1829.] Conversazione. 255 



in a Salon at Lady C. B— y's/' and that " The Monthly Club/' in 

 some other magazine, was evidently framed upon the hint. I am sorry 

 the Monthly has neglected to follow it up. 



Dr. H — tt. You need not be afraid. The IMonthly IMagazine may 

 nod sometimes ; but I am much mistaken if it be found asleep when it 

 ought to be awake. 



Third Group. 



Capt. M — n. \Vliat do you think of the Lord Chancellor ? 



Mr. A — s. That he has a very pretty wife — which is no libel, either 

 on the lady or the gentleman. But what do you think of the Duke of 

 Wellington ? 



Capt. M — n. That he was, a great general — and is — prime minister. 

 I hope I know how to avoid a libel as well as other people. 



Mr. A — s. I don't think so, for what can be more libellous than your 

 inuendo ? You assert, not in so many words, indeed, but by implication, 

 which is the same thing, that the Duke of Wellington is not now a 

 great general. Suppose you were to say of Sir. Peel, that he was — 

 an honest man; would not the obvious inference be, that you con- 

 sidered him no longer an honest man? Let me tell you, that the 

 Attorney-General would find in such an expression, matter sufficient 

 to move for a criminal information, unless he Avere in one of his gentler 

 moods, and preferred the more lenient process of an ex-officio. 



Mr. Mc. F — r. I am sorrj' to observe this levity upon a subject so 

 grave and momentous. " Nero fiddled, while Rome was burning." 

 When the free citizens of a free state can cut quips and quirks, while 

 their fetters are being rivetted, it is a melancholy proof that the period 

 of their slavery coincides with their fitness for bondage. I look upon 

 the recent attempts to stifle public opinion by the penalties of the law, 

 not as a question between men of ricketty character, who cannot stand 

 erect, and, therefore seek to punish the saucy railer who tells them the 

 disagreeable truth, but as the beginning of a system, which is to give 

 ricketty characters the exclusive privilege of protection. Ohsta pri7icipiis 

 is my maxim in all the affairs of life. You shall ever find, that where 

 great inroads are meditated in civil and political rights, the beginnings 

 are, comparatively, insignificant. It is the small end of the wedge that 

 is applied; and we all well know, that when once the small end is 

 firmly driven in, a succession of harder and harder blows gets the other 

 end in. " It passeth not amiss," observes Lord Bacon, " sometimes in 

 government, that the greater sort be admonished by an example made 

 in the meaner, and the dog to be beaten before the lion." Be assured, 

 that the spirit which has dictated these prosecutions^ emboldened by 

 success, will be urged to experiments upon a larger scale : one en- 

 croacliment will prepare the way for a second ; the second for a third, 

 each preceding invasion of popular rights being rendered more easy 

 by its precursor ; till at last, to follow out the simile of Lord Bacon, 

 when the dog has been well beaten, the lion himself will be boldly 

 plucked by the beard. 



Mr. D — n. Tlie licentiousness of the press is a great evil. 



Mr. Mc. F — r. All licentiousness is an evil, and all men, even the licen- 

 tious themselves, have an interest in repressing it. But piil)lic men are 



(•) W'e were in ecstaey for full ten minutes, listening to tlie most deligluful tliinfjs that 

 were said in our praise ; but as Hamlet observes, " all of wbicli, tliough we most potently 



and powerfully believed, yet we hold it not honesty to have it set down here." Ed. 



of M. M. 



