But his party does not lose his
support. Though he never goes near the place, he can vote, and is
enabled to trust his vote to some other more ambitious lord who
does go there. It required the absolute evidence of personal
information from those who are themselves concerned to make me
believe that legislation in Great Britain could be carried on after
such a fashion as this! Then he told me what he does do. All the
winter he hunts and shoots, going about to other rich men's houses
when there is no longer sufficient for him to shoot left on his own
estate. That lasts him from the 1st of September to the end of
March, and occupies all his time. August he spends in Scotland,
also shooting other animals. During the other months he fishes, and
plays cricket and tennis, and attends races, and goes about to
parties in London. His evenings he spends at a card table when he
can get friends to play with him. It is the employment of his life
to fit in his amusements so that he may not have a dull day.
Wherever he goes he carries his wine with him and his valet and his
grooms; and if he thinks there is anything to fear, his cook also.
He very rarely opens a book. He is more ignorant than a boy of
fifteen with us, and yet he manages to have something to say about
everything. When his ignorance has been made as clear as the sun at
noon-day, he is no whit ashamed.
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