Endymion by Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli
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accurate as Cocker.
"I never thought it was in William Ferrars," said a member, musingly, to a companion as they walked home one night; "I always thought him a good man of business, and all that sort of thing--but, somehow or other, I did not think this was in him." "Well, he has a good deal at stake, and that brings it out of a fellow," said his friend. It was, however, pouring water upon sand. Any substantial resistance to the measure was from the first out of the question. Lord Chandos accomplished the only important feat, and that was the enfranchisement of the farmers. This perpetual struggle, however, occasioned a vast deal of excitement, and the actors in it often indulged in the wild credulity of impossible expectations. The saloon of Zenobia was ever thronged, and she was never more confident than when the bill passed the Commons. She knew that the King would never give his assent to the bill. His Majesty had had quite enough of going down in hackney coaches to carry revolutions. After all, he was the son of good King George, and the court would save the country, as it had often done before. "But it will not come to that," she added. "The Lords will do their duty." "But Lord Waverley tells me," said Ferrars, "that there are forty of them who were against the bill last year who will vote for the second reading." "Never mind Lord Waverley and such addlebrains," said Zenobia, with a smile of triumphant mystery. "So long as we have the court, the Duke, and Lord Lyndhurst on our side, we can afford to laugh at such conceited |
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