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.
The SPEAKER is entitled to many privileges. He can show friends (not exceeding four at a time) over both Houses of Parliament without an order from the Lord Chamberlain; he can take books out of the Library on leaving a small deposit; he can call a wherry and go on the river whenever he pleases; every tenth cygnet born between Lambeth and London Bridge is his by prescriptive right; and he is at liberty to charge the Consolidated Fund with the cost of any refreshment he may require during official hours, and with all cab fares to and from the House.