In the Commons, where Sir Harbottle Grimstone was elected Speaker, there were present over 400 out of the total of 500 and more that were actually due; in the Lords, where the Earl of Manchester was chosen Speaker _pro tem._, there were present on the first day only nine peers besides himself: viz.

the Earls of Northumberland, Lincoln, Denbigh, and Suffolk, Viscount Say and Sele, and Lords Wharton, Hunsdon, Grey of Wark, and Maynard.

It was for these two bodies to execute between them the task appointed.[1] [Footnote 1: Commons Journals and Parl.Hist., for the opening of the Convention Parliament.] The meetings of the first three days were but preliminary, and not a word passed in either House to signify what was coming.

On Friday, the 27th of April, there was an adjournment of both Houses to Tuesday, the 1st of May.

During that breathless interval it was as when a mine is ready, the gunpowder and other explosives all stored, the train laid, and what is waited for is the application of the lighted match.