66 to teach the people in all the towns and villages of England to adopt a different method from that to which they were accustomed, and that they went on very well, and got quite rich enough, with their pounds, shillings, and pence. Encouraged, however, by the approbation of the Chronicle, Charles became a frequent correspondent, under the name of Hampden;" and his lucubrations were actually by some persons attributed to the Whig member for the borough, who, good easy man, was betting at Epsom, or dancing at Almack's, or perhaps snoring on the benches of the House of Commons, dreaming as little of Laxington and its Chronicle, as of any other place or thing on the habitable globe. Thus rapidly progressing, our hero became a leading member and speaker in the Laxington Reform Club, where his ready talent and confidence soon established him as a first-rate orator and disputant. It may be well supposed that the aspiring and ardent mind of one so trained as Charles Lever, and so open to the beguilement of flattery and love of applause, luxuriated not a little in this field for the exhibition of his talent, and that he was well nigh intoxicated with the success which attended his progress as a radical orator: yet was he too shrewd and intelligent to be led away by the fallacies to which he gave utterance. He found it expedient, however, to allow himself in considerable latitude of expression. It was necessary to make bold assertions, without any great regard to truth, or he would not be listened to. It was necessary to speak strongly against the clergy, and consequently against religion, and to abuse and vilify his opponents; otherwise his speech would have wanted pith and attractiveness in the ears of his coarse listeners. So he was led on to a disregard of truth, and the deliberate utterance of whatsoever calumnies and sophistries his ready invention supplied. Yet often, when he looked around him on his credulous and ignorant audience, and marked the eagerness with which arguments were swallowed, of which even he himself more than suspected the truth, his conscience would whisper to him, that he was not acting an honest or manly part in thus leading others into error, and beguiling them by fallacies; and he would feel that it was ungenerous and wicked to blacken the characters and misrepresent the motives and conduct of his opponents. And often, when he laughed at God's ministers, and was led on to scoff at holy things, the mild instruction of his mother would rise before his mind to reprove and admonish him but then again the applause which greeted him sounded like music in his ears, and banished the thought of every thing but his own vain-glory and renown. If Charles could thus detect the sophistries and misrepresentations which he himself uttered, much more readily could he distinguish the same dishonesty in others and a more intimate acquaintance with the leading agitators and orators of his club H led him soon to view them with suspicion and even dislike; while he forgot that he himself was liable to the same imputation of selfish and sordid motives which he plainly perceived to be actuating the minds of his companions. But he was borne gradually onwards with the stream. Continual listening to and uttering fallacies and false assertions soon obscured the clearness of his judgment, and party-spirit carried him on to lengths, and involved him in schemes, from which, had he contemplated them from the first, he would have shrunk with aversion. It has been asserted by a radical member of parliament, that it is not the ignorance, but the intelligence of the lower orders, of which we have most need to be apprehensive; a fact which he supports by the number of good speakers which there are amongst them. But this is a great fallacy: the fact is, that the clever speakers are generally men of the character we have described — half deceivers, half themselves deceived; and that the large majority of the evildisposed amongst the poorer classes are but blind followers of their designing or enthusiastic leaders. Nothing is so entirely misunderstood and perverted in the present day as the meaning of the word "knowledge." "The people," we are told, "are destroyed for lack of knowledge." True; but of what knowledge? Is it for lack of a smattering in the arts and sciences? or of the stores of knowledge contained in newspapers? or the information conveyed through a set of orators, probably more ignorant than those whom they address, inasmuch as their moral sense is more inveterately and hopelessly depraved? Is it knowledge such as this that is to save the nation? No; it is the knowledge of the truth; the knowledge of the word and will of God; the knowledge how to live soberly, honestly, and godly in this present world, and to obtain an eternal inheritance in the next. Give them as much of other knowledge as you please; but if you do not give them this, you give them nothing. CHAPTER IX. Reciprocal Influences between different Classes. Yet governors and govern'd both are blind If to expedience principle must bow, Past, future, shrinking up beneath the incumbent now; If cowardly concession still must feed The thirst for power in men who ne'er concede; If generous loyalty must stand in awe Of subtle treason with his mask of law, THE democratic feeling of the town of Laxington, and of our hero himself, was confirmed and increased by a circunstance which will require that we should introduce, for a moment, to our reader's notice certain personages not otherwise connected with our tale, except as they will serve to shew the concatenation of human events, and the remote influences which affect their character. There is a degree of deference due to those who are put in authority over us, which forbids us to exaggerate their faults, or ridicule their failings. "The |