“Now for a growl. That Royal Gallery is all very well, but it was packed to suffocation, and there were no chairs at all, the three raised tiers being impossible as seats, when the great crush came. Would it not be better to issue less tickets, and provide narrow benches for those present? Two to three hours’ standing for women not accustomed to it is rather trying, especially when the space is so crowded that it is hardly possible to breathe. Peeresses married to commoners were there; peeresses by marriage whose fathers-in-law are still living; sons who one day will succeed noble fathers in the House of Lords; they were all there, crowds of them; that was why the Hall was so full. There were some beautiful women and handsome men in that Royal Gallery. Only peeresses, who are the wives of the heads of noble families, were admitted to the Peeresses’ Gallery itself, and even they could not all find room. Standing in a crowd is a tedious performance; but a look at the King and Queen was a grand recompense, and made us all forget our aching feet and the want of luncheon.” A tea-party at the House of Commons is another London experience that to me is always rather amusing. For this one drives to St. Stephen’s Porch, and, passing up a wide stairway flanked here and there by ponderous-looking policemen, is accosted at the top of the stairs by another magnificent guardian of the law, who demands one’s business. “Tea with Dr. Farquharson,” was my humble reply on one occasion, whereupon the functionary bowed graciously, and waved me through the glass doors that led to the central hall. There is always a hubbub in that particular lobby; at least, I have never been there when it has not been full of men discussing political affairs. (Or dare we call it gossiping?) Between four and five o’clock a small sprinkling of ladies, who have been invited to tea within the sacred precincts, are dotted here and there. Members are generally very good at meeting their guests, and on the alert, at the appointed place and time. It is well this is so, for it would be an awful trial for a lone woman to stand and wait there long.