public memory, and its repetition was far
from improbable. I had visited and observed with care all the
localities introduced, and as an accurate and never
exaggerated picture of a remarkable period in our domestic
history, and of a popular organisation which in its extent and
completeness has perhaps never been equalled, the pages of
"Sybil" may, I venture to believe, be consulted with
confidence." "Sybil," indeed, is not only an extremely
interesting novel; but as a study of social life in England it
is of very definite historical value.

_I.--Hard Times for the Poor_

It was Derby Day, 1837. Charles Egremont was in the ring at Epsom with a
band of young patricians. Groups surrounded the betting post, and the
odds were shouted lustily by a host of horsemen. Egremont had backed
Caravan to win, and Caravan lost by half a length. Charles Egremont was
the younger brother of the Earl of Marney; he had received L15,000 on
the death of his father, and had spent it. Disappointed in love at the
age of twenty-four, Egremont left England, to return after eighteen
months' absence a much wiser man. He was now conscious that he wanted an
object, and, musing over action, was ignorant how to act.

The morning after the Derby, Egremont, breakfasting with his mother,
learnt that King William IV. was dying, and that a dissolution of
parliament was at hand. Lady Marney was a great stateswoman, a leader in
fashionable politics.

"Charles," said Lady Marney, "you must stand for the old borough, for
Marbury. No doubt the contest will be very expensive, but it will be a
happy day for me to see you in parliament, and Marney will, of course,
supply the funds. I shall write to him, and perhaps you will do so
yourself."

The election took place, and Egremont was returned. Then he paid a visit
to his brother at Marney Abbey, and an old estrangement between the two
was ended.

Marney Abbey was as remarkable for its comfort and pleasantness of
accommodation as for its ancient state and splendour. It had been a
religious house. The founder of the Marney family, a confidential
domestic of one of the favourites of Henry VIII., had contrived by
unscrupulous zeal to obtain the grant of the abbey lands, and in the
reign of Elizabeth came a peerage.

The present Lord Marney upheld the workhouse, hated allotments and
infant schools, and declared the labourers on his estate to be happy and
contented