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other feudal relics, would come under the consideration of parliament. Not
a word had been spoken during the present session on any of these topics.
Every thing would depend upon the choice of a Protector, and the elections
of the ensuing year. Yet this very silence was awful, shewing the deep
weight attributed to the question; the fear of either party to hazard an
ill-timed attack, and the expectation of a furious contention when it
should begin.
But although St. Stephen's did not echo with the voice which filled each
heart, the newspapers teemed with nothing else; and in private companies
the conversation however remotely begun, soon verged towards this central
point, while voices were lowered and chairs drawn closer. The nobles did
not hesitate to express their fear; the other party endeavoured to treat
the matter lightly. "Shame on the country," said Ryland, "to lay so much
stress upon words and frippery; it is a question of nothing; of the new
painting of carriage-pannels and the embroidery of footmen's coats."
Yet could England indeed doff her lordly trappings, and be content with the
democratic style of America? Were the pride of ancestry, the patrician
spirit, the gentle courtesies and refined pursuits, splendid attributes of
rank, to be erased among us? We were told that this would not be the case;
that we were by nature a poetical people, a nation easily duped by words,
ready to array clouds in splendour, and bestow honour on the dust. This
spirit we could never lose; and it was to diffuse this concentrated spirit
of birth, that the new law was to be brought forward. We were assured that,
when the name and title of Englishman was the sole patent of nobility, we
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