THE CROMARTY RADICALS. - 329 



as blockheads they dislike him for his genius, and being 

 bad men, hate him as Shylock did Antonio, " for he is a 

 Christian ; " and I am afraid the petty annoyances they 

 contrive to cast in his way molest him at times more 

 than they ought. He has weak nerves, lives retired, 

 and has scarcely any turn for friendship, and so little 

 hurts him ; but I trust he will yet learn wholly to dis- 

 regard them. I am a Whig, and yet they do me the 

 honour of hating me nearly as heartily as they do him ; 

 but I am a thick-skinned, rough, shagged kind of animal, 

 and as in all the bickers in which they have engaged me 

 I have contrived somehow to get the laugh on my side, 

 and could besides give the best of them a drubbing 

 would they but choose to favour me with an opportunity, 

 I have been let alone of late. You have seen my pamph- 

 let. Is it not a piece of mortal ill-nature ? Remember, 

 however, that I am not to be judged with regard to it 

 by the laws of the Duello. I had not to fight with a 

 man of honour, but merely to horsewhip a low fellow 

 who had insulted a party of ladies and a reverend gen- 

 tleman 



' For my own part, though no one can surpass me in 

 the esteem I entertain for the better sex, and though 

 perhaps not naturally unsusceptible of the softer passion, 

 I deem myself as much tied down to a life of celibacy 

 as if I were a Romish priest. A refined taste and cul- 

 tivated understanding I have vainly sought for in women 

 of my own sphere ; and though I have sometimes found 

 both in those of another, I cannot seriously think of such 

 as objects on which to fix a hope. No one of a superior 

 station could become my wife without making a sacrifice 

 which I could not permit in the woman I loved; I 

 could not wrong her so much, as to make her the wife 

 of a poor mechanic. But friendship still remains for 



