more
sober; in every class there is a diminution of brutality; education--stand
for what it may--has notably extended; certain forms of tyranny have been
abolished; certain forms of suffering, due to heedlessness or ignorance,
have been abated. True, these are mere details; whether they indicate a
solid advance in civilization cannot yet be determined. But assuredly
the average Briton has cause to jubilate; for the progressive features of
the epoch are such as he can understand and approve, whereas the doubt
which may be cast upon its ethical complexion is for him either
non-existent or unintelligible. So let cressets flare into the night
from all the hills! It is no purchased exultation, no servile flattery.
The People acclaims itself, yet not without genuine gratitude and
affection towards the Representative of its glory and its power. The
Constitutional Compact has been well preserved. Review the record of
kingdoms, and say how often it has come to pass that sovereign and people
rejoiced together over bloodless victories.

XXI.

At an inn in the north I once heard three men talking at their breakfast
on the question of diet. They agreed that most people ate too much meat,
and one of them went so far as to declare that, for his part, he rather
preferred vegetables and fruit. "Why," he said, "will you believe me
that I sometimes make a breakfast of apples?" This announcement was
received in silence; evidently the two listeners didn't quite know what
to think of it. Thereupon the speaker, in rather a blustering tone,
cried out, "Yes, I can make a very good breakfast on _two or three pounds
of apples_."

Wasn't it amusing? And wasn't it characteristic? This honest Briton had
gone too far in frankness. 'Tis all very well to like vegetables and
fruits up to a certain point; but to breakfast on apples! His
companions' silence proved that they were just a little ashamed of him;
his confession savoured of poverty or meanness; to right himself in their
opinion, nothing better occurred to the man than to protest that he ate
apples, yes, but not merely one or two; he ate them largely, _by the
pound_! I laughed at the fellow, but I thoroughly understood him; so
would every Englishman; for at the root of our being is a hatred of
parsimony. This manifests itself in all sorts of ludicrous or
contemptible forms, but no less is it the source of our finest qualities.
An Englishman desires, above all, to live l