THE announcement that the present SPEAKER of the House of Commons is about to take his well-earned pension and Peerage, and that the election of a successor will be one of the first Acts of Parliament when it meets in February, has occasioned much writing in newspapers and conversation in the social circle, in competition with the Temple of Justice, Clubs for Working-Men, the State of the Streets, and the "insobriety" which accompanies the festive season. As some misconception appears to prevail regarding the SPEAKER'S exalted office, especially amongst the young and gay, and in rural districts, _Mr. Punch_, the best "Popular Educator" has (with the valuable assistance of SIR ERSKINE MAY) compiled a few notes on the subject, which in his leisure moments he hopes to be able to expand into a voluminous treatise, worthy to take its place by the side of _Enfield's Speaker_, or anybody else's. The office of Speaker is as old as the Saxon Wittenagemot, but the mace now borne by the Serjeant-at-Arms is not the one which CROMWELL impetuously called a "bauble." That interesting relic of a bye-gone age is said to be in a private collection in the United States. The SPEAKER is in the Chair whenever the House is not in Committee. If it be asked, when is the House in Committee, the answer is simple--whenever the SPEAKER is not in the Chair. The young and the gay and the country population have been led astray by the SPEAKER'S misleading title[A]--the fact being that the SPEAKER does not speak, except on very rare occasions. A: _Lucus a non lucendo.--Sil. Ital. de Arbor._, XV., 1019. The SPEAKER hears all the speeches which are made during the time he is in the Chair, _for he must never sleep while on duty_; but as most of those who have filled the office have lived on, Session after Session, we may hope that they did not consider themselves bound _always_ to listen. Even, however, with this relaxation, the poor composition, the defective grammar, the arid statistics, the threadbare quotations, the hesitations, the repetitions, the bad delivery, the awkward action, the wrong emphasis, MR. DENISON must have heard and seen through fifteen long years, cannot but have caused him untold suffering. It seems almost incredible that there should be any competition for the horrors of such a post. The SPEAKER has a salary, a secretary, a chaplain, a counsel, a residence, and an allowance for keeping the Mace in order. When he retires, he has a peerage and a pension, and is allowed to take his Wig and Gown and Chair away with him. The SPEAKER, although not one of the commoner sort, is the first Commoner in the land.