--and then he returns upon their heads the
blessings with which they have entrusted him. Do you remember the happy
compliment of my old namesake of St. Albans to Queen Elizabeth? Royalty
is the heaven which, like the blessed sun, exhales the moisture from the
earth, and then distilling it in gentle rains, it falleth on the heads
of those from whom she has received it."

"I remember the compliment, which beautiful though it may be in imagery,
I always thought was but the empty flattery of a vain old royal spinster
by an accomplished courtier. I never suspected that St. Albans, far less
his relative, Nathaniel Bacon, believed it to be true. And so, with all
your high flown doctrines of popular rights and popular liberty, you are
an advocate for royalty at last."

"Nay, you mistake me, I will not say wilfully," replied Bacon, in an
offended tone, "I merely used the sentiment as an illustration of what I
had been saying. The people must have rulers, and my idea of liberty
only extends to their selection of them. After that, stability in
government requires that the power of the people should cease, and that
of the ruler begin. You may purify the stream through which the power
flows, by constantly resorting to the fountain head; but if you keep the
power pent up in the fountain, like water, it will stagnate and become
impure, or else overflow its banks and devastate that soil which it was
intended to fertilize."

"Our ideas of liberty, I confess," said Hansford, "differ very widely.
God grant that our antagonistic views may not prejudice the holy cause
in which we are now engaged."

"Well, let us drop the subject then," said Bacon, carelessly, "as there
is so little prospect of our agreeing in sentiment. What I said was
merely meant to while away this tedious journey, and make you forget
your own private griefs. But tell me, what do you think of the result of
this enterprise?"

"I think it attended with great danger," replied Hansford.

"I had not thought," returned Bacon, with something between a smile and
a sneer, "that Thomas