THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 167 



experience to whatever cause it might be owing a 

 sudden change in its system of government ; if an altera- 

 tion in its established forms has been brought about by 

 means which were uncalled for, it has almost always either 

 relapsed into its ancient channel, or else the change has 

 been attended with very disastrous circumstances. 



" My sermon is concluded. Ponder seriously, my dear 

 nephew, on what it contains, with a full assurance that 

 it is intended for your benefit, and qualify yourself for 

 the task I wish you to perform. Speech being the faculty 

 which exalts man above the rest of the creation, we must 

 consider eloquence as the talent which gives him the most 

 distinguished pre-eminence over his own species. Study 

 it, then, as you regard the wishes I may say more 

 the desires of Your affectionate uncle, 



" BEAUMOXT RABY." 



To this epistle, our hero returned the following reply : 



" MY DEAR UNCLE, It is with much regret that I find 

 myself compelled to decline complying with any wish of 

 yours, particularly with one so earnestly expressed as that 

 which is the subject of your last kind letter. But the fact 

 is, being confident that my enjoyment of life is one of the 

 objects most near to your heart, I have less compunction 

 in refusing to grant your present request than I should 

 otherwise feel. I have more than one objection to be- 

 coming a member of Parliament. First, on the score of 

 expense, for, as it is my wish to keep not less than six 

 hunters (I have four now my father has just made me 

 a present of two), and I mean to be absent from home, 

 in some of the best hunting countries, during the winter, 

 it would surely involve me in expenses which I might 

 not be able to meet, for, as you are aware, my allowance 

 from my father is only 800 a year. Then, again, 

 of what use should I be in Parliament, with my 

 slender experience of the world, and no knowledge of 

 business beyond adding up a bill 1 I suppose I might, 

 if called upon, make a tolerable speech that is to say, 

 if it were 011 a subject with which I was conversant; and 

 without being so, the tongue of a Demosthenes would be 

 useless. But, to tell you the truth, I am not so much 

 enamoured as yourself, with the effects of fine oratory ; 

 neither do I think it is altogether necessary to dress up 



