Walter Bagehot: “It is said to be unreasonable that Liverpool should return only the same number of members as King's Lynn or Lyme Regis…”

I cannot, therefore, join in the full cry against anomalies; in my judgment it may quickly overrun the scent, and so miss what we should be glad to find.

It is natural that those who by special and admirable culture have come to look at all things upon the artistic side, should start back from these queer peculiarities.

I own that I do not entirely sympathise with the horror of these anomalies which haunts some of our best critics.

But it is natural also that persons used to analyse political institutions should look at these anomalies with a little tenderness and a little interest.