y correct in his explanation of
the opinion which many fashionable ladies in America are led to form in
favor of our aristocratic form of government from what they see of the
pomp and parade of the English nobility; though, in characterizing such
ladies as weak and empty headed women, he was, to say the least, rather
severe. In respect to the other question,--that is, how far the immense
inequality of the division of the annual production of the Island of
Great Britain among the people who produce it, and the consequent
extreme poverty of so large a portion of the working classes, is owing
to the laws and institutions which the aristocracy themselves have
formed,--that is a very grave one. Mr. George thought that it was owing
to those laws and institutions, and not to any thing in the natural or
physical condition of the country itself, that there was so much abject
poverty in Great Britain.

"The soil is as fertile," said he to himself, "the mines are as rich,
the machinery is as effective, and there is as much profitable work to
be done in England as in America, and I see no reason why the whole
amount of value produced in proportion to the producers should not be as
great in one country as in the other. Consequently, if some classes
obtain more than their share, and others less, the inequality must be
the effect of the institutions and laws."

CHAPTER XII

A MISFORTUNE.

The queen's birthday proved to be an unfortunate day for Rollo, for he
met with quite a serious misfortune in the evening while he and Mr.
George were out looking at the illuminations. The case was this:--

Rollo had formed a plan for going with Mr. George in the evening to the
hotel where his father and mother were lodging, to get Jennie to go out
with them to see the illuminations. They had learned from their landlady
that the best place to see them was along a certain street called Pall
Mall, where there were a great many club houses and other public
buildings, which were usually illuminated in a very brilliant manner.[F]

[F] These club houses are very large and splendid mansions belonging to
associations of gentlemen called _clubs_. Some of the clubs contain more
than a thousand members. The houses are fitted up in the most luxurious
manner, with reading rooms, libraries, dining rooms, apartments for
conversation, and for all sorts of games, and every thing else requisite
to make them agreeable places of resort for the members. The