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All preliminaries being thus arranged, Mr. Speaker standing up, exclaimed with a loud voice, "The House will be pleased to be silent while their skulls are sawing," and immediately called upon Lord CASTLEREAGH and Mr. TIERNEY.

The noble Lord obeyed without hesitation, but the Right Hon. Gentleman seemed rather to hesitate, and muttered, methought, some reflections on Mr. Speaker's partiality in selecting him for one of the first subjects of so dangerous an operation. The House, however, took the Speaker's part very warmly, and Mr. TIERNEY was obliged to acquiesce. The Noble Lord and the Right Honourable Member now knelt down, and laid their heads on the knees of the respective Surgeons, who with the proper instruments, and with astonishing skill and celerity, cut off the crown of each head, and interchanging the sections, through the means of Doctor Spurzheim, who sat between them, placed with great dexterity Mr. TIERNEY'S occiput on Lord CASTLE

REAGH's head, and his Lordship's on Mr. TIERNEY'S: upon which they both rose up and returned to their places, bowing to the Chair.

Methought I now overheard Sir Everard Home remark to Mr. Cline, that he had never dissected a sounder head than his Lordship's, that all the parts were disposed in the most perfect order, and that he never discovered in animal conformation a stronger promise of sound judgment and moral excellence. Mr. Cline whispered, in reply, that his subject had a very different appearance, for that all the organs, nerves, and muscles, particularly of the brain, were tangled and twisted into a thousand turnings and doublings, like the trail of a woodcock.

The effect of the operation was immediately visible; Mr. TIERNEY'S manner became open and candid; he spoke, indeed, in a more involved and intricate style than usual, and he frequently talked of hinges, features and bottoms, but then his matter was so good, his principles so noble, and his feelings

so upright and honourable, that it was easy to see that he made a strong impression on the whole House, and, strange to tell, even his own friends appeared to place the greatest confidence in him.

Lord CASTLEREAGH, on the contrary, began to speak in a plain, matter of fact, intelligible manner, but what he gained in style, he appeared to lose in substance; for notwithstanding his affected plainness, it was evident that there was always some little paltry trick or dexterity at bottom: the House was indeed much amused at his sallies, but he made no sort of impression; the Members on his own side appeared to place little confidence in him, and even Mr. ROBINSON and Colonel WOOD seemed to regard him with evident marks of distrust.

Mr. Speaker next mentioned the names of Mr. CANNING and Mr. PONSONBY; but he at the same time submitted to the House whether it would be consistent with their usual courtesy to their own Members that so strong a measure as cutting off

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half his head should be taken in Mr. CANNING'S absence. This observation produced a discussion, in which the Members on the opposition benches insisted that what the Speaker had urged as a difficulty was, on the contrary, a facility, as it was certainly much easier to have a cut at Mr. CANNING in his absence than in his presence. thought however that the sudden arrival of Mr. CANNING in a travelling dress put an end to the debate on this point, and as the friends of Mr. PONSONBY expressed a very strong desire that he should get a share of Mr. CANNING's brains, the latter Right Hon. Gentleman, after a short explanation from Mr. HUSKISSON of the arrangement which had been made in his absence, accompanied Mr. PONSONBY to the table.

When the operation was over, Mr. PONSONBY'S manner was quite altered; his eye shot fire, his countenance was illuminated, his gestures were at once lively and graceful, his conversation became in

the highest degree entertaining; every thing he said was either new or put in so happy a point of view, as to have all the graces of novelty: his language was at once admirable for its precision. and its spirit; and every thing he said was received with attention and applause.

Mr. CANNING in the meanwhile slunk away to his seat with his hat pulled down over his eyes. He said very little, and that little was attended to by no one on either side of the House. Indeed there was so much coughing and confusion while he spoke, that I could catch but a few words here and there, such as "two and two make four;" from which I collected that he was either repeating the multiplication table, or calculating the retiring pension of an ex-Chancellor. But what seemed to me most extraordinary was, to observe Lord Binning and Mr. Sturges Bourne quizzing Mr. Canning, and laughing immoderately at old Twaddle, as Į overheard them calling him.

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