Chapter 5 - Page 2

transfer gold from the pocket of his neighbor to
his own had mistaken the objects of his being. My poor ancestor who
had never quitted London stood before me with his dying regrets; and
my first resolution was to live in open communion with my kind. So
intense, indeed, did my anxiety to execute this purpose become that
it might have led even to frenzy had not a fortunate circumstance
interposed to save me from so dire a calamity.

The coach in which I had taken passage (for I purposely avoided the
parade and trouble of post-chaise and servants), passed through a
market town of known loyalty on the eve of a contested election.
This appeal to the intelligence and patriotism of the constituency
had occurred in consequence of the late incumbent having taken
office. The new minister, for he was a member of the cabinet, had
just ended his canvass, and he was about to address his fellow-
subjects from a window of the tavern in which he lodged. Fatigued,
but ready to seek mental relief by any means, I threw myself from
the coach, secured a room, and made one of the multitude.

The favorite candidate occupied a large balcony surrounded by his
principal friends, among whom it was delightful to see earls, lords
John, baronets, dignitaries of the church, tradesmen of influence in
the borough, and even a mechanic or two, all squeezed together in
the agreeable amalgamation of political affinity. Here then, thought
I, is an example of the heavenly charities I The candidate himself,
the son and heir of a peer, feels that he is truly of the same flesh
and blood as his constituents; how amiably he smiles!--how bland are
his manners!--and with what cordiality does he shake hands with the
greasiest and the worst! There must be a corrective to human pride,
a stimulus to the charities, a never-ending lesson of benevolence in
this part of our excellent system, and I will look farther into it.
The candidate appeared and his harangue commenced.

Memory would fail me were I to attempt recording the precise
language of the orator, but his opinions and precepts are so deeply
graven on my recollection that I do not fear misrepresenting them.
He commenced with a very proper and eloquent eulogium on the
constitution, which he fearlessly pronounced to be in its way the
very perfection of human reason; in proof of which he adduced the
well-ascertained fact that it had always been known throughout the
vicissitudes and trials of so many centuries to accommodate itself
to circumstances, abhorring change. "Yes, my friends," he exclaimed,
in a burst of patriotic and constitutional fervor, "whether under
the roses or the lilies--the Tudors, the Stuarts, or the illustrious
house of Brunswick, this glorious structure has