"
"Ridiculous!" said Sir Vavasour.
"All the world," said Mr Hatton, "do not take upon these
questions the same enlightened view as ourselves, Sir
Vavasour. I never could for a moment believe that the
Sovereign would consent to invest such a numerous body of men
with such privileges."
"But you never expressed this opinion," said Sir Vavasour.
"You never asked for my opinion," said Mr Hatton; "and if I
had given it, you and your friends would not have been
influenced by it. The point was one on which you might with
reason hold yourselves as competent judges as I am. All you
asked of me was to make out your case, and I made it out. I
will venture to say a better case never left these chambers; I
do not believe there is a person in the kingdom who could
answer it except myself. They have refused the Order their
honours, Sir Vavasour, but it is some consolation that they
have never answered their case."
"I think it only aggravates the oppression," said Sir
Vavasour, shaking his head; "but cannot you advise any new
step, Mr Hatton? After so many years of suspense, after so
much anxiety and such a vast expenditure, it really is too bad
that I and Lady Firebrace should be announced at court in the
same style as our fishmonger, if he happens to be a sheriff.
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