lightly give up an
honour that had been extended to him so often and which he prized so
dearly. There were but few men now in the House whose connexion with
the same body of constituents had remained unbroken so long as had
that which bound him to West Barsetshire; and he confidently hoped
that that connexion might be continued through another period of
coming years till he might find himself in the glorious position of
being the father of the county members of the House of Commons." The
placard said much more than this, and hinted at sundry and various
questions, all of great interest to the county; but it did not say
one word of the Duke of Omnium, though every one knew what the
duke was supposed to be doing in the matter. He was, as it were, a
great Llama, shut up in a holy of holies, inscrutable, invisible,
inexorable,--not to be seen by men's eyes or heard by their ears,
hardly to be mentioned by ordinary men at such periods as these
without an inward quaking. But, nevertheless, it was he who was
supposed to rule them. Euphemism required that his name should
be mentioned at no public meetings in connexion with the coming
election; but, nevertheless, most men in the county believed that
he could send his dog up to the House of Commons as member for West
Barsetshire if it so pleased him.

It was supposed, therefore, that our friend Sowerby would have no
chance; but he was lucky in finding assistance in a quarter from
which he certainly had not deserved it. He had been a staunch friend
of the gods during the whole of his political life,--as, indeed, was
to be expected, seeing that he had been the duke's nominee; but,
nevertheless, on the present occasion, all the giants connected with
the county came forward to his rescue. They did not do this with the
acknowledged purpose of opposing the duke; they declared that they
were actuated by a generous disinclination to see an old county
member put from his seat; but the world knew that the battle was to
be waged against the great Llama. It was to be a contest between the
powers of aristocracy and the powers of oligarchy, as those powers
existed in West Barsetshire,--and, it may be added, that democracy
would have very little to say to it, on one side or on the other.
The lower order of voters, the small farmers and tradesmen, would no
doubt range themselves on the side of the duke, and would endeavour
to flatter themselves that they were thereby furthering the views of
th