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5. Every odd number whatsoever can be made up of squares not exceeding four in number, of which two at least shall be equal; as follows, in which the first column contains the odd number, the second the squares which compose it.

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6. Every even number greater than 2 is either the sum of two or three squares, or of four squares, two at least of which are equal. For instance,

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7. If we take any two numbers, one or other of the following three,

The sum of their squares,

The difference of their squares,

The product of the numbers,

will always be divisible by 5. For instance, 7 and 8: the sum of the squares (49 and 64) is 113, the difference 15, the product (7 times 8) is 56. The second of these is divisible by 5.

8. If a square number be divided by 8, the remainder will be either 0, 1, or 4; if by 12 or 16, it will be either 0, 1, 4, or 9.

9. Every number which, divided by 8, leaves a remainder 6, is the sum of six odd squares.

1

14 is made up of 9

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also every number which, divided by 24, leaves a remainder 5, is the sum of five odd squares.

XXXIX. THE MACE AS MUCH AS THE

SPEAKER.

THERE are certain odd forms of proceeding connected with our legislative assemblies, which it may be presumed that very few but those acquainted with the details of Parliamentary business have any notion of, Many persons, for instance, may have seen, while standing in the lobby of the House of Commons, Mr. Speaker in his robes enter, preceded by a tall gentleman with a bag-wig and a sword by his side, carrying on his shoulder a heavy gilt club surmounted by a crown,-in short, a Mace: but few people are cognizant how important this toy is to the legislative duties of their representatives. Be it known then, that without it the House of Commons does not exist-and that it is as essential that the mace should be present at the deliberations of our senate, as that Mr. Speaker should be there himself:-without a Speaker the House never proceeds to business, and without his mace Mr. Speaker cannot take the chair. At the commencement of a session, and before the election of a Speaker, this valuable emblem of his dignity is hidden under the table of the House while the clerk of the table presides during the election; but no sooner is the Speaker elected, than it is drawn from its hiding-place, and deposited on the table, where it ever after remains during the sitting of the House: at its rising, Mr. Speaker carries it away with him, and never trusts it out of his keeping. This important question, of the Speaker's duty in retaining constant possession of this, which may be called his gilt walking-stick, was most gravely decided in the year 1763, as appears by the Journals of the House of Commons. On that occasion, Sir John Cust, the Speaker, being taken ill, sent to tell the House by the clerk at the table, that he could not take the chair. It appears that there was considerable discussion whether the mace ought not to have been in the House when this important communication was made. No one, however, presumed to say that it ought to have been on the table; but

many maintained that it ought for the dignity of the House to have been underneath it. It was decided however that Mr. Speaker had done quite right not to part with his bauble; and the House accordingly, as the Journals inform us, "adjourned themselves without the

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For a member to cross between the chair and the mace when it is taken from the table by the serjeant-atarms, is an offence which it is the Speaker's duty to reprimand.

If however a prisoner is brought to the bar to give evidence or receive judgment, he is attended by the serjeant-at-arms with the mace on his shoulder, and however desirous any member may be to ask the prisoner a question, he cannot do so, because the mace is not on the table: he must therefore write down his questions before the prisoner appears, and propose them through the Speaker, who is the only person allowed to speak when his bauble is away.

If the House resolve itself into a committee, the mace is thrust under the table; and Mr. Speaker leaves his chair. In short, much of the deliberative proceedings of this branch of the legislature are regulated by the position in which this important piece of furniture is placed : to use the words of the learned Hatsell, "When the mace lies upon the table, it is a House; when under, it is a Committee. When the Mace is out of the house, no business can be done when from the table and upon the serjeant's shoulder, the Speaker alone manages." The mace then may be called the household god of the House of Commons; without the presence of which, good fortune could hardly attend its deliberations: all honour to it!

VOL. I.

K

XL. HOURS OF PARLIAMENT IN 1640,

DURING THE LONG PARLIAMENT.

Ar the first meeting, in 1640, of the so-called Long Parliament, the House of Commons, according to an ancient and approved usage, began business at eight o'clock in the morning, and ended at two in the after

noon.

As they assumed to themselves the power, which had long slept, of reforming state abuses, and as business grew upon them, they continued their debates through the afternoon; sometimes sitting, to the great annoyance to many members who wanted their dinners, as late as four o'clock, and sometimes even till dark. But even this innovation, which Clarendon loudly complains of, did not allow them sufficient time for the despatch of their constantly increasing business, and they gradually began to draw upon the hours of the night. By these measures the party most in earnest, whose zeal rendered them indefatigable, gained great advantages; for the court members, and the lukewarm party, which is always so considerable in point of number, could ill tolerate such a sacrifice of routine and comfort, and accustomed themselves to withdraw to their dinners and their evening enjoyments. The first attempt made to introduce candles occasioned a somewhat disgraceful disturbance. This was on the 8th of June 1641. "In the afternoon," says Rushworth, "the House being resolved into a committee concerning the late plot for bringing up the Northern army, and sitting somewhat late, there happened some words to be spoken, as if Colonel Goring was a perjured man for discovering the plot to the House, having taken an oath of secrecy. In debate whereof, being very carnest, candles were called for, but the major part op. posed it; yet candles being brought by a mistake, and commanded out again, Sir William Widdrington and Mr. Herbert Price irregularly took the candles, and brought them in, contrary to the general sense of the House; whereupon there was a great sur in the House

about it, and the committee rose." In consequence of this irregularity and disorder, Sir William and Mr. Price were on the next day committed to the Tower.

One of the first occasions on which the sittings in the House of Commons were carried to extraordinary lengths, was the stormy debate on the bill brought in by Sir Edward Deering, "for the extirpating of Episcopacy."

As this debate was renewed during many days, the House, at a certain hour became very thin; "they only, who followed up the bill with impatience remaining, and the others, who abhorred it, growing weary of so tiresome an attendance, left the house at dinner-time, and afterwards followed their pleasures; so that the Lord Falkland was wont to say, 'that they who hated bishops hated them worse than the devil, and that they who loved them did not love them so well as their dinner.'"-Clar. vol. p. 276.

i.

By this time it had become a common practice for the whole House to meet in committee at nine in the morning, and so sit till four in the afternoon, when the Speaker "resumed the chair." Clarendon, who then, as Mr. Edward Hyde, was chairman of the grand committee of the House for the extirpation of bishops, complains of the committee "for keeping such disorderly hours, seldom rising till after four of the clock in the afternoon."Life, vol. i. p. 90.

In the same part of his Memoirs, however, Clarendon lets us into a curious secret, which goes to show that the leading men of the reforming party were better managers than their opponents, and kept a house of refection close to the scene of their labours, to which they could retire without inconvenience, and thence, after refreshing the inward man, could return to debate and action. Mr. Pym had hired comfortable lodgings in the house of Sir Richard Manly, which stood in a little court just behind Westminster Hall; and there he, Mr. Hampden, Sir Arthur Haslerig, and two or three others, kept a table upon a common stock, or subscription, transacting a great deal of business thereat, and inviting thither all such members of the House of Commons as they had any hopes

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