"After all, the registration might be better," said Tadpole,
"but still it is a very good one."
The daily bulletins became more significant; the crisis was
evidently at hand. A dissolution of parliament at any time
must occasion great excitement; combined with a new reign, it
inflames the passions of every class of the community. Even
the poor begin to hope; the old, wholesome superstition still
lingers, that the sovereign can exercise power; and the
suffering multitude are fain to believe that its remedial
character may be about to he revealed in their instance. As
for the aristocracy in a new reign, they are all in a flutter.
A bewildering vision of coronets, stars, and ribbons; smiles,
and places at court; haunts their noontide speculations and
their midnight dreams. Then we must not forget the numberless
instances in which the coming event is deemed to supply the
long-sought opportunity of distinction, or the long-dreaded
cause of utter discomfiture; the hundreds, the thousands, who
mean to get into parliament, the units who dread getting out.
What a crashing change from lounging in St James's street to
sauntering on Boulogne pier; or, after dining at Brookes and
supping at Crockford's, to be saved from destruction by the
friendly interposition that sends you in an official capacity
to the marsupial sympathies of Sydney or Swan River!
Now is the time for the men to come forward who have claims;
claims for spending their money, which nobody asked them to
do, but which of course they only did for the sake of the
party.
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