Chamberlain and his friends sat together on the third bench below the gangway--a position of 'vantage in some respects--from which they could survey the House.

The first seat was occupied by Mr.Chamberlain; next him was Sir Henry James, and then came Mr.Courtney, in a snuff-coloured coat and drab waistcoat; for all the world like an old-fashioned squire who has not yet learned to accommodate himself to the sombre garments of an unpicturesque age.

The dutiful Austen left himself without a seat, and was content to kneel in the gangway, and there take sweet counsel from his parent.
[Sidenote: Enter the G.O.M.] Mr.Gladstone, as everybody knows, was not technically a member of the House of Commons when it met at the beginning of the Session.

He had to be sworn, and the first business of the House was to witness this ceremony.

I remember the first day I was a member of the House, and saw a similar spectacle--it was in 1880.