Men and Manner in Parliament. By " The Member for the
Chiltern Hundreds." (Tinsley Brothers.)—It is quite right that the personality of the Parliament which is now in the midst of its second session should find its sacer rates, though, in truth, there is not much to be said about the new element which was introduced by the election of January, 1874. Most of the sketches here are of politicians or quasi-politicians who are already familiar. Mr. Burt, the most genuine of " working-men " repre- sentatives, is one of the few new Members who find a place in this portrait gallery. These portraits are, on the whole, scarcely flattering. It is inevitable indeed that the characteristic of such descriptions must be criticism rather than praise. It would be extremely monotonous and tiresome to find the frequent repetition of the few phrases of eulogy which can be bestowed upon a speaker; personal peculi- arities, on the other hand, are endlessly various, and in consequence unceasingly amusing. Without making allowance for this necessity, one would think that the writer thought the House of Commons a collection of speakers almost without ex- ception eccentric, prosy, tedious, or wooden. His decision is really more favourable, though in " individual members, as they pass under review, ho points out and even caricatures defects, just as the draughts- man caricatures the prominent nose, projecting lips, or lanky limbs of his subjects. The great men of the House, Messrs. Gladstone. Disraeli, and Bright, are portrayed with both vigour and fairness. Among the smaller politicians there is more room for prejudice, but on the whole, there is not much reason for complaint. The quotation from the "Spectator" of "Rosalinda, the famous Whig partisan," who bad most unfortunately a very beautiful mole on the Tory part of her forehead, which, being very conspicuous, has occasioned many mistakes, and given a handle to her enemies to misrepresent her face, as though it had revolted to the Whig interest," as illustrating Mr. Roebuck's career, is rather happy. So is the remark about Mr. Osborne Morgan, apropos of the Burials' Bill, that his voice and manner, as observed from the Strangers' Gallery, give the notion that "he has come to bury the House of Commons, not to convince it ;" and so also the quotation which sets forth Mr. Beresford Hope's view of those who differ from him:—
"This is true taste; and whose likes it not, Is blockhead, coxcomb, puppy, fool, and sot."
One curious mistake we may point out to the writer. He says of Mr.. Auberon Herbert, " Mrs. Barrett Browning is one of the few who could have understood and done justice to the nature of Anberon Herbert." Perhaps she did, for if she has not actually sketched the man in "Aurora Leigh," the coincidence is remarkable. Now " Aurora Leigh" was published in 1856; at that time Mr. Herbert had just gone up to Oxford with a " Founders' kin fellowship," an institution which the Romney of " Aurora Leigh " would not have borne with for a moment. Indeed for some years after this he remained in the gall of Tory bitterness.
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