Whilst the Commons take no official part in the performance, the peers
are represented either by Black Rod or by his deputy, the Yeoman Usher,
who is accompanied by half-a-dozen stalwart doorkeepers and messengers,
handy in case of a fray. The Board of Works are represented by the Chief
Surveyor of the London District, accompanied by the Clerk of Works to
the Houses of Parliament. The Chief Engineer of the House of Commons,
who is responsible for all the underground workings of the building,
leads the party, the Chief Inspector of Police boldly marching on his
left hand.
These are details prosaic enough. The nineteenth century has engrafted
them on the sixteenth. The picturesqueness of the scene comes in with
the appearance of the armed contingent. This is made up of some fourteen
or sixteen of the Yeomen of the Guard, who arrive at the place of
rendezvous armed with halberds and swords. The halberds look well, but
this search is, above all, a business undertaking. It is recognised that
for close combat in the vaults and narrow passages of the building
halberds would be a little unwieldy. They are accordingly stacked in the
Prince's Chamber, the Yeomen fearlessly marching on armed with nothing
but their swords. Clad in their fifteenth century costume, they are
commanded by an officer who wears a scarlet swallow-tailed coat, cocked
hat, and feathers, gilt spurs shining at his martial heel. The spurs are
not likely to be needed. But the British officer knows how to prepare
for any emergency.
Following the Yeomen of the Guard stride half-a-dozen martial men in
costumes dating from the early part of the present century. They wear
swallow-tail coats, truncated cone caps, with the base of the cone
uppermost. They are armed with short, serviceable cutlasses and bâtons,
such as undertakers' men carry, suggesting that they have come to bury
Guy Fawkes, not to catch him.
[Illustration: INSPECTOR HORSLEY.]
Most of the underground chambers and passages of the Houses of
Parliament are lit by electricity. Failing that, they are flooded with
gas. When search for Guy Fawkes was first ordered, the uses of gas had
not been discovered, much less the possibilities of electricity.
Lanterns were the only thing, so lanterns are still used. As the
dauntless company of men-at-arms tramp along the subterranean passages,
it is pretty to see the tallow dips in the swinging lanterns shamed by
the wanton light that beats from the electric lamps.