English Language · English

Based on the text, how does the Lord Chancellor respond to the crowd? The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll's 1889 satirical novel Sylvie and Bruno. A crowd has gathered outside a room belonging to the Warden, an official who reports to the Lord Chancellor. One man, who was more excited than the rest, flung his hat high into the air, and shouted (as well as I could make out) 'Who roar for the Sub-Warden?' Everybody roared, but whether it was for the Sub-Warden, or not, did not clearly appear: some were shouting 'Bread!' and some 'Taxes!', but no one seemed to know what it was they really wanted. All this I saw from the open window of the Warden's breakfast-saloon, looking across the shoulder of the Lord Chancellor. 'What can it all mean?' he kept repeating to himself. 'I never heard such shouting before—and at this time of the morning, too! And with such unanimity!'