time, turning round at every stoppage,
to come back again, and denouncing bitter vengeance against the
commander-in-chief, and all his supernumeraries.

'Make way, gentlemen,--pray make way for the Members, I beg of you!'
shouts the zealous officer, turning back, and preceding a whole string of
the liberal and independent.

You see this ferocious-looking gentleman, with a complexion almost as
sallow as his linen, and whose large black moustache would give him the
appearance of a figure in a hairdresser's window, if his countenance
possessed the thought which is communicated to those waxen caricatures of
the human face divine. He is a militia-officer, and the most amusing
person in the House. Can anything be more exquisitely absurd than the
burlesque grandeur of his air, as he strides up to the lobby, his eyes
rolling like those of a Turk's head in a cheap Dutch clock? He never
appears without that bundle of dirty papers which he carries under his
left arm, and which are generally supposed to be the miscellaneous
estimates for 1804, or some equally important documents. He is very
punctual in his attendance at the House, and his self-satisfied
'He-ar-He-ar,' is not unfrequently the signal for a general titter.

This is the gentleman who once actually sent a messenger up to the
Strangers' gallery in the old House of Commons, to inquire the name of an
individual who was using an eye-glass, in order that he might complain to
the Speaker that the person in question was quizzing him! On another
occasion, he is reported to have repaired to Bellamy's kitchen--a
refreshment-room, where persons who are not Members are admitted on
sufferance, as it were--and perceiving two or three gentlemen at supper,
who, he was aware, were not Members, and could not, in that place, very
well resent his behaviour, he indulged in the pleasantry of sitting with
his booted leg on the table at which they were supping! He is generally
harmless, though, and always amusing.

By dint of patience, and some little interest with our friend the
constable, we have contrived to make our way to the Lobby, and you can
just manage to catch an occasional glimpse of the House, as the door is
opened for the admission of Members. It is tolerably full already, and
little groups of Members are congregated together here, discussing the
interesting topics of the day.

That smart-looking fellow in the black coat with velvet facings and
cuffs, who wears his _D