Readers of debates lose half the fun of them by
inade- quate reporting. On Tuesday, the Liceii`sing Bill was getting comfortably through the - Lords, when the Bishops of Lon- don and Peterborough chose to intervene. Dr. Jackson thought hours of sale should be restricted, for the sake of London footmen and coachmen who were out late at night, and might be demoralised by beer ; while Dr. Magee, who when Liberals are in power would rather see England drunk and free than sober and enslaved, was in favour of restriction. Alto- gether their maundering was too much for Lord.Salisbury, who gave both the prelates a little bit of his mind ; wanted to know, for instance,, why the masters who drank champagne inside were not restricted as well as the footmen who drank beer outside, and why, if the lower classes got power, they should not dictate Peers' habits of life as Peers now dictate theirs. For his part, he did not see why the prelates did, not dictate how much poor people should eat. They had just as much right. Those are dread- fully democratic sentiments, in a Marquis of Salisbury, but it is a relief, nevertheless, to hear somebody talk who is not fettered by constituents.
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