FALL. 91 



sition coaches, going at a more rapid pace 

 and at reduced fares, terminating fre- 

 quently in the ruin of one or both parties. 



It will not then be difficult to divine 

 that it required a good general, that is, 

 a man with a good "capacity, of keen 

 judgment, and, what is more, of consi- 

 derable caution, to preside over such an 

 establishment; for he had to seek and 

 secure alliances among the different coun- 

 try proprietors, and to hold it in his 

 power to reward the allegiance of one, 

 or punish the delinquency of another 

 all of which involved tact, penetration, 

 and forethought. 



For want of these my poor father fell, 

 and, in his fall, crushed the rising aspira- 

 tions of his more ambitious son, and 

 blotted them out for ever. It would be 

 worse than a foolish vanity to compare 

 this with the fall of those brilliant stars 

 of greater or less magnitude, whose 



