leaders who, despairing that a corrupt body like a Tory House of Commons should voluntarily reform itself, urged and obtained the interposition of the people; for I knew that dispersed and abstract efforts must be unavailing; that in such an enterprise, unity of purpose and combination of exertion could alone ensure success; for I, for one, was never deterred from appealing to the people by that miserable commonplace of invective that would brand me as the diffuser of discontents and the provoker of sedition; no, I know too well the nothingness of a jargon that does not even deserve to be dignified with so specious a name as sophistry, and felt for it that contempt which a man of common capacity must always feel, and which an honest man will always express.' (Hear! hear! hear!) "I, and all the friends of reform were told, that though we knew the limits of our own reforms, we could not prescribe limits to the desire of innovation their success might awaken in the minds of the people; to so threadbare a generality, it was scarcely necessary to oppose another commonplace, that no abuse could be reformed if all institutions are to be inflexibly maintained. Yet it was a provocative to do so, when the friends of reform were continually told to remember that no government could be secure if change were perpetually allowed; nay, this battered objection was issued as a fiat, and for a long time implicitly obeyed by the servile majority.

"Tibi summum rerum judicium dii dedere-
Nobis obsequii gloria relicta est.'"

66

(Loud cheers from the gentlemen at the lower end of the table, who did not understand Latin, and, consequently, did not detect the plagiarism.) But, happily, that majority was succeeded by a greater and more liberal one; and many who deplored the madness of our temerity in venturing our all in the bark of Reform, as long as it was buffeting the stormy ocean of opposition, are willing enough to hail its success with their cowardly cheers now that the gale of popular feeling and the strong current of public opinion, together with its having been so ably manned, have brought it safely into port; but I would warn you to be cautious of that support, which never would have been offered but that it is no longer wanted. Having achieved this glorious victory, now let us study to maintain it, which can only

be done by giving to the people that high and healthy tone of morals, which places beyond oppression on the one hand and above sedition on the other." (Hear, hear, hear.) "But a people's morals, like their power, must emanate from themselves; it is by cultivating all the finer and holier yarn of humanity that woofs our nature, that that nature must be improved. Our homes and hearths are the nurseries of our virtues or our vices. The 'boy is father to the man;' the acorn must be planted before the oak can flourish. Are you children? So am I. Are you fathers? So am I. Are you husbands, and does your existence twine round a dearer self? So does mine." (Audible sobs from behind the screen.) "And it is by all these nearest and dearest ties of our common nature that I appeal to you, that I conjure you, to weed, to prune, and to train the minds of the future men and women that are intrusted to your care. It is not so much by making punishments terrible and vice hideous, that I would deprive them of followers, as by making virtue lovely and justice attainable. I would ask no greater boon than that I might live to see every jail in the kingdom replaced by a garden, and every gibbet exchanged for a gymnasium." (Hear, hear, hear, and an uproar of applause.) "And now, my friends and fellow-townsmen, if I have not thanked you for your kind and zealous support, which I feel the more proud of from the conviction that it was given to the measures, and not the man, it is because I cannot. There has been such a run upon my gratitude, that though it is far, very far from a state of bankruptcy, yet it will require time, perhaps my whole life, to repay you the balance of obligation I owe you." (Hear, hear, hear.) "I will not, therefore, trespass farther on your patience than to bid you engrave upon your hearts the inscription I had on my banner this morning, and remember that

"The strength of the people is vested in themselves; "Their liberty can only be obtained by themselves.' "One word more. Without detracting from my obligations to you, gentlemen, I feel that I should not have been brought in so handsomely, that is, on such fair grounds, had not your wives and daughters lent me their countenance. I therefore must beg leave to propose the health of the ladies of Triverton and its vicinity."

The noble lord then sat down amid uproarious accla

1

mations, especially from Mr. Wrigglechops, and great giggling from behind the screen. The ladies' health

having been drank, they took the hint; and, not to injure it by sitting up too late, instantly departed; but Mrs. Wrigglechops was so melted by the conjugal pathos of parts of Lord de Clifford's speech, that she sent Mr. Wrigglechops a shilling round by one of the waiters, in case he should like to go home in a fly and Miss Caroline Chubb was in such a fever of admiration, that she said she should die if she did not get a bit of his lordship's writing.

"For, ma, I don't think he could take it amiss if I was to send round and ask him for a frank, after our Frank getting him three plumpers.'

"Well, s'pose you do, Carry," assented Mrs. Chubb; "but who'll you get the frank directed to ?"

Oh, dear, I never thought of that! but, as I'm going to Margate myself on Monday, I could get it directed to me; and I should find it in the postoffice ready for me when I get there."

"That's a very good thought, Carry, and it will look so genteel besides; for gentlefolks always has such loads of letters, that I often think they must hire people to write to them: but you can't send a word of mouth message to his lordship-it wouldn't be purlite; but just write him a bit of a note-stop, let Betsy do it; she's used to making out the bills, and writes a better hand."

Accordingly, Betsy went into a small room, where the ladies were putting on their clogs and cloaks, and called for a sheet of paper; when, from the force of habit, she began,

"Viscount de Clifford debtor to T. Chubb."

"Dear me, don't be so stupid, Betsy," said Miss Caroline; "I'll tell you what to say;" and accordingly, she dictated the following billet:

"Miss C. Chubb presents her respectful compliments to the Right Hon. Viscount de Clifford, M.P. for Triverton; and having the greatest possible wish for his lordship's cenotaph, should be greatly obliged by his obliging her with it in the form of a frank, directed to 'Miss Caroline Chubb, junior.'

Miss C. Chubb having a maiden aunt of that name, eighty-two years of age. sister to her father, living at

Ferrybridge in Yorkshire, will thank his lordship to put the junior, to prevent mistakes.

'Postoffice,
'Margate,

Isle of Thanet,
'Kent.

'To be left till called for.'

"Golden Fleece Hotel, Friday night, September the 10th, 18-.

"P.S. Miss Caroline Chubb, junior, begs to apologize to his lordship for making the above demand, and hopes his lordship won't think of settling and giving the frank unless quite convenient."

"That will do uncommon well," said Mrs. Chubb, spelling over the note; "but what is a cenotaph, Carry?" "Laur, ma, I thought every one knew what a cenotaph was why, a cenotaph is one's own writing written by another person, to be sure."

"You must remember, Carry," said Mrs. Chubb, "that it isn't every one that has had the schooling and genteel education as you've had. I'm sure I thought, when his lordship was telling us to attend to our children, well! that may be a slap at some, but not at me: but wasn't it a helegant speech, ma'am?" inquired Mrs. Chubb of Mrs. Wrigglechops, who was pinning up her gown and tucking up a white dimity petticoat beyond the fear of mud.

"Yes, that's something like a husband! did you mind how he spoke of his wife? Tell Chubb, will you, to send me the best Stilton he has to-morrow; and two pounds of the poorest Chedder he's got, for Wrigglechops: I'm obliged to keep him low; good things don't agree with him, he's such a poor creature."

"Thank you, ma'am, I'll be sure to attend to it; but do you ever give the major (you'll excuse me, ma'am) a new-laid egg beat up in brandy? It's an excellent thing for people who are rather weak."

"Oh, all the beating up in the world don't do him any good.'

Here the waiter returned with the frank, and a note from Lord de Clifford, begging Miss Caroline Chubb, junior, would at all times command his services; and assuring her that he never should be guilty of the bad taste of mistaking her maiden aunt of eighty-two for the

blooming Miss Caroline Chubb of eighteen, although he might not have the good fortune to be near either of them as Margate was to Ferrybridge.

After the departure of the ladies, the gentlemen, as is their wont, became happy and unrestrained: Lord de Clifford and his guests retired at midnight, all, except Major Nonplus, who had knocked under long before that hour; nor was he a solitary instance, as most of the patriotic assemblage were far from being "neat as imported." No speeches of any importance had been made after the screen had become untenanted, for Lady de Clifford's health was the only toast given, to which Lord de Clifford briefly replied, as follows:

"Gentlemen, in the toast you have just done me the honour of drinking, you have awakened feelings of so home and personal a nature, that it would be egotism were I to say more than that I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Here Lord de Clifford pressed both his hands to his breast, and hid his face by bowing down to the table, amid the deafening plaudits of a sympathizing audience. So loud and long-continued were the shouts of pure patriotism and universal philanthropy, that, as the wall of their rooms also formed that of the banqueting-room of the Golden Fleece, it was four in the morning before Mary Lee and her father could get any sleep, as they lay on their narrow beds in the jailer's house.