But it is added that the wings, which
were unable to support him through the sky, bore him up effectually as
soon as he was in the water. This is no bad type of the fate of Charles
Montague, and of men like him. When he attempted to soar into the
regions of poetical invention, he altogether failed; but, as soon as he
had descended from that ethereal elevation into a lower and grosser
element, his talents instantly raised him above the mass. He became a
distinguished financier, debater, courtier, and party leader. He still
retained his fondness for the pursuits of his early days; but he showed
that fondness, not by wearying the public with his own feeble
performances, but by discovering and encouraging literary excellence in
others. A crowd of wits and poets, who would easily have vanquished him
as a competitor, revered him as a judge and a patron. In his plans for
the encouragement of learning, he was cordially supported by the ablest
and most virtuous of his colleagues, the Lord Chancellor Somers. Though
both these great statesmen had a sincere love of letters, it was not
solely from a love of letters that they were desirous to enlist youths
of high intellectual qualifications in the public service. The
Revolution had altered the whole system of government. Before that
event, the press had been controlled by censors, and the Parliament had
sat only two months in eight years. Now the press was free, and had
begun to exercise unprecedented influence on the public mind. Parliament
met annually and sat long. The chief power in the state had passed to
the House of Commons. At such a conjuncture it was natural that literary
and oratorical talents should rise in value. There was danger that a
government which neglected such talents might be subverted by them. It
was, therefore, a profound and enlightened policy which led Montague and
Somers to attach such talents to the Whig party, by the strongest ties
both of interest and of gratitude.

It is remarkable that, in a neighboring country, we have recently seen
similar effects follow from similar causes. The Revolution of July,
1830, established representative government in France. The men of
letters instantly rose to the highest importance in the state. At the
present moment, most of the persons whom we see at the head both of the
Administration and of the Opposition have been professors, historians,
journalists, poets. The influence of the literary class in England,
during the