last drop of their blood. I respect good feelings, however
erroneous be the occasions on which they display themselves; and
therefore I saw in all this as much to admire as to blame. It was a
species of affection, however, which reminded me very forcibly of
the attachment displayed by the servants of the Russian ambassador
at the beginning of the last century. His Excellency happened to
fall down in a kind of apoplectic fit, when he was paying a morning
visit in the house of an acquaintance. The confusion was of course
very great, and messengers were despatched in every direction to
find a surgeon: who, upon his arrival, declared that his Excellency
must be immediately blooded, and prepared himself forthwith to
perform the operation: the barbarous servants of the embassy, who
were there in great numbers, no sooner saw the surgeon prepared to
wound the arm of their master with a sharp, shining instrument, than
they drew their swords, put themselves in an attitude of defence,
and swore in pure Sclavonic, "that they would murder any man who
attempted to do him the slightest injury: he had been a very good
master to them, and they would not desert him in his misfortunes, or
suffer his blood to be shed while he was off his guard, and
incapable of defending himself." By good fortune, the secretary
arrived about this period of the dispute, and his Excellency,
relieved from superfluous blood and perilous affection, was, after
much difficulty, restored to life.

There is an argument brought forward with some appearance of
plausibility in the House of Commons, which certainly merits an
answer: You know that the Catholics now vote for members of
parliament in Ireland, and that they outnumber the Protestants in a
very great proportion; if you allow Catholics to sit in parliament,
religion will be found to influence votes more than property, and