try wanted for such training. He was born in the
purple, noble himself, and heir to the highest rank as well as one of
the greatest fortunes of the country, already very rich, surrounded
by all the temptations of luxury and pleasure; and yet he devoted
himself to work with the grinding energy of a young penniless
barrister labouring for a penniless wife, and did so without any
motive more selfish than that of being counted in the roll of
the public servants of England. He was not a brilliant man, and
understood well that such was the case. He was now listened to in
the House, as the phrase goes; but he was listened to as a laborious
man, who was in earnest in what he did, who got up his facts with
accuracy, and who, dull though he be, was worthy of confidence. And
he was very dull. He rather prided himself on being dull, and on
conquering in spite of his dullness. He never allowed himself a
joke in his speeches, nor attempted even the smallest flourish of
rhetoric. He was very careful in his language, labouring night and
day to learn to express himself with accuracy, with no needless
repetition of words, perspicuously with regard to the special object
he might have in view. He had taught himself to believe that oratory,
as oratory, was a sin against that honesty in politics by which he
strove to guide himself. He desired to use words for the purpose of
teaching things which he knew and which others did not know; and he
desired also to be honoured for his knowledge. But he had no desire
to be honoured for the language in which his knowledge was conveyed.
He was an upright, thin, laborious man; who by his parts alone could
have served no political party materially, but whose parts were
sufficient to make his education, integrity, and industry useful in
the highest degree. It is the trust which such men inspire which
makes them so serviceable;--trust not only in their labour,--for any
man rising from the mass of the people may be equally laborious; nor
yet simply in their honesty and patriotism. The confidence is given
to their labour, honesty, and patriotism joined to such a personal
stake in the country as gives them a weight and ballast which no
politician in England can possess without it.

If he was dull as a statesman he was more dull in private life, and
it may be imagined that such a woman as his wife would find some
difficulty in making his society the source of her happiness. Their
marriage, in a point of view r