name of Emperor--Dictator rather, I should say--with a power so
colossal, that until such power is moderated, as all power ought to
be, no neighbour can be entirely safe." This speech was reproduced
in "The Times." Montalembert read it with admiration. "Who," he
asked Sir M. E. Grant Duff, "who is Mr. Kinglake?" "He is the
author of 'Eothen.'" "And what is 'Eothen?' I never heard of it."

He found great enjoyment in parliamentary life, but was in 1868
unseated on petition for bribery on the part of his agents. Blue-
books are not ordinarily light reading; but the Report of the
Commissioners appointed to inquire into the alleged corrupt
practices at Bridgewater is not only a model of terse and vigorous
composition, but to persons with a sense of humour, inclined to
view human irregularities and inconsistencies in a sportive rather
than an indignant light, it is a sustained and diverting comedy.
Of the constituency, both before and after the Reform Bill, three-
fourths, the Commissioners artlessly inform us, sought and received
bribes; of the remainder, all but a few individuals negotiated and
gave the bribes. So in every election, both sides bribed avowedly;
if a luckless Purity Candidate appeared, he was promptly informed
that "Mr. Most" would win the seat: highest bribes decided each
election, further bribes averted petitions. When once a desperate
riot took place and the ringleaders were tried at Quarter Sessions,
the jury were bribed to acquit, in the teeth of the Chairman's
summing up. At last, in 1868, the defeated candidate petitioned;
blue-book literature was enriched by a remarkable report, and the
borough was disfranchised. Of course Kinglake had only himself to
thank; if a gentleman chooses to sit for a venal borough, and to
intrust his interests to a questionable agent, he must, in the
words of Mrs. Gamp, "take the consequences of sech a sitiwation."