Page:Manners and customs of ye Englyshe.djvu/69

 P, and to the Houſe of Lords, where a Committee of Privileges touching a diſputed Peerage, wherein I had no Concern, but did only go for a Sight of the Inſide of the Houſe, and well worth ſeeing indeed it was; and the Carving, and Gilding, and Blazoning, a rich Feaſt to the Eye. There preſent none but my and my, and three or four other Lords, which methought a poor Muſter, but a ſmaller do often ſerve for a Court of Appeal; for their Lordſhips do truſt all their Law Buſineſs to the Law-Lords' Hands. Counſel ſpeaking at the Bar of the Houſe, and the Clerks of the Houſe before them at the Table, all in their Wigs very (lately, but my Lords lolling on the Benches, free and eaſy, they only having the Right to make themſelves at Home, yet droll to fee the Officers of the Houſe forced to ſtand, but ſome of them leaning againſt the Stems of the gilt Candlelticks, faſt aſleep on their Legs. Did think I mould go to deep too, if I ſtayed much longer, and about to depart; but glad I did not; for preſently the Counvel made an End, and then my examining a Witneſs was almoſt the beſt Sport that I ever had in my Life.—The Witneſs, one of the Attornies for the Claimant of the Title, and  ſuſpecting ſome Trickery in the Caſe, and good Lack! how he did bait and ferret him to draw it out, aſking the moſt peremptory