he culture of the upper circle as artificial in the
objectionable sense. Outside the polished circle of wits we have the
middle-class which is beginning to read, and will read, what it really
likes without bothering about Aristotle or M. Bossu: as, in the other
direction, the assimilation between town and country is incidentally
suggesting a wider range of topics, and giving a new expression to
conditions which had for some time been without expression.

IV

(1739-1763)

I am now to speak of the quarter of a century which succeeded the fall
of Walpole, and includes two singularly contrasted periods. Walpole's
fall meant the accession to power of the heterogeneous body of statesmen
whose virtuous indignation had been raised by his corrupt practices.
Some of them, as Carteret, Pulteney, Chesterfield, were men of great
ability; but, after a series of shifting combinations and personal
intrigues, the final result was the triumph of the Pelhams--the
grotesque Duke of Newcastle and his brother, who owed their success
mainly to skill in the art of parliamentary management. The opposition
had ousted Walpole by taking advantage of the dumb instinct which
impelled us to go to war with Spain; and distracted by the interests of
Hanover and the balance of power we had plunged into that complicated
series of wars which lasted for some ten years, and passes all powers
of the ordinary human intellect to understand or remember. For what
particular reason Englishmen were fighting at Dettingen or Fontenoy or
Lauffeld is a question which a man can only answer when he has been
specially crammed for examination and his knowledge has not begun to
ooze out; while the abnormal incapacity of our rulers was displayed at
the attack upon Carthagena or during the Pretender's march into England.
The history becomes a shifting chaos marked by no definite policy, and
the ship of State is being steered at random as one or other of the
competitors for rule manages to grasp the helm for a moment. Then after
another period of aimless intrigues the nation seems to rouse itself;
and finding at last a statesman who has a distinct purpose and can
appeal to a great patriotic sentiment, takes the leading part in Europe,
wins a series of victories, and lays the foundation of the British
Empire in America and India. Under Walpole's rule the House of Commons
had become definitely the dominant political body. The minister who
could command it was master o