But the
duke was an old whig, had lived with old whigs all his life,
feared revolution, but still more the necessity of taking his
name out of Brookes', where he had looked in every day or
night since he came of age. So, not approving of what was
going on, yet not caring to desert his friends, he withdrew,
as the phrase runs, from public life; that is to say, was
rarely in his seat; did not continue to Lord Melbourne the
proxy that had been entrusted to Lord Grey; and made tory
magistrates in his county though a whig lord lieutenant.
When forces were numbered, and speculations on the future
indulged in by the Tadpoles and Tapers, the name of the Duke
of Fitz-Aquitaine was mentioned with a knowing look and in a
mysterious tone. Nothing more was necessary between Tadpole
and Taper; but, if some hack in statu pupillari happened to be
present at the conference, and the gentle novice greedy for
party tattle, and full of admiring reverence for the two great
hierophants of petty mysteries before him, ventured to
intimate his anxiety for initiation, the secret was entrusted
to him, "that all was right there; that his grace only watched
his opportunity; that he was heartily sick of the present men;
indeed, would have gone over with Lord Stanley in 1835, had he
not had a fit of the gout, which prevented him from coming up
from the north; and though to be sure his son and brother did
vote against the speaker, still that was a mistake; if a
letter had been sent, which was not written, they would have
voted the other way, and perhaps Sir Robert might have been in
at the present moment.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234