ch x STANDING FOR PARLIAMENT 67 



Lord Avebury that he does not seem to have 

 made any endeavour to probe beneath the 

 surface in order to perceive its motive. May we 

 not shrewdly guess that it was for the very 

 reason that the hope was a forlorn one, and that 

 there was virtually no chance of his being sent 

 to Parliament as representing West Kent, that 

 his father approved of his candidature, though 

 unwilling that he should stand for the safe seat 

 offered him in the City ? The father may well 

 have thought that the days and hours of this 

 very remarkable son were already sufficiently 

 occupied between his scientific pursuits and his 

 business, without the further detachment of a 

 seat in Parliament. And, on the other hand, 

 he may have reflected that the candidature itself, 

 with the speech - making and canvassing that 

 it involved, might be a very useful training for 

 a young man, for whom he may have foreseen 

 a considerable and eminent public career. The 

 father's consent in the one case and refusal in 

 the other do not really, of necessity, imply any 

 change in his opinion. 



The son, however, was but for a few months 

 longer to be subject to the guidance of the father, 

 whether for good or ill, for in June of the same 

 year Sir John, who had been in failing health 

 for some time, passed away. His death, though 

 far from unexpected, was deeply felt by his 

 eldest son. The latter was past thirty years of 

 age, yet we have seen how immediately, and 

 without demur, he had accepted his father's 

 verdict against his standing for Parliament as 

 the City's representative. To judge by the 



