'Ah, to be sure,' said the broker with a sigh, 'that's the
point.'

'Of course, of course,' said divers members of the company, who
understood almost as much about the matter as the broker himself.

'You had better let him alone, Tommy,' said the broker, by way of advice
to the little greengrocer; 'he can tell what's o'clock by an eight-day,
without looking at the minute hand, he can. Try it on, on some other
suit; it won't do with him, Tommy.'

'What is a man?' continued the red-faced specimen of the species, jerking
his hat indignantly from its peg on the wall. 'What is an Englishman?
Is he to be trampled upon by every oppressor? Is he to be knocked down
at everybody's bidding? What's freedom? Not a standing army. What's a
standing army? Not freedom. What's general happiness? Not universal
misery. Liberty ain't the window-tax, is it? The Lords ain't the
Commons, are they?' And the red-faced man, gradually bursting into a
radiating sentence, in which such adjectives as 'dastardly,'
'oppressive,' 'violent,' and 'sanguinary,' formed the most conspicuous
words, knocked his hat indignantly over his eyes, left the room, and
slammed the door after him.

'Wonderful man!' said he of the sharp nose.

'Splendid speaker!' added the broker.

'Great power!' said everybody but the greengrocer. And as they said it,
the whole party shook their heads mysteriously, and one by one retired,
leaving us alone in the old parlour.

If we had followed the established precedent in all such instances, we
should have fallen into a fit of musing, without delay. The ancient
appearance of the room--the old panelling of the wall--the chimney
blackened with smoke and age--would have carried us back a hundred years
at least, and we should have gone dreaming on, until the pewter-pot on
the table, or the little beer-chiller on the fire, had started into life,
and addressed to us a long story of days gone by. But, by some means or
other, we were not in a romantic humour; and although we tried very hard
to invest the furniture with vitality, it remained perfectly unmoved,
obstinate, and sullen. Being thus reduced to the unpleasant necessity of
musing about ordinary matters, our thoughts reverted to the red-faced
man, and his oratorical display.

A numerous race are these red-faced men; there is not a parlour, or
club-room, or benefit society, or humble party of any kind, without its
red-faced man. Weak-pated dolts they are, and