e like the other whig lords, was careful to maintain, while he
vindicated the cause of civil and religious liberty, a very loyal and
dutiful though secret correspondence with the court of St Germains.

The great deliverer King William the Third, to whom Lord Marney was
a systematic traitor, made the descendant of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioner of Henry the Eighth an English earl; and from that time
until the period of our history, though the Marney family had never
produced one individual eminent for civil or military abilities, though
the country was not indebted to them for a single statesman, orator,
successful warrior, great lawyer, learned divine, eminent author,
illustrious man of science, they had contrived, if not to engross any
great share of public admiration and love, at least to monopolise no
contemptible portion of public money and public dignities. During the
seventy years of almost unbroken whig rule, from the accession of the
House of Hanover to the fall of Mr Fox, Marney Abbey had furnished
a never-failing crop of lord privy seals, lord presidents, and
lord lieutenants. The family had had their due quota of garters and
governments and bishoprics; admirals without fleets, and generals who
fought only in America. They had glittered in great embassies with
clever secretaries at their elbow, and had once governed Ireland when
to govern Ireland was only to apportion the public plunder to a corrupt
senate.

Notwithstanding however this prolonged enjoyment of undeserved
prosperity, the lay abbots of Marney were not content. Not that it was
satiety that induced dissatisfaction. The Egremonts could feed on.
They wanted something more. Not to be prime ministers or secretaries of
state, for they were a shrewd race who knew the length of their tether,
and notwithstanding the encouraging example of his grace of Newcastle,
they could not resist the persuasion that some knowledge of the
interests and resources of nations, some power of expressing opinions
with propriety, some degree of respect for the public and for himself,
were not altogether indispensable qualifications, even under a Venetian
constitution, in an individual who aspired to a post so eminent and
responsible. Satisfied with the stars and mitres and official seals,
which were periodically apportioned to them, the Marney family did not
aspire to the somewhat graceless office of being their distributor. What
they aimed at was promotion in their order; a