There was quite a mixed
company of spectators, and, I think, other Americans present besides the
above two and ourselves. The Lord Chamberlain's tickets appear to be
distributed with great impartiality. There were two or three women of
the lower middle class, with children or babies in arms, one of whom
lifted up its voice loudly in the House of Peers.
We next, after long contemplating this rich hall, proceeded through
passages and corridors to a great central room, very beautiful, which
seems to be used for purposes of refreshment, and for electric
telegraphs; though I should not suppose this could be its primitive and
ultimate design. Thence we went into the House of Commons, which is
larger than the Chamber of Peers, and much less richly ornamented, though
it would have appeared splendid had it come first in order. The
speaker's chair, if I remember rightly, is loftier and statelier than the
throne itself. Both in this hall and in that of the Lords, we were at
first surprised by the narrow limits within which the great ideas of the
Lords and Commons of England are physically realized; they would seem to
require a vaster space. When we hear of members rising on opposite sides
of the House, we think of them as but dimly discernible to their
opponents, and uplifting their voices, so as to be heard afar; whereas
they sit closely enough to feel each other's spheres, to note all
expression of face, and to give the debate the character of a
conversation.
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