not like throwing away my trouble, I should let him
alone."

"The doctrine of confiscation is startling to all property," remarked the
prince. "I wish Charles would remember, that his strength lies in the
aristocracy."

"No man knows it better," observed W----. "But I strongly doubt whether
his consciousness of his own extraordinary talents is not at this moment
tempting him to try a new source of hazard. The people, nay, the populace,
are a new element to him, and to all. I can conceive a man of pre-eminent
ability, as much delighted with difficulty as inferior men are delighted
with ease. Fox has managed the aristocracy so long, and has bridled them
with so much the hand of a master, that what he might have once considered
as an achievement, he now regards as child's play. If Alexander's taming
Bucephalus was a triumph for a noble boy, I scarcely think that, after
passing the Granicus, he would have been proud of his fame as a
horse-breaker. Fox sees, as all men see, that great changes, for either
good or ill, are coming on the world. Next to that of a great king,
perhaps the most tempting rank to ambition would be that of a great
demagogue."

The glitter of Sheridan's eye, and the glow which passed across his cheek,
as he looked at the speaker, showed how fully he agreed with the
sentiment; and I expected some bold burst of eloquence. But, with that
sudden change of tone and temper which was among the most curious
characteristics of the man, he laughingly said, "At all events, whatever
the Revolution may do to our neighbours, it will do a vast deal of good to
ourselves. The clubs were growing so dull, that I began to think of
withdrawing my name from them all. Their principal supporters were daily
yawning themselves to death. The wiser part were flying into the country,
where, at least, their yawning would not be visible; and the rest remained
enveloped in dry and dreary newspapers, like the herbs of a 'Hortus
siccus.' White's was an hospital of the deaf and dumb; and Brookes's
strongly resembled Westminster Hall in the long vacation. It was in the
midst of this general doze that the news from Paris came. I assure you the
effects were miraculous--the universal spasm of lock-jaw was no more. Men
no longer regarded each other with a despairing glance in St James's
Street, and passed on. All was sudden sociability. Even in the city people
grew communicative, and puns were committed that would have struck their
foref