talk, the dazzle of a witty circle in which worship was paid to him, and the still more flattering devotions of its presiding spirit. This fascination drew him night after night away from home, depriving hist wife of his society, and suggesting to her over again by that whisper of the devil at her ear, which she was always too ready to listen to, that she had ceased to be the first and only woman in the world to him. Such a breath of hell has crossed and withered many a blooming life; in this case the fit was temporary, lasting but a short time, and buried in the tender rapprochement of the later chapter of life. The discovery of this bit of writing was a godsend to the biographer, who must have felt by this time that the mass of the letters were by no means so conformable to his theory as might have been desired. He sent it off at once to Miss Jewsbury to have her elucidations, the only person living who could speak with authority on the subject. Neither the one nor the other seem to have asked themselves what right they had to spy into a secret which the husband had respected. Geraldine, good and kind as woman ever was, but romantic and officious, and pleased too in a regretful way at the discovery, did her part, as may be imagined. "The reading has been likethe calling up of ghosts. It was a very bad time with her then, no one but herself, or one constantly with her, knows what she suffered, physically as well as morally," Miss Jewsbury says. And here is produced triumphantly between them this little basket of fragments, with a preface from the male friend, historical and philosophical, " married him against the advice of friends," "worked for him like a servant," all over again and a postscript from the female friend, sentimental and descriptive" She was bright and beautiful, with a certain star-like radiance and grace. She had gone off into the desert with him. The offering was accepted, but like the precious things flung by Benvenuto into the furnace when his statue was molten, they were all consumed in the flames: he gave her no human help and tenderness." So Geraldine in a piece of fine writing-words as untrue as ever words were, as every unprejudiced reader of this book will see for himself, and entirely contrary to that kind soul's ordinary testimony. Not a critic, so far as we are aware, has ever suggested that this proceeding was unjustifiable, or outside of the limits of honour. Is it then permissible to outrage the memory of a wife, and betray her secrets because one has received as a gift her husband's papers She gave no permission, left no authority for such a proceeding. Does the disability of women go so far as this? or is there no need for honour in respect to the dead? "There ought to be no mystery about Carlyle," says Mr. Froude. No, poor, foolish, fond old man! there is no mystery about him henceforward, thanks to his own distracted babble of genius, first of all. But how about his wife?

?

Did she authorize Mr. Froude to unveil her most secret thoughts, her darkest hours of weakness, which even her husband passed reverently over? No woman of this gencration, or of any other we are acquainted with, has had such desperate occasion to be saved from her friends and public feeling and sense of honour must be at a low ebb indeed when no one ventures to stand up and stigmatize as it deserves this betrayal and exposure of the secret of a woman's weakness, a secret which throws no light upon anything, which does not add to our knowledge either of her character or her husband's, and with which the public had nothing whatever to do.

M. O. W. OLIPHANT.

THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE OF

COMMONS.

THERE

ERE are not wanting among observant public men those who think that the House of Commons has become unmanageable, and may become unserviceable. There cannot be a doubt that the history of that great assembly during the last few years has not added to its reputation, either at home or abroad; and it is distressing to hear, both on the Continent of Europe and in the United States of America, remarks as to its loss of prestige and its legislative impotence. There is an impression widely prevalent out of doors —a very false one, but not at all to be wondered at considering what has taken place-that the Parliament elected in 1880 is, in point of personnel, inferior to its predecessors, and one constantly hears such observations as "The House of Commons is not what it once was;" "What a change, to be sure, has taken place in the House-such a set of fellows now compose it!" This idea is quite a mistaken one. The highest authorities are of opinion that, take it all in all, there has never been a more able, honest, and high-minded Parliament than that now sitting, notwithstanding that certain influences have paralyzed its action, and rendered it comparatively powerless properly to carry on the business of the nation.

