The exclamation was caused by the appearance of a face out of the House of Lords. It was that of Sir Thomas Prendergast, who was very obnoxious to the people. He only peeped out to see what was going on, but before he could pull back he was caught by the nose and led out to the kennel, and was rolled and rolled again until he was all mud from head to foot.
“Let’s go inside, boys. What do we want stoppin’ here?” was then blurted out by one of the ringleaders, but the crowd which had rushed up to the House of Lords when Prendergast showed himself had already begun to make its way in, and soon the whole of it began to set in that direction. The only thing for Jack and myself was to allow ourselves to be carried along with it. Dorothy clung to my arm with feverish anxiety. As for the old man he seemed as if he were scared out of his wits.
Rough as the crowd was it endeavoured to avoid the lady. Still she must have suffered considerably as we squeezed through the doorway. We arrived to find the seats of the House of Lords in possession of the mob, and the Peers crowding up behind the chair.
Lord Farnham was in the act of taking the oath, in succession to his father, who had recently died, when the crowd broke in and interrupted the ceremony.
“You must take the oath from us!—you must take the oath from us!”
The rush of the crowd and the angry cries completely nonplussed the new lord. He looked helplessly at the Chancellor and at his brother Peers, and hardly knowing what he did, he followed the words of the oath as administered to him by one of the ringleaders of the mob.
This performance provoked loud plaudits. Then for want of something else to do, the crowd began to stand on the seats and tables, and force themselves up towards the chair. The Chancellor and the other peers and some ladies had retreated behind the throne.
“Oh! there’s Biddy Simpson—there’s Biddy, boys!”
“Arrah, where else wud I be, thin?” replied Biddy, who was an old lady well known for the sharpness of her tongue in the Ormond Market.
“Put Biddy in the chair, boys! Put Biddy in the chair!” and amidst ringing cheers Miss Biddy Simpson was placed in the chair.