‘He is bald-headed and has been so for ten or twelve years. He is about sixty years of age, for one half of which time he has been in Parliament. He is a very fluent speaker, but his elocution is impaired by the circumstance of his not being able to pronounce the letter R. His gestures are violent, often theatrically so. He makes infinitely varied evolution, wheeling his body round and round, by that means managing to address by turns not only every part of the House, but almost every member in it. Like a hen on a hot girdle, as an Irish member describes him.’ Through a series of weeks Croker spoke every night against clauses of the Reform Bill. Some nights he made as many as twenty speeches occupying three hours of the sitting. His apprehension of disastrous results accruing from the passing of the Bill, fear shared by Sir Charles Wetherell, was justified by the event. In both cases the enlarged constituencies rejected their candidature. At the date of this fascinating record, which closes with the session of 1835, neither Disraeli nor Gladstone was yet in the House. Sir Robert Peel, unconscious of what was in store for him in the way of personal connection with them, was Leader of the Tory party in the House of Commons, a post to which he succeeded on the death of Canning. Q gives us one of his vivid sketches of the living man: ‘He is remarkably good-looking, rather above the usual size, and finely proportioned. He is of clear complexion, full round face, and red-haired. His usual dress is a green surtout, a light waistcoat, and dark trousers. He generally displays a watch-chain on his breast, with a bunch of gold seals of unusually large dimensions and great splendour. He can scarcely be called a dandy, and yet he sacrifices a good deal to these graces. I hardly know a public man who dresses in better taste. He is in the prime of life, being forty-seven years of age. His whole appearance indicates health. He is capable of undergoing a great deal of fatigue.’ It was Peel’s custom to remain in the House till one or two o’clock in the morning, later if necessary. Nor was he a quiescent listener, following the debate with tireless attention and occasionally intervening. In this respect Disraeli and Gladstone, brought up at his feet, were equally close in their attendance and attention. Up to the last both, whether in office or in Opposition, seated themselves when the Speaker took the Chair, and with brief interval for dinner remained till the House was up. The fashion of to-day is widely different, the habit of the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition (when there was one) being to withdraw to the privacy of their respective rooms as soon as questions are over, an example loyally followed by their colleagues.