a
purpose, for these persons spoke well of him,--spoke well not only
of his talents, but of his honourable character. His general nickname
amongst them was "HONEST GORDON." Kenelm at first thought this sobriquet
must be ironical; not a bit of it. It was given to him on account of
the candour and boldness with which he expressed opinions embodying that
sort of cynicism which is vulgarly called "the absence of humbug." The
man was certainly no hypocrite; he affected no beliefs which he did not
entertain. And he had very few beliefs in anything, except the first
half of the adage, "Every man for himself,--and God for us all."

But whatever Chillingly Gordon's theoretical disbeliefs in things which
make the current creed of the virtuous, there was nothing in his conduct
which evinced predilection for vices: he was strictly upright in all
his dealings, and in delicate matters of honour was a favourite umpire
amongst his coevals. Though so frankly ambitious, no one could accuse
him of attempting to climb on the shoulders of patrons. There was
nothing servile in his nature; and, though he was perfectly prepared to
bribe electors if necessary, no money could have bought himself. His one
master-passion was the desire of power. He sneered at patriotism as a
worn-out prejudice, at philanthropy as a sentimental catch-word. He did
not want to serve his country, but to rule it. He did not want to
raise mankind, but to rise himself. He was therefore unscrupulous,
unprincipled, as hungerers after power for itself too often are; yet
still if he got power he would probably use it well, from the clearness
and strength of his mental perceptions. The impression he made on Kenelm
may be seen in the following letter:--

TO SIR PETER CHILLINGLY, BART., ETC.

MY DEAR FATHER,--You and my dear mother will be pleased to hear that
London continues very polite to me: that "arida nutrix leonum" enrolls
me among the pet class of lions which ladies of fashion admit into the
society of their lapdogs. It is somewhere about six years since I was
allowed to gaze on this peep-show through the loopholes of Mr. Welby's
retreat. It appears to me, perhaps erroneously, that even within that
short space of time the tone of "society" is perceptibly changed. That
the change is for the better is an assertion I leave to those who belong
to the _progressista_ party.

I don't think nearly so many young ladies six years ago painted their
eyelids and dyed their ha