Modern Usage
The term became obsolete in the later Reform Act of 1884, but is still used colloquially to refer to Members of Parliament who represent rural, or 'county' constituencies. With exceptions, they tend towards conservatism rather than radicalism.
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Famous quotes containing the words modern and/or usage:
“The complaint ... about modern steel furniture, modern glass houses, modern red bars and modern streamlined trains and cars is that all these objets modernes, while adequate and amusing in themselves, tend to make the people who use them look dated. It is an honest criticism. The human race has done nothing much about changing its own appearance to conform to the form and texture of its appurtenances.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)