The origin of the evil was, that statesmen on both sides failed to see long ago that the constitution of the popular branch of the legislature had, in the hands of the householders, entirely changed, and that new rules and forms of procedure had become absolutely necessary in order to get through the work. In former times members consisted, to a very large extent, of men about town, frequenters of the clubs, younger sons--who attended generally only on great occasions, few of whom took part in the debates, and who were governed by a sort of unwritten law; now these have been displaced

by zealous, earnest politicians from the country, taking a deep interest in legislative measures, and having no notion of sitting "mute and inglorious" during the discussion of the great questions of the hour. One principal cause of the arrears in public business is the desire of these gentlemen to hear, in season and out of season, their own sweet voices-some of them, by the way, are not very sweet; and it would be interesting to the nation in general, and instructive to their constituents in particular, if the hours thus wasted by what the Tories facetiously call Liberal Obstruction could be set out in a Return. It must be kept in mind, however, that the great bulk of the Liberals are by no means open to such a charge; on the contrary, many among them, both old members and new, have recently studiously avoided making speeches, as others seemed as studiously to employ themselves in thus wasting the public time. These patriotic orators are encouraged and stimulated by the new practice of local newspapers reporting in full the speeches of their representatives, who may be found once or twice a week addressing a select audience of, say a dozen, in St. Stephen's, while nobody is listening to a word they say except the reporter of the leading journal in the town they have the honour to represent. The London dailies would do good service by greatly curtailing their reports of the harangues of well-known and acknowledged bores, men of weak intellect and fluent speech whose names appear every day, or every second day, in the Parliamentary columns of the Times. It was suggested a quarter of a century ago that some limits should be imposed upon these misplaced addresses, and year by year the evil has increased in magnitude, until it has now become almost insupportable. There are two other parties who have mainly contributed to the legislative dead-lock, and whom it will require much more drastic measures to restrain than those which were adopted in November 1882. A strong body of Irishmen have combined for the avowed purpose of preventing the work of the British Parliament being done, as long as the union with their country is preserved in its integrity, and they receive more or less open aid from those Tories who are least in accord with the spirit of the times. One of the latter said to me, "I like the Parnellites ;" and on my inquiring the reason, answered "Because they effectually put a stop to all that--legislation."

Few people have adequately realized the increase of work which recent changes in our political system have imposed upon the House of Commons. Every step taken towards equality leads to new proposals for the advantage of the masses; and the more democratic a representative assembly becomes, the more bills for the introduction of social changes it will be called upon to consider; and therefore, instead of a greater, a less display of oratory must be encouraged, if any progress at all is to be made.

Much of the business now transacted by Parliament ought never to come before a great imperial assembly; some of it would be more suitably transacted in a vestry, and one of the leading problems of the day, with which sooner or later a Cabinet must grapple, is the delegation to local bodies, provincial councils, of many matters which now improperly occupy the time of the High Court of the nation.

Those interested in that question of paramount importance-how the business of the House of Commons is to be carried on, cannot fail to have noticed the extraordinary development lately of the practice of asking questions. Sometimes there are from fifty to sixty of them on the Notice Paper for a single sitting, and a great many more are asked without notice. A very bad custom has crept in of member after member starting up and asking a question which. they say arises out of the one just answered, but which very often does nothing of the kind; and there is a set of men who, night after night, jump up like jacks-in-a-box and put a series of rapid interrogatories, with no other purpose than to annoy and confuse the Ministers. A vast number of the questions are about the veriest trifles, which ought not to be permitted to occupy a moment of the time of the House, at all events, until inquiry had been made privately at the department of Government interested, and the information thus obtained been found unsatisfactory by the inquirer. Another class of questions relates to foreign affairs. There is a knot of members who seem to glance their eye over all the morning newspapers, and glorify themselves by asking next day about the truth of the most improbable reports sent by correspondents all over the earth. The House now often spends two hours a-day in this delectable exercise. The reading of the questions has been at last dispensed with. Could not the same thing be done with the reading of the answers, and both printed on a board, or in a daily return, for the benefit of the few concerned? In any case it is impossible, with due regard to the business of the nation, that the present system in this respect can be allowed to go on unchecked.

It is remarkable with what pertinacity men of all political opinions in the House of Commons stick to old usages which are not adapted to present times. Why should that body be the only legislative assembly in the world which sits during the night instead of during the day? That arrangement was originally made for the benefit of the merchants and lawyers of London, who formerly constituted a large proportion of the members, and who desired to attend to their own business in the morning and to make the House an evening lounge. The country is hardly aware of the ridiculous appearance which the empty benches present, even in the most important debates, during the dinner hour, from half-past seven to ten o'clock, and in what a careless, perfunctory manner business is frequently con