirs in churches, in order that he who is speaking
may see over those who sit before him. The seats in the gallery are