took the audience completely by
surprise. A man who is young and handsome is not the order of man who
is habitually associated in the popular mind with the idea of a lecture.
After a moment of silence, there was a spontaneous burst of applause.
It was renewed when Amelius, first placing on his table a little book,
announced his intention of delivering the lecture extempore. The absence
of the inevitable manuscript was in itself an act of mercy that cheered
the public at starting.

The orator of the evening began.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thoughtful people accustomed to watch the signs
of the times in this country, and among the other nations of Europe, are
(so far as I know) agreed in the conclusion, that serious changes are
likely to take place in present forms of government, and in existing
systems of society, before the century in which we live has reached its
end. In plain words, the next revolution is not so unlikely, and not so
far off, as it pleases the higher and wealthier classes among European
populations to suppose. I am one of those who believe that the coming
convulsion will take the form, this time, of a social revolution, and
that the man at the head of it will not be a military or a political
man--but a Great Citizen, sprung from the people, and devoted heart and
soul to the people's cause. Within the limits assigned to me to-night,
it is impossible that I should speak to you of government and society
among other nations, even if I possessed the necessary knowledge and
experience to venture on so vast a subject. All that I can now attempt
to do is (first) to point out some of the causes which are paving the
way for a coming change in the social and political condition of this
country; and (secondly) to satisfy you that the only trustworthy
remedy for existing abuses is to be found in the system which Christian
Socialism extracts from this little book on my table--the book which you
all know under the name of The New Testament. Before, however, I enter
on my task, I feel it a duty to say one preliminary word on the subject
of my claim to address you, such as it is. I am most unwilling to speak
of myself--but my position here forces me to do so. I am a stranger to
all of you; and I am a very young man. Let me tell you, then, briefly,
what my life has been, and where I have been brought up--and then decide
for yourselves whether it is worth your while to favour me with your
attention, or not."

"A very g