POLITICAL, LITERARY, AND MORAL. 421 



" I agree with you though the consummate address of Sir Robert 

 Peel has enabled him to glide away from direct opposition. I never 

 see him in the House with a majority ranged against him, all 

 furious to oust him, but he reminds me forcibly of a serpent gliding 

 amidst stones. He turns, and wheels, and doubles, with such per- 

 fect ease and grace, that, in watching him, one forgets the difficulties 

 of his path." 



" It is the perfection of Machiavelism. The candour and ab- 

 solute simplicity with which he meets the most direct questions are 

 no less amusing than matchless. He has for the moment saved his 

 party. It would have been laughed out of the House, or thrust out 

 by the shoulders, but for his tactics. His worst enemies must ac- 

 knowledge the admirable temper and skill he has displayed." 



" Is it possible for them to keep office ?" 



" The question is more pertinent than multitudes of people 

 suppose : I think not. A powerful government may however be 

 constructed, and the present vacillations and nothingnesses will no 

 doubt lead to it. It will be well for the country, and therefore we 

 rejoice at the prospect. The ' perpetual-motion ' men are unfit to 

 guide the destinies of a great nation. The cause of freedom is safe, 

 but it requires skill and caution to adapt its progress to our con- 

 stitutional government. Vigil et sanctus should be the watchword, 

 and not the brawling of party, whose motto is, 



' Rem facias ; rem, 

 Recte, si possis ; si non, quocunque modo rem/ 



But enough! we have politics plenty thrust upon us, without thrusting 

 ourselves upon politics." 



" Agreed ! what say you to the philosophy of the literature of 

 the day ? " 



" ' The philosophy of the literature of the day ! ' poh ! you are 

 quizzical ; much of it, you may turn over again and again, and make 

 neither head nor tail of it much less of philosophy. Like the coun- 

 tryman that, having found a hedgehog rolled up, took it to a wise 

 man in order to know what it was ; who sagely determined that ' it 

 was a thing which neither gods nor men could understand : ' so it is 

 with a large portion of modern literature. It may have meaning, it 

 may have excellences, it may have truth, morality, and justice 

 within it ; but, like the hedgehog, it is so oddly rolled up, that they 

 are not to be seen." 



