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In the evening Adrian visited us.--"Do you cabal also against me," said
he, laughing; "and will you make common cause with Raymond, in dragging a
poor visionary from the clouds to surround him with the fire-works and
blasts of earthly grandeur, instead of heavenly rays and airs? I thought
you knew me better."
"I do know you better," I replied "than to think that you would be happy in
such a situation; but the good you would do to others may be an inducement,
since the time is probably arrived when you can put your theories into
practice, and you may bring about such reformation and change, as will
conduce to that perfect system of government which you delight to
portray."
"You speak of an almost-forgotten dream," said Adrian, his countenance
slightly clouding as he spoke; "the visions of my boyhood have long since
faded in the light of reality; I know now that I am not a man fitted to
govern nations; sufficient for me, if I keep in wholesome rule the little
kingdom of my own mortality.
"But do not you see, Lionel, the drift of our noble friend; a drift,
perhaps, unknown to himself, but apparent to me. Lord Raymond was never
born to be a drone in the hive, and to find content in our pastoral life.
He thinks, that he ought to be satisfied; he imagines, that his present
situation precludes the possibility of aggrandisement; he does not
therefore, even in his own heart, plan change for himself. But do you not
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