The July sun poured its scorching heat over the stone-paved streets of London and the riverside warehouses, a swelling sense of impending high summer diffusing through the air.
The pier piles stood soaked in the half-ebbed river, the staging baked hot under the sun; from every gap between the planks came the briny, muddy stench of timber and rotting fish.
Because of King William IV's demise, this year's closing date of Parliament came a little earlier than in previous years.
According to the provisions of the constitution, within six months of the Monarch's death a new general election must be held.
Thus, on the 17th of July last week, Victoria, following custom, appeared for the first time in her coronation robes at Westminster Palace, delivered her inaugural parliamentary speech before all the members of both Houses, declared Parliament prorogued, signed the order dissolving Parliament, and commanded that a new general election be held between late July and early August.
