I don’t know why, but it is something of a surprise to learn that Sir Robert Peel was a red-haired man. His son Arthur, who for many years added grace and authority to the Speaker’s Chair, had raven locks. The circumstance lends support to Q’s quaint theory that in the House of Commons red hair is the concomitant of supreme ability. There is none in the present House. It is curious and interesting to find in this close contemporaneous study of Sir Robert Peel two mannerisms strongly marked in his most famous disciple when in due time he filled his master’s official place in the House of Commons. Q describes how Sir Robert, when speaking on any great question, was accustomed to strike at regular intervals the brass-bound box which lies on the table, in front of which a Minister is habituated to stand whilst addressing the House. Nothing if not precise, Q, with his eye on the clock, reckoned that Peel smote the box at the rate of two strokes a minute. Old members of the House of Commons will recall this curious habit as practised by Gladstone. It was occasionally varied by another trick of driving home his argument by smiting the open palm of his left hand with his right. The consequence was that he frequently drowned in the clamour the concluding words of his leading sentences. Another trick of Peel’s, unconsciously imitated by his pupil, was that of turning his back on the Speaker and addressing passages of his speech directly to supporters on the bench behind him or seated below the gangway. This is a violation of the fundamental rule of order requiring a member on his legs to address himself directly to the Chair. In Gladstone’s case it afforded opportunity for welcome diversion on the part of members on the benches opposite, who lustily cried ‘Order! Order!’ Interrupted in the flow of his argument and not immediately recognising the cause, he added to the merriment by turning round with inquiring look at his tormentors. ‘Sir Robert is the idol of the Tory Party,’ writes this shrewd observer. ‘With the Conservatives in the House of Commons everything he says is oracular. He can do with them and make of them what he pleases. They are the mere creatures of his will, are as much under his control, and as ready to be formed and fashioned in any way he chooses, as is the clay in the hands of the potter.’ Ten years later Peel, counting upon this deference, and believing with Q that the Tory Party was in all matters submissive to his command, declared himself a Free Trader. Whereupon, as happened in the old potter’s shop visited by Omar Khayyam, there was revolt by the clay population. And suddenly one more impatient cried: ‘Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?’ The awkward question was answered by Peel’s former vassals uprising and turning out his Government. * * * * *