keenly excited. This work appeared during the short interval between the
rejection of the Bill and the prorogation of parliament [Parliament was
prorogued October 20th; the bill rejected by the Lords, October 8th].
And what made it more remarkable was, that while stamped with the passion
of the time, there was a weight of calm and stern reasoning embodied in
its vigorous periods, which gave to the arguments of the advocate
something of the impartiality of the judge. Unusually abstracted and
unsocial,--for, despite his youth and that peculiar bashfulness before
noticed, he was generally alive enough to all that passed around him,--
Percival paid little attention to the comments that circulated round the
easy-chairs in his vicinity, till a subordinate in the administration,
with whom he was slightly acquainted, pushed a small volume towards him
and said,--"You have seen this, of course, St. John? Ten to one you do
not guess the author. It is certainly not B----m, though the Lord
Chancellor has energy enough for anything. R---- says it has a touch of
S----r."

"Could M----y have written it?" asked a young member of parliament,
timidly.

"M----y! Very like his matchless style, to be sure! You can have read
very little of M----y, I should think," said the subordinate, with the
true sneer of an official and a critic.

The young member could have slunk into a nutshell. Percival, with very
languid interest, glanced over the volume. But despite his mood, and his
moderate affection for political writings, the passage he opened upon
struck and seized him unawares. Though the sneer of the official was
just, and the style was not comparable to M----y's (whose is?), still,
the steady rush of strong words, strong with strong thoughts, heaped