Walter Bagehot: “It would not have suited the ante-Tudor kings to have had a fictitious assembly; they would have lost their sole FEELER…”

These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.

Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only admit, but maintain, that our Constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out.

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.

The casual line was traced according to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding generations fought elsewhere; and the hesitating line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a perpetual limit.