of converting to their state doctrines. Clarendon, on his own confession, was invited, and frequently dined there; for he had begun his Parliamentary career as a staunch reformer, and for some time evidently vacillated between the two parties. It was perfectly natural that the Pyms, the Haslerigs, the Fiennes, and the Harry Martins, should try to secure him, and his commanding talents made the attempt worth their while.

It would be curious to speculate on the amount of benefit the patriots derived from this snug establishment, on the vigour that was put into them in Pym's lodgings, and on the number of converts that were made over this well provided table. It is also curious to consider the establishment as the origin and first model of those political club-houses which have since become so important and thoroughly organized in England. We cannot discover anything of the sort before Pym's time.

On the 9th of November 1640, Lord Digby proposed in the Commons, that a remonstrance, “to be a faithful and lively representation to his Majesty of the deplorable estate of this kingdom," should be drawn up and presented. To this effect, a committee of twenty-four members was appointed forthwith, to draw up such a declaration, and to receive an account of grievances from other committees; but this business ran to great lengths, and the remonstrance itself was not carried till the 22nd of November 1641. By this time the Commons had become accustomed to late hours, and were no longer moved from their propriety by the apparition of a few candlesticks. The debate lasted from about four in the afternoon to three the next morning; which was so unusually long (even then,) that according to Rushworth, some of the royalist party compared the passing of the remonstrance, which gave a death-blow to their cause, to the tardy verdict of a starved jury. This magnificently conceived, and admirably expressed remonstrance, consisting of 206 articles of reproach or advice, was voted entire, but only by a small majority. Mr. Palmer and some other members entered a protest against it; in consequence whereof, Palmer was the next day com

mitted to the Tower; it being held by the reformers, that, in protesting, he had directly offended against "the order, custom, and privilege of the House of Commons." Clarendon, who admits that it "had not been used in the House of Commons" to protest against the sense or vote of the House, gives a more detailed account of this memorable debate; in which he somewhat differs from Rushworth, making the sitting still longer, and the debate more formidable.-He says, "The debate being entered upon about nine of the clock, it continued all that day; and candles being called for when it grew dark (neither side being very desirous to adjourn it till the next day, though it was evident very many of them withdrew themselves out of pure faintness and disability to attend the conclusion), the debate continued till it was after twelve of the clock, with much passion; and the House being then divided, upon the passing or not passing the remonstrance, it was carried in the affirmative by nine voices, and no more." He then goes on to state, that, as soon as it was carried, Mr. Hampden moved that an order should be entered for the immediate printing of the remonstrance; that this motion produced a more stormy debate than the former; and that "the House by degrees being quieted, they all agreed, about two of the clock in the morning, to adjourn till two of the clock the next afternoon," when the order for printing was carried "without much opposition."

According to this relation, the whole debate on the 22nd of November lasted seventeen hours, a term much too long for many of the Court-party. Clarendon, forgetting that therein he praises the patience and constancy of his opponents, expressly says that they carried their motion by the hour of the night, which drove away more members than were necessary to form a majority against them.

The first session of this Long Parliament lasted nearly a full year, and then they adjourned only for a month and a few days: a short recess, but still "a great refreshment to those who had sat so long, mornings and afternoons, with little or no intermission, and in that warm

region where thunder and lightning were made."-Clarendon's History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars.-His Life, written by himself.-Rushworth's Historical Col

lections.

During the civil war there were some very long debates in the House; but the longest of all the sittings was in 1648, after the triumph of the Parliament over Charles, and when the tragedy of that unhappy man's life was in its last act, and drawing near its final scene. The wellknown split in the party who had made the revolution had taken place, and the Presbyterians and the Independents stood in open opposition to one another. The Presbyterians, notwithstanding his notoriously bad faith, would still negotiate with the King, and rely on a treaty; and to this end they succeeded by a majority of the House in sending commissioners to the Isle of Wight, where Charles was then kept prisoner. The Independents, on the other hand, insisted that the time for treating, and bandying useless scrolls of parchment, was past; and that instead of continuing to consider Charles Stuart as a sovereign prince, they ought to hold him as a traitor, and bring him to trial for his crimes. The Presbyterians were the stronger party in the House, but the Independents had the whole army with them; and Cromwell, who had signally defeated the Scottish forces that the Presbyterians had called to their aid, was now approaching London by forced marches.

The policy of the Independents in the House of Commons was therefore to gain time, and this they managed to do by their indefatigability in debate.

On the 1st of December 1648, the commissioners that had been despatched to the Isle of Wight, appeared in the House, and read their report, stating therein the several concessions Charles was disposed to make. Through the adroit manœuvres of the weaker party, this long document was read twice over. This occupied a good deal of time, and then the Independents got up a running debate on the mere wording of the report. About two o'clock in the afternoon, the House put the question, Whether they should now debate the treaty, and whether

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his Majesty's answers and concessions, as reported to them, were satisfactory or unsatisfactory;" and after another long discussion, which still left the main business untouched, it was resolved in the negative, that they should not then discuss the question, but begin the debate thereon at nine o'clock the following morning. They voted that the City of London should forthwith pay £40,000 of arrears due to the army; and that a letter should be written to the general, ordering him on no account to march his troops nearer London; and then the House adjourned at ten o'clock at night, having sat about thirteen hours.

On the 2nd of December, the debate commenced at nine, and was carried on with great heat far into the night, without coming to a division. The next day being Sunday, the House adjourned till the 4th. But the Independents had already well nigh carried their point, for, during the debate on Saturday, Fairfax had quietly marched into London with several regiments of horse and foot, which he quartered in Whitehall, St. James's, the Mews, York House, and in the suburbs of the City; and King, having been removed from the Isle of Wight, where he was in the power of the Presbyterians, had been safely lodged in Hurst Castle, Hampshire, by the Independents, on the 1st of December; an important fact, which was not disclosed to the whole House until Monday the 4th.

On Monday the Commons met at their usual hour, and renewed their debate on the Isle of Wight treaty, the question being now complicated by the seizure of the King's person. The debate lasted all that day and night, and it was not until five o'clock on Tuesday morning that the House divided, and came to the decision, by a considerable Presbyterian majority, "That his Majesty's concessions to the propositions of the Parliament were sufficient grounds for settling the peace of the kingdom." -Rushworth, vol. viii.

On this occasion the House sate for twenty hours. Sir Harry Vane was one of the principal speakers against the treaty; and Hollis, and Onslow, and Fiennes, (who

had lately changed sides,) spoke long and ably in favou of it.

In what manner Cromwell and the army disposed of the Presbyterian majority, with all that followed, is well known to the readers of history.

XLI. THE DEATH OF CREDIT.

"AT the south side of the higher court of mine inn, which is hard by the hall (for there are two or three courts in that inne), there is written this pretty French poesie On ne loge céans à crédit; car il est mort, les mauvais payeurs l'ont tué.' The English is this: Here is no lodging upon credit; for credit is dead, ill payers have killed him."- Coryat's Crudities.

A common inscription in front of the Neapolitan wine and maccaroni houses is, "Domani si fa credenza, ma oggi no,"-or, To-morrow we give credit, but not to→ day.

XLII. BOTANICAL SATIRE.

SOME of the systematic names of plants are very pretty little lampoons. Thus Sauvages having given the name Buffonia, in honour of Buffon, Linnæus added the epithet tenuifolia which suits the slender leaves of the plant, and the slender pretensions of Buffon to the character of a botanist.

Another plant he named Browallia, after Browal, a scholar of his; and as Browal was of humble fortune, he called one of its species Browallia depressa; but when Browal rose in the world, and forgot his old friends, Linnæus gave another species the name of Browallia elata.

Thus too, the Petiveria alliacea, while it commemorates the botanical zeal of Petiver, who a century ago was apothecary to the Charter-house, at the