It would be impossible for the reader, even were I to insert
the letters at full length, to comprehend the real cause of their being
written, without a glance into the interior of the British cabinet at the
period in question.
The ministers of the day happened (no very singular event) to be divided
into two parties; the weakest of which, making up by assiduity of
intrigue their inferiority in real consequence, had of late acquired some
new proselytes, and with them the hope of superseding their rivals in the
favour of their sovereign, and overpowering them in the House of Commons.
Amongst others, they had thought it worth while to practise upon Richard
Waverley. This honest gentleman, by a grave mysterious demeanour, an
attention to the etiquette of business rather more than to its essence, a
facility in making long dull speeches, consisting of truisms and
commonplaces, hashed up with a technical jargon of office, which
prevented the inanity of his orations from being discovered, had acquired
a certain name and credit in public life, and even established, with
many, the character of a profound politician; none of your shining
orators, indeed, whose talents evaporate in tropes of rhetoric and
flashes of wit, but one possessed of steady parts for business, which
would wear well, as the ladies say in choosing their silks, and ought in
all reason to be good for common and every-day use, since they were
confessedly formed of no holiday texture.
Pages:
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416