12 FEBRUARY 1870, Page 1

Mr. Bright has broken down just at the commencement of

the Session, and is ordered to abstain absolutely from all mental labour for at least a month, nor do some of his friends conceal their fear that a longer rest and retirement may be needful to restore his health. It is, therefore, pretty certain that we shall not hear his voice in the House before the second reading of the Irish Land Tenure Bill, even if he be sufficiently restored to add the weight of his eloquence to the defence of the measure he and his col- leagues have so long been maturing. Also, Lord Cairns, whose lungs have always been delicate, is going to nentone for the spring Illitilionths, returning again, no doubt, to take the field in a struggle in which he will feel himself much more at home than in the Church struggle of last session. Mr. Disraeli was confined to his house on Thursday by severe bronchitis. The Attorney- General (Sir R. Collier), when out shooting, has been shot in the leg ; and the Solicitor-General (Sir J. D. Coleridge) has had a narrow escape of being overturned by a cart with a drunken driver, which knocked the lamp off his fly ! Surely Nature and Man are entering into a conspiracy against Parliament,—thus aiming simultaneously, and with more or less success, at Mr.

Bright's brain, Lord Cairns' lungs, Mr. Disraeli's bronchial tubes, the Attorney-General's legs, and the Solicitor-General's person?