one was more faithful to his early friends than Mr. Rigby, particularly if
they could write a squib.

It was in this refined retirement that Mr. Rigby found time enough,
snatched from the toils of official life and parliamentary struggles, to
compose a letter on the study of History, addressed to Coningsby. The
style was as much like that of Lord Bolingbroke as if it had been written
by the authors of the 'Rejected Addresses,' and it began, 'My dear young
friend.' This polished composition, so full of good feeling and
comprehensive views, and all in the best taste, was not published. It was
only privately printed, and a few thousand copies were distributed among
select personages as an especial favour and mark of high consideration.
Each copy given away seemed to Rigby like a certificate of character; a
property which, like all men of dubious repute, he thoroughly appreciated.
Rigby intrigued very much that the headmaster of Eton should adopt his
discourse as a class-book. For this purpose he dined with the Doctor, told
him several anecdotes of the King, which intimated personal influence at
Windsor; but the headmaster was inflexible, and so Mr. Rigby was obliged
to be content with having his Letter on History canonized as a classic in
the Preparatory Seminary, where the individual to whom it was addressed
was a scholar.

This change in the life of Coningsby contributed to his happiness. The
various characters which a large school exhibited interested a young mind
whose active energies were beginning to stir. His previous acquirements
made his studies light; and he was fond of sports, in which he was
qualified to excel. He did not particularly like Mr. Rigby. There was
something jarring and grating in that gentleman's voice and modes, from
which the chords of the young heart shrank. He was not tender, though
perhaps he wished to be; scarcely kind: but he was good-natured, at least