Tam in this article to give an outline of the leading figures in the House of Commons. These word-paintings, however slight, are, so to speak, sketches from nature taken by myself on the spot, that is within the four walls of the Chamber. The men have all moved before us and among us within the last twenty years. Many of them are living still. My account then pertains to contemporary history only, which is idubly imperfect, and must ever be written with reserve. The figures which moved and passed away before 1880 or 1882, have entered the domain of history where their careers can be reviewed with a completeness to which I lay no claim in this article. Thus I not undertake to describe Disraeli in the Commons; though as Beaconsfield in the Lords his -name was still one to conjure with. when I first became concerned in English polities.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.