Lord Beaconsfield, if we remember rightly, says in one of
his novels that as the House of Lords will not tolerate wit, it has to put up with pertness. That is not quite true of the present House of Lords, for both Lord Salisbury and Lord Rosebery are often very witty; but the latter Peer can also sometimes contrive to give striking examples of the other quality. On Tuesday the Prime Minister and the ex- Prime Minister indulged in a scene in which, on Lord Rosebery's side at any rate, pertness was the pre- dominant partner and left wit quite out in the cold. Lord Salisbury was determined to stop a Licensing Bill intro- duced by Lord Camperdown, and attacked it in a very strong and in many ways able and weighty speech. Lord Rose- bery in the course of his speech in reply twitted Lord Salisbury unmercifully, and also most amusingly, on his attitude on the whole matter. "I confess," said Lord Rosebery, " he [the Premier] fills me with a feeling of despair on this question. He seems to live in a hermitage contem- plating the history of two centuries ago and the genial habits of our forefathers." As may be imagined, this kind of thing soon led to an acrimonious dialogue, in which Lord Rosebery contrived to make several very neat scores. The whole proceed- ings, however, were as undignified as they were amusing; and we cannot help thinking that if the Lords must have an occasional " scene "—which is what every deliberative assembly now seems to expect as its right—it would be better to en- courage a couple of Viscounts to engage in a sparring match. Premiers and ex-Premiers should not fly at each other,— especially as the House of Lords style does not allow of whole- some full-blooded vituperation, but seems to demand a kind of feline or tea-table style of invective, which does not make edifying reading.
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