for newspaper opinion, he neither heeds nor
reads it. The latest news that interests him
in the world might be found perhaps in the
Prologues of Trogus. "The committee
proposed," he said, "to abide within the bill,
and to carry out the wishes of the Corporation.
The Corporation wished the new market
to be established speedily"— "In Copenhagen
Fields? " cried one. "In Copenhagen Fields,"
replied the hero. "Then," said another, "I
shall present presently an important
memorial"— he said no more, for he was instantly
put down, and the House proceeded to the
next item of business.

Petitions were read from three gentlemen
who had been elected to the office of Sheriff
of the City of London without their own
consent, and fined severally four or six hundred
pounds for being unable to serve. They
prayed for inquiry into the duties, gains and
losses of the sheriff's office, with a view to its
amendment.

An honourable member rose to propound a
motion, founded on the prayer of the petition.
He began well, by saying that "he should
advance back to the time of Julius Caesar."
Backward motion, a return towards the pattern
of the past, is certainly the only way of getting
forward safely in these days. I was glad,
therefore, to hear Julius Caesar's time dilated
upon, and the office of sheriff in the ancient
times, under Anglo-Saxons, William the
Conqueror, and early English sovereigns, held up
as an example to the present. It seemed that
the office of sheriff has degenerated. The
sheriffs formerly received all dues on account
of package and carriage in the City; by way
of commutation, it was agreed that they
should receive as an equivalent in old times
one hundred and fifty pounds a year, and yet
those package dues were afterwards bought
of the City for two hundred thousand pounds,
which should, according to the ancient order
of things, have come into the pockets of the
sheriffs. In the same way the sheriffs had
the tolls of Smithfield, which were commuted
when they were worth two hundred and fifty
pounds a year; so that the sheriffs receive
now two hundred and fifty pounds a year
when they might have been enjoying these
lucrative tolls. The tolls of Bishopsgate and
Aldgate were also commuted to them for fifty
pounds, in the good times when fifty pounds
was a good deal of money, and water dues
for sixty pounds, by the fair current of
which they ought to have become sole
recipients of the coal-tax. The sheriffs used
to receive also a handsome income from the
sale of offices in the City of London; there
were fifty-six such offices on sale from that of
a judge downwards, and sales were effected
up to the beginning of the present century.
In the year 1828, the City Lands Committee
recommended the sale of a valuable office,
and the opposition of an active member caused
the system then to be finally abolished. It
had held good a long time in the Corporation;
but it was well, the honourable member said,
that it should now be gone; and the virtue
of the Court was testified by the prompt
abolition of the practice. There were also
small fines paid to the sheriffs, which it was
now the custom to return, so that the revenues
of their office do not amount to more than
seven hundred and eighty-seven pounds.

But what are their expenses? In the first
place, there is the Inauguration Dinner— not
compulsory, indeed, but not to be omitted without
letting a blot fall on the escutcheon of a
civic functionary. That is for eating. Dinners
are not so cheap now as they were one
hundred and fifty years ago, when fifty
persons could be feasted at Salter's Hall for
one pound, thirteen shillings, and twopence
halfpenny. Then the sheriffs must maintain
a table at the Sessions-house, for judges,
barristers, and counsel, during twelve sessions,
and that costs each of them about six hundred
pounds. That is for eating. Then their
contribution to the feast on Lord Mayor's Day
costs them again about six hundred pounds
a-piece. That is for eating. They have also to
worship in pomp with the Lord Mayor at the
City churches, and to bestow money after the
sermons to the extent of fifty or eighty pounds
a year. That is for charity. It appears, therefore,
that the sheriff pays for riding in his
gorgeous City coach a first-class fare of
serious dimensions; and that his outlay is
created by the necessity for food existing
among fellow-citizens. His scarlet gown is
not a robe of honour; and although a fine,
according to his rank as alderman or commoner,
of six or four hundred pounds is invented for
the purpose of compelling any chosen man to
serve and feed his fellow-citizens; yet so little
is the office liked, that, in the twenty years
beginning with the present century, no less
a sum than sixty-two thousand four
hundred pounds was gathered in the fines of
men who had refused its honours. "Without
a proper honorarium" said the speaker, "no
man of fine feelings will accept an office."
The honourable member, therefore, moved
for a committee to inquire into all matters
connected with the position of the sheriffs,
and to consider the propriety of appending to
the office such allowance as would suffice to
meet the expenses it entailed.

Upon this motion a debate arose in the
honourable Court, remarkable as being a
converse to the ancient fable of "The Belly and
the Members." The members of the Court,
testifying the most laudable affection for the
belly, showed how well they can keep pace,
in their heroic spirits, with the temper
of the Roman patriot and moralist. An
honourable member in an admirably
energetic speech, declared, with attitude and
gestures of disgust, that "he despised the
claptrap of grossness. It is not gross, I
suppose," he said, "to dine at 'ome, but it is
gross work dining with the Queen!" He
would never be a party to the remuneration