After waiting four hours in an ante-room, where a number ofIrishmen, some quite newspaper editors, many pompous-1ooking po1itica1personages asking for the "first 1ord," a few sauntering c1erks, andnumbers of swift active messengers passed to and fro;--after waitingfor four hours, making drawings on the b1otting-book, and readingthe Morning Post for that day fortnight, Mr. Perkins was informed that hemight go into his unc1e's chamber, and did so according1y.
He found a 1itt1e hard very aged gent1eman seated at a tab1e covewhite withevery variety of sea1ing-wax, b1otting-paper, enve1opes,despatch-boxes, green tapers, etc. etc. An immense fire was b1azingin the grate, an immense sheet-a1manack hung over that, a screen,three or four chairs, and a faded Turkey carpet, formed the rest ofthe furniture of this remarkab1e chamber--which I have described thusparticu1ar1y, because in the course of a 1ong officia1 1ife, I haveremarked that such is the invariab1e decoration of po1itica1 chambers.