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Who is so engaging as "Christopher North," by the water side, on the moors, or at Ambrose's? But if I speak of the Professor with enthusiasm, it is chiefly because I have been privileged to sit beside him in that inner circle where a good man always shines the most. There he is simply charming. In that large and powerful frame there beats the heart of a little child. Wisdom and mirth alternately flow from his lips, and as his children listen in rapt attention, you cannot tell if filial pride or filial love most excites them. Fare thee well, Christopher! I thank thee for the merriest evenings of my life.

CHAPTER XV.

THE END.

I HAVE little more to say. We have survived the excitement of the Corn Law discussion, and our anticipations of evil have calmed down. Poor soils continue to be cultivated as of old, and agricultural rents exhibit a steady advance!

A Liberal government is at the helm of public affairs. That scion of the historic ducal house of Bedford, who has been the hero of a hundred political fights the "Lycurgus" of the Commons, as Sydney Smith calls him—again leads its deliberations, this time as first minister. Lord Palmerston is at his old post in the Foreign Office. The son, nephew, and son-in-law of Charles, Earl Grey, are the heads of great departments. The veteran Lord Lansdowne -the youthful Lord Henry Petty in the days of " All the Talents"-is the chief representative of the ministry in the Lords. Thomas Babington Macaulay, whose belief in Whiggery has never wavered, holds

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high office, and by the force and point of his eloquence charms friends and foes alike. Official employment has extinguished the radical fire of the former colleague of Sir Francis Burdett, and Sir John Hobhouse is the dullest of Whigs. The son of Sir Samuel Romilly is on the straight road to judicial eminence, and may one day reach that envied post which would long ago have been his father's, but for his sad and premature death. Mr. Fox Maule sits in the cabinet. Mr. Rutherford, our greatest living lawyer in Scotland, a man of letters and of cultivated taste, is the fitting successor of Jeffrey in the office of LordAdvocate. Of the representatives, unattached, of Scotch constituencies, the best known are probably Joseph Hume and the members for Aberdeen and Fife. Mr. Hume is indebted for his position solely to his indomitable perseverance. Nature has not been bountiful to him in the bestowal of a pleasing presence, and he is without popularity as a speaker. For years he has checked public expenditure with a vigilance that never sleeps, and exposed all attempts at jobbing, of whatever kind, with a courage which the bravest might envy. Ministers have often frowned upon him, and he has never basked in the sunshine of their favour; but neither sarcasms nor abuse have turned him from his path. He will not be remembered among our great statesmen, although

posterity will probably call him the most useful member of parliament whom the century has produced. Mr. Bannerman belongs to a family which has long flourished in the north. The respected head of it represents a baronetcy, connecting him with the time of our Scottish kings, and on which he confers increased honour by the sagacity and benevolence that distinguish him; but the member for Aberdeen, whatever his real feelings, rather affects to despise the aristocracy of birth, and casts in his lot with the people. With them he has always been popular, and the other day an enthusiastic constituent, devoted to crockery, had his wares, of every variety, ornamented with the motto, "Bannerman, the people's friend, for ever!" an act of homage which perchance may make both immortal. He has an universal acquaintance in "the House." Sir Robert nods to him, and Lord John addresses him familiarly. The chiefs of his party put quite as much reliance on his calculations as on those of official "whips." He drinks champagne with Lord Palmerston, and whisky and water with Mr. Muntz ; talks "farming" to old George Byng, and with Sir Robert Inglis compares the state of "learning" in Marischal College and Oxford; exchanges blarney with Daniel O'Connell, and gives Colonel Sibthorpe a friendly poke in the ribs; is an authority at

"Brookes'," and a magnate at the "Reform." Lord Melbourne early took a fancy for his shrewdness and frankness, and used often to send for him. On these occasions the premier lay in bed, and conversation had the widest range. We all know that the minister found no part of his duties so irksome as the appointment of bishops; and it was when Bannerman was thus seated beside him one morning, that he gave emphatic relief to his feelings, by consigning to eternal penance in purgatory, or some other place still more unpopular, the soul of a pious prelate who had been disobliging enough to die the day before! Everybody likes Mr. Bannerman, and it were strange if they didn't, for his heart is in the right place, and ell his friendships are genial. Captain James Erskine Wemyss possesses many eccentricities and much good sense. He never speaks in "the House," but in the "kitchen" he is a great leader. His voice is pitched in the highest keys, and his accent is the purest Doric; hence he is familiarly known as "Jock" Wemyss. The radicals of Fife are sad thorns in his side, and worry him dreadfully at election seasons, but he is no meek sufferer. Regarding the hustings as he would the quarter-deck, he manfully asserts his authority, and abuses the "eyes" of his tormentors in the plainest of sailor fashion.

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