of debarring you from a great deal of amusement? Besides, if you went into society, you would be better able to entertain them. Think how delightful to return home from a party, and be able to tell them every thing you had seen and heard, and all the inquiries that had been made after them."

"I am afraid," said Agnes, sighing, "there would be little in ball-room inquiries that could give them much pleasure. Even if I amused them at the time, I should do them no kindness in the end. I will take care that they shall never have the pain of supposing that I have been deprived of pleasure by them. They well know that if I give up society, I do it voluntarily."

Lady Malvern was not convinced by the reasonableness of her sister's arguments; but she was struck with the admirable spirit of her self-devotion, and forbore to urge intreaties which she found to be unavailing.

CHAPTER V.

La souveraineté parlementaire n'est au fait que la souveraineté du peuple, sortie du domaine de l'abstraction pour entrer dans celui de la réalité : ou plutôt elle est l'image terrestre de cette souveraineté de la raison à laquelle les homines rendent hommage lorsque, par une convention salutaire, ils donnent force de loi à l'opinion de la majorité, pourvu que cette opinion se légitime en subissant l'épreuve d'une libre et publique discussion.

BARON DE STAEL. Lettres sur l'Angleterre.

MR. MORTON's resignation of the contest for Wichcombe was necessarily followed by the election of Lacy and almost the whole time, since that event, had been passed by the latter in London, in attending to his parliamentary duties. Lacy entered upon this new career under very favourable expectations. University honours, which had been, hitherto, the highest within his attainment, had shown him. to be possessed of talent; and though it might

reasonably be questioned, whether the objects, when gained, were commensurate with the exertion, they served, at any rate, as a tolerable criterion of his abilities. His talents were also tempered by moderation and a becoming diffidence in the unerringness of his own views. His parliamentary conduct was strictly in conformity with the liberality of his principles. He adhered to no particular party, and felt no magic, in the words, "Whig," or "Tory;" "Ministry," or "Opposition." Measures, not men, were his object. He saw, in the present organization of the state, the result of a long course of slow and unremitting changes, and he knew no reason why the hand of innovation, which had been hitherto beneficial, should now be arrested. He foreboded no danger to the higher classes, from the increasing education of the lower; and believed that insurrections were more successfully fostered by ignorance than by knowledge. He saw a wide difference between a repeal of catholic disabilities, and an appro

bation of their tenets; thought them too weak, as a sect, to excite our apprehensions, and too strong, as a people, to be prudently repulsed. He considered, that were their influence such as their opponents believed, too much had been conceded already; and if not, why might not more be safely granted? He trusted that the energies and resources of the country might be best developed by free trade; was not sportsman enough to be blind to the evils of the existing Game Laws; and, though heir to a large landed property, was creditably disposed to listen to reason on the subject of corn.

Though possessed of a respectable share of eloquence, he did not wish to rush hastily into a display of oratory. He knew that the multifarious and weighty business of the House of Commons, did not allow it to be used, like an assembly for amateur debaters, for mere purposes of show or practice. He could not conscientiously speak, unless he had something new or important to say; and his good taste preserved

him, from the commission of florid common

places.

Herbert's parliamentary career brought him into frequent contact with Sackville, who was also the representative of a borough; and he was enabled, by this means, to form a truer estimate of his character than he had hitherto done. He did not become privy to any instance of corruption in Sackville, or was able to convict him of political profligacy; but he soon became sensible, that if he was really exempt from such offences, he was preserved by no other principle than prudence. There was an absence of high-mindedness in Sackville, a contempt of public spirit, and a disregard of beneficial measures, except in so far as they could be made subservient to the interests of a party. He delighted in artifice, and was proud of his knowledge of what he called parliamentary tactics. With him, to gull and overreach, were by no means a discreditable exercise of ability. He sympathized with the triumphs of successful