of a rogue,
but not the necessary sign of law, that I was the most fortunate man
imaginable in coming to him, and, in short that I had nothing to do but
commence proceedings, and leave all the rest to him. I was very soon
talked into this proposal, and very soon embarked in the luxurious ocean
of litigation.

Having settled this business so satisfactorily, I went to receive
the condolence and sympathy of St. John. Notwithstanding the arduous
occupations both of pleasure and of power, in which he was constantly
engaged, he had found time to call upon me very often, and to express by
letter great disappointment that I had neither received nor returned his
visits. Touched by the phenomenon of so much kindness in a statesman, I
paid him in return the only compliment in my power; namely, I asked his
advice, with a view of taking it.

"Politics--politics, my dear Count," said he in answer to that request,
"nothing like it; I will get you a seat in the House by next week,--you
are just of age, I think,--Heavens! a man like you who has learning
enough for a German professor; assurance that would almost abash
a Milesian; a very pretty choice of words, and a pointed way of
consummating a jest,--why, with you by my side, my dear Count, I will
soon--"

"St. John," said I, interrupting him, "you forget I am a Catholic!"

"Ah, I did forget that," replied St. John, slowly. "Heaven help me,
Count, but I am sorry your ancestors were not converted; it was a pity
they should bequeath you their religion without the estate to support
it, for papacy has become a terrible tax to its followers."

"I wonder," said I, "whether the earth will ever be governed by
Christians, not cavillers; by followers of our Saviour, not by
co-operators of the devil; by men who obey the former, and 'love one
another,' not by men who walk about with the latter (that roaring lion),
'seeking whom they may devour.' Intolerance makes us acquainted with
strange nonsense, and folly is never so ludicrous as when associated
with something sacred; it is then like Punch and his wife in Powell's
puppet-show, _dancing in the Ark_. For example, to tell those who differ
from us that they are in a delusion, and yet to persecute them for that
delusion, is to equal the wisdom of our forefathers, who, we are
told, in the 'Daemonologie' of the Scottish Solomon, 'burned a whole
monasterie of nunnes for being misled, not by men, but _dreames_!'"

And being somewhat moved, I ran