We see a changing body of miscellaneous persons, sometimes few, sometimes many, never the same for an hour; sometimes excited, but mostly dull and half weary--impatient of eloquence, catching at any joke as an alleviation.
He observes the often chaotic and uninspired nature of parliamentary gatherings.
Share
More from Walter Bagehot
But, above all things, they were frightened of 'the world;' the spectacle of nature filled them with awe and dread.
No doubt this momentary gain is bought at a ruinous after-cost.
That a House of Commons may work well it must perform, as we saw, five functions well: it must elect a Ministry well, legislate well, teach the nation well, express the nation's will well, bring matters to the nation's attention well.
Savages waste away before modern civilisation; they seem to have held their ground before the ancient.
Other voices in this conversation
