rcely
older than Julius Caesar when he commenced his public career, he looks as
high and brave, and he springs from a long-lived race.

He stood upon the _perron_ of Harcourt House, the last of the great
hotels of an age of stately dwellings with its wings, and court-yard,
and carriage portal, and huge outward walls. He put forth his hand to
bid farewell, and his last words were characteristic of the man--of his
warm feelings and of his ruling passion: 'God bless you; we must work,
and the country will come round us.'

CHAPTER XIII.

_The Curtain Falls_

THE heavens darken; a new character enters upon the scene.

They say that when great men arise they have a mission to accomplish
and do not disappear until it is fulfilled. Yet this is not always true.
After all his deep study and his daring action Mr. Hampden died on an
obscure field, almost before the commencement of that mighty struggle
which he seemed born to direct. In the great contention between the
patriotic and the cosmopolitan principle which has hardly begun, and
on the issue of which the fate of this island as a powerful community
depends, Lord George Ben-tinck appeared to be produced to represent the
traditionary influences of our country in their most captivating form.
Born a natural leader of the people, he was equal to the post. Free from
prejudices, his large mind sympathized with all classes of the realm.
His courage and his constancy were never surpassed by man. He valued
life only as a means of fulfilling duty, and truly it may be said of
him, that he feared none but God.

A few days after the interview noticed in the last chapter, Lord George
Bentinck returned to Welbeck. Some there were who thought him worn by
the exertions of the session, and that an unusual pallor had settled
upon that mantling and animated countenance. He himself never felt in
better health or was ever in higher spirits, and greatly enjoyed the
change of life, and that change to a scene so dear to him.

On the 21 st of September, after breakfasting with his family, he
retired to his room, where he employed himself With some papers, and
then wrote three letters, one to Lord Enfield, another to the Duke of
Richmond, and the third to the writer of these pages. That letter is
now at hand; it is of considerable length, consisting of seven sheets of
note-paper, full of interesting details of men and things, and written
not only in a cheerful but even a merry moo