new places,--and
it was understood that Mr. Gresham would be again supported by a
majority.

As we grow old it is a matter of interest to watch how the natural
gaps are filled in the two ranks of parliamentary workmen by whom the
Government is carried on, either in the one interest or the other. Of
course there must be gaps. Some men become too old,--though that is
rarely the case. A Peel may perish, or even a Palmerston must die.
Some men, though long supported by interest, family connection, or
the loyalty of colleagues, are weighed down at last by their own
incapacity and sink into peerages. Now and again a man cannot bear
the bondage of office, and flies into rebellion and independence
which would have been more respectable had it not been the result of
discontent. Then the gaps must be filled. Whether on this side or on
that, the candidates are first looked for among the sons of Earls and
Dukes,--and not unnaturally, as the sons of Earls and Dukes may be
educated for such work almost from their infancy. A few rise by the
slow process of acknowledged fitness,--men who probably at first have
not thought of office but are chosen because they are wanted, and
whose careers are grudged them, not by their opponents or rivals, but
by the Browns and Joneses of the world who cannot bear to see a Smith
or a Walker become something so different to themselves. These men
have a great weight to carry, and cannot always shake off the burden
of their origin and live among begotten statesmen as though they
too had been born to the manner. But perhaps the most wonderful
ministerial phenomenon,--though now almost too common to be longer
called a phenomenon,--is he who rises high in power and place
by having made himself thoroughly detested and also,--alas for
parliamentary cowardice!--thoroughly feared. Given sufficient
audacity, a thick skin, and power to bear for a few years the evil
looks and cold shoulders of his comrades, and that is the man most
sure to make his way to some high seat. But the skin must be thicker
than that of any animal known, and the audacity must be complete. To
the man who will once shrink at the idea of being looked at askance
for treachery, or hated for his ill condition, the career is
impossible. But let him be obdurate, and the bid will come. "Not
because I want him, do I ask for him," says some groaning chief
of a party,--to himself, and also sufficiently aloud for others'
ears,--"but because he stings