ion; no
greater connections or more ambitious interests cancelled those
early ties, and though he was not unnaturally dazzled and
flattered by the later intimacies he contracted, this never for a
moment made him forgetful of or indifferent to his first and less
distinguished friends.

[3] [Lord Dover's volume on the 'Man in the Iron Mask'
deserves not to be altogether forgotten, though more
recent researches have proved that his theory
identifying the 'Iron Mask' with Mathioli, the captured
agent of the Duke of Parma, cannot be supported.]

[Page Head: THE LOCAL COURTS BILL DEFEATED.]

The Local Courts Bill was thrown out by twelve. His party made the
_amende honorable_ to Lyndhurst, and went down in a body to back
him. He and Brougham each spoke for two hours or more, and both
with consummate skill, the latter especially in his very best
style, and with extraordinary power and eloquence. It would not
perhaps be easy to decide which made the ablest speech; that of
Lyndhurst was clear, logical, and profound, replete with a sort of
judicial weight and dignity, with a fine and cutting vein of
sarcasm constantly peeping from behind a thick veil of complimentary
phraseology. Brougham more various, more imaginative, more
impassioned, more eloquent, and exceedingly dexterous. Unable to
crush Lyndhurst, he resembled one of Homer's heroes, who, missing
his great antagonist, wreaked his fury on some ignominious foe,
and he fell upon Wynford with overpowering severity. As somebody
told me who heard him, 'He flayed him alive, and kept rubbing salt
upon his back.' It appears to have been a great exhibition. There
was Lyndhurst after his speech, drinking tea, not a bit tired,
elated and chuckling: 'Well, how long will the Chancellor speak,
do you think, eh? we shall have some good fun from him. What lies
he will tell, and how he will misrepresent everything! come, let's
have done our tea, that we mayn't miss him, eh?' The truth seems
to be that the Bill is not a good Bill, and is condemned by the
lawyers, that some such measure is required, but that this is
nothing more than a gigantic job, conferring enormous patronage
upon the Chancellor. The debate, however, appears to have afforded
a grand display of talent.[4]

[4] [The successful efforts of the Tories to prevent the
establishment of a system of Local Courts of limited
jurisdiction, retarded for many