One would say that such a life
would break the heart of any man; but upon my word, I doubt whether
I ever came across a human being so self-satisfied as this young
lord.
I have come down here to support the case of a poor man who is I
think being trampled on by this do-nothing legislator. But I am
bound to say that the lord in his kind is very much better than the
poor man in his. Such a wretched, squalid, lying, cowardly creature
I did not think that even England could produce. And yet the man
has a property in land on which he ought to be able to live in
humble comfort. I feel sure that I have leagued myself with a
rascal, whereas I believe the lord, in spite of his ignorance and
his idleness, to be honest. But yet the man is being hardly used,
and has had the spirit, or rather perhaps has been instigated by
others, to rebel. His crops have been eaten up by the lord's
pheasants, and the lord, exercising plenary power as though he were
subject to no laws, will only pay what compensation he himself
chooses to award. The whole country here is in arms against the
rebel, thinking it monstrous that a man living in a hovel should
contest such a point with the owner of half-a-dozen palaces. I have
come forward to help the man for the sake of seeing how the matter
will go; and I have to confess that though those under the lord
have treated me as though I were a miscreant, the lord himself and
his friends have been civil enough.
Pages:
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299