THE legislation of the British kingdom is intrusted to two bodies, the house of lords and the house of commons. They meet in different places, and their proceed

ings are generally attractive.

The ceremony of the queen going in person to parliament to open the session is an interesting one. The queen also generally closes the session; and sometimes, though very rarely, she goes down during its continuance to give assent to bills, or for some special purpose; but the opening of the session, being a time of greatest expectation, is generally regarded with most interest. The approach of the queen is announced by successive salutes or ordnance in St. James' park and at the tower. If the weather is fine, there is usually a large assemblage to witness the procession. The interior of the house of lords presents a brilliant and animated scene, the peers being in their robes, and a large number of ladies being present, either peeresses in their own right, or the wives, daughters, or other relations of peers.

If the visiter has entered the strangers' gallery of the house of commons, without knowing the subjects on which the house will proceed to business, and if he sits down, expecting, as a matter of course, that there will be a grand oratorical display, a keen encounter of wit, and all the excitement of a brilliant assembly, he will very frequently meet with a complete disappointment. Even on what are termed field-nights," patience is considerably tried. If you can not make interest to get introduced into the reserved seats outside the bar, on the floor of the house, and below the strangers' gallery, you must then, if a strong debate is expected, take your station at an early hour on the gallery stairs, and wait with patience; you may be admitted when the speaker is at prayers. He, the chaplain, and the clerks, are kneeling at the table; there are but five or six members present; and though the gallery is nearly crowded, and you have secured a front seat, an apprehension steals over you that the required number, forty, will not arrive in time to make a house. But the members are dropping in; the speaker begins to count slowly and deliberately; he arrives at thirty-nine, and then takes the chair. The debate, however will not begin immediately. You must wait two or three hours for that. In the meantime a variety of motions and business of a formal nature is gone through, the half of which only reaches your ear. There appears to be an apprehension that a division will take place on some private bill-that the words "Strangers, withdraw!" will be pronounced, and that you will be dislodged from your position.

A message from the lords! The form of proposing and assenting to the admission of the messenger is through so quickly and so quietly as almost to escape attention. Straightway a gentleman in full dress emerges from beneath the gallery, where he has made a profound bow; advancing to the middle of the floor, he bows again; and on reaching the table he bows a third time. On delivering his message, he retreats, walking backward with a dexterity that amuses the stranger, and bows three times as he did on advancing. This is the Usher of the Black Rod, come to summon the speaker and the house to hear the royal assent given by commission to certain bills. The sergeant-at-arms, who is dressed with a bag-wig, and sword by his side, takes up the mace and marches before the speaker; a few members follow, but the rest remain. Now the strangers pent up in the little gallery may avail them. selves of their privilege-the speaker and the mace are gone, and there is therefore "no house;" they may stand up, stretch themselves, and talk, without fear of a rebuke or a frown from the attendants. The speaker returns, takes the chair, the mace is laid on the table, and he reports to the house the bills that have become acts by receiving the final sanction of the legislature.

On another occasion we may see the sergeant-at-arms take up the mace, and go to meet two individuals in gowns and wigs, with whom he advances, all three bowing as did the Usher of the Black Rod. These are masters in chancery, who are the usual messengers of the house of lords, bringing down certain bills to which the assent of the commons is requested.

The house is now crowded, and the member who brings on the important subjec of the evening rises to make his statement. His majesty's ministers and their sup porters always occupy the range of benches on the right hand of the speaker. The opposition occupy the left. When the opening speech is finished, which has probata been long, full of facts, and, it may be, important, but consisting chiefly of dry detai and figures, a large portion of members rise to quit the house; the voice of the sa ceeding speaker is nearly drowned in the noise of footsteps and slamming of doors. and it is sometimes a considerable period before he can be distinctly heard. A members bow to the chair on entering, and on going out are supposed not to tur their backs on it. The debate goes on-now swelling into noble sounds—now falling off in tedious episodes; and by the time the occupant of the front seat of the strangers gallery has sat from four till twelve, or later, he will confess that, however exciting the subject-however grand the associations connected with this political arena, presenting as it does in combination some of the cleverest and the most influentia men of the empire--however wonderful it is to see those note-takers carefully and accurately reporting the outline of the debate, facts, figures, and all, and with the machinery with which they are in connexion, giving the world an opportunity of being present-still, to sit out an important debate in the house of commons is a very fatiguing thing.

None can carry a message from the house of commons to the house of lords but members; the house of lords has specific messengers of its own to convey its communications to the commons. The messengers of the house of commons are merely the servants of the sergeant-at-arms, who is the head of the household establishment, and has the responsibility and care of the house, under the speaker.

When a bill or message is to be carried from the commons to the lords, a member is appointed to take it; and as the practice is that at least eight members must go up, the speaker addresses the house, desiring it to follow its messenger. If the bill is an important one, a large number of members usually accompany the messenger. The Usher of the Black Rod informs the house of peers of the presence of the mes sengers; when they are admitted, the Black Rod, as he is abbreviatingly termed, places himself at their head, and the lord chancellor, or whoever is chairman at the time, comes down to the bar to receive the message. Three obeisances are made on entering and retiring.

The house of lords has a different appearance from the house of commons. Both are neatly fitted up, but the lords has a richer and more stately appearance. The visiter may have entered during the day, when it is sitting as the highest court of justice in the empire, and judgment on some case may be delivering. This may be done at considerable length, either by the lord chancellor, who is sitting in his official costume, or by one of the law lords occupying the benches. If it be one of the latter, the stranger's notions may be somewhat startled at seeing him in plain clothes-for the novice is apt to associate robes and stars with his idea of the appearance of a peer in his place in parliament. But peers only wear their robes on great occasions. The bishops, however, always wear their clerical robes. When judgment is delivered, the strangers, mingled with the counsel in the space below the bar, fall back toward the wall, forming a semicircle; the next case is called, the attendant messenger exclaims "counsel," and the barristers conducting the case advance, bowing three times; one of them then ascends the step at the bar (on which the speaker of the house of commons stands when he and the house are summoned) and opens the proceeding in an easy colloquial tone. The short-hand writer of the house takes his notes at the bar. The gallery for strangers and reporters when the house sits legis latively occupies a similar position to the strangers' gallery in the house of commons, being over the entrance, above the bar.

At a little distance from the houses of parliament, lie some of the principal government offices. A wide spacious street, but not perfectly straight, termed Whitehall, stretches from the end of Parliament street (which is a continuation of Whitehall), to Charing Cross. A narrow inlet, bearing the far-famed named of Downing street -it should be termed Downing place, for it is not a thoroughfare-runs up from the bottom of Whitehall. Here are the official residences of the first lord of the treasury, the chancellor of the exchequer, the officers of the foreign and colonial secretaries of state, &c. From the entrance of Downing street a handsome new range of building extends along Whitehall, presenting a fine front to the street, which is stated to hav been copied from the temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome. This is appropriated to the