The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

481

Roezar —That's true. Would you like it ? I'd give it you, by
Jove ! except that to do so would oblige our follows, who have dis-
obliged me.

FREDERIC ^I am equally thankful. I dare say I shall manage,
one of these days. They can't spare ono of the few men they have
who really know—don't merely think—that 5 times 0 is 30, and 8 from
19 leaves 11.

ROBERT.—Does it? How well you count. What a pity you don't
come on the turf. I'd put you up to things. Will you do something
on Anton?

FREDERIC.—Rido him, do you mean ? Thanks, I hope to save
my neck and my country.
ROBERT.—Ha! ha! Well, now you are out, you can speak out.
What do you think of our chaps ?
FREDERIC.—You know that there are many objects of which you
form a juster estimate by retiring a little distance to contemplate them.
It seems to me that I have dune so in the case of the folks whom you
mean, or whom I suppose you to mean.
ROBERT.—And the distance doesn't lend enchantment to the
view, eh ?

FREDERIC.—There can be no doubt, my dear Robert, that the
present Cabinet is a very incapable one.
_ _ _

ROBERT —Devilish.
FREDERIC.—Not in the least that. Highly respectable and
utterly inefficient ; whereas the party you allude to is differently re-
garded. It seems to me preposterous that Lord Palmerston should
presume to think of carrying a great Parliamentary measure like that
he has announced with such a row of supporters. Fancy the intense
respect with which the House will listen to Vernon Smith, Charles
Wood, or Sir John Ramsden, on Reform !
ROBERT.—Yes, or Lewis, or Wilson, or Horsman. By George, it's
laughable. Do you think ho means to make all the speeches
himself?

FREDERIC.—He must—or reconstruct. Only consider. There
really is not a first-rate, or even a first-rate second-rate, except, per,
haps, Sir George Grey, to answer an Opposition speaker.
ROBERT.—Bethell's not bad in an up and down fight.
FREDERIC.—BetheII is a lawyer. Besides, he will be Chan•
color. It is not in human nature to bear with Cranworth much
longer.
ROBERT.—NO, he'll be sending the Great Seal to the Zoological-
gardens, or some such piece of wisdom.
FREDERIC (laughs).—How ridiculous you are. But, seriously,
who else can you mention that is fit to defend Schedule A in the new
Reform Bill ? I tell you Lord Palmerston must reconstruct.
ROBERT.—Very fine talking, but you can't make bricks without
straw.

FREDERIC.—You have a reputation for understanding all about
" bricks:' and I will not contradict you. I suppose you mean that there
are no recruits, worth having, to be had?
ROBERT.—That's it Where arc your men ? Unless, like what you
may call him, that sowed the dragon's teeth—Caduceus, was it?
FREDERIC.--For shame. Cadmus. _ .

ROBERT.—I knew he was a cad of some sort. He sowed the teeth,
and up came a crop of coves, didn't it?
FEU:DEM.—Armed men. But what is Lord Palmerston to sow,
except the wind, and then you know what he'll reap.
RODE RT.—Blessed if I do. But I mean that there is likely to be
a jolly row, when the Reform business comes fairly on, and somebody
may start up out of the new lot, perhaps, and be worth Pam's tipping
him a shilling, though he won't be worth one Bob.
FREDERIC.—That you could name as easily as say Fred Robinson.
ROBERT.—O, you know that ! You do know something.
FREDERIC.—Without entering into the question of our compara-
tive knowledge, I would answer you by saying at once that the kind of
man you hint at, the man who is to start up, and show himself a good
giver of hard knocks, is just the man that the House does not respect,
and, though he would be all very well in an episodical battle, he would
be lost in a great debate.
ROBERT. —Not a bit. What the Ministry want is a plucky fellow
in an independent position, so that he don't cam for consequences,
and who is not particular as to what he says, and would as soon pour
a broadside into one fellow as into another. They should give him a
front place, and tell him to blaze away like one o'clock,
FREDERIC.—He should be a baronet, shouldn't he ?
ROBERT (laughing).—No harm in being a baronet, I suppose, eh ?
FREDERIC.—O, none in the world. But my notion of the Minis-
terial want is rather different. I think that to enable Lord Palmerston
to make a good Reform Bill fight, he should select a man who has had
official experience, but is not too old to have lost his vigour—a man
who has no particular respect for anybody compared to himself, and
who comprehends precision and detail, which in a constitutional
change are of great importance.
ROBERT.—He should be brother to a baronet, shouldn't he ?i
FREDERIC (lauyhiny).—No harm in being brother to a baronet, I
suppose ?
ROBERT. —The fact is, my dear Fred., there are two remarkable
men in this world waiting till they are called upon to regenerate things
in general. When one of them's wanted he'll be at Tattersall's,
where he's going at this present writing ; and so go id bye. LE.rit
FREDERIC.—And the other? Alas ! there is no place in which he
can be found. There's something in the world amiss. Let me calm
my mind with a sluo•brok for a few hours. [Exit. j