The practice of the House of Commons, in recent times, was to commit a person guilty of any violation of its privileges to the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms, to be detained during its pleasure. The imprisonment generally continued until the prisoner expressed contrition for his offence, or the House in its mercy resolved that he be discharged. But before he was free to go he had to pay a substantial fee to the Serjeant-at-Arms for locking him up and seeing that he did not escape. The House, however, has no power to keep a person in custody during its recess. If, therefore, the confinement should last until the prorogation of Parliament, he may not only claim his release but decline to make good the Serjeant-at-Arms’ bill of costs. The last occupant of the prison was Charles Bradlaugh, the Member for Northampton. His confinement for twenty-four hours, in 1880, was an episode in his long contest with the House of Commons over his claim to be allowed, as an atheist, to take his seat without having to use, in the oath of allegiance, the expression, “So help me, God!” Bradlaugh, in a conversation about his prison experiences, stated that while the rooms were comfortable, and the confinement by no means irksome, the noisy passage of time as recorded by Big Ben in booming the quarters and the hours at night allowed him but little sleep. 2 Contumacy on the part of a Member nowadays would hardly be visited by imprisonment. Among the expressions which are considered out of order are treasonable or seditious words, the use of the Sovereign’s name offensively, or, with a view to influence debate, disparaging references to the character and proceedings of Parliament, personal attacks on Members, allusions to matters pending judicial decision in the courts of law, and insulting reflections on Judges or other persons in high authority. The Speaker, or the Chairman of Committees, has also the power, after having called attention three times to the conduct of a Member who persists in irrelevance, or in tedious repetition, to direct him to discontinue his speech. If a Member’s conduct is grossly disorderly, or if he refuses to apologize for an unparliamentary expression, the Speaker or Chairman orders him to withdraw immediately from the House and its precincts for the remainder of the sitting, and should he refuse to leave he may be forcibly removed by the Serjeant-at-Arms and his messengers. If suspension for the remainder of the sitting be deemed by the Speaker an inadequate punishment for the breach of order, the offending member may be named. The Speaker simply says, “I name you, James Thomas Millwright.” The motion of suspension which follows the naming of a Member is moved by the Leader of the House or, in his absence, by another Minister. It is simply and briefly worded, to this effect: “I beg to move that James Thomas Millwright, Member for Little Peddlington, be suspended from the service of the House.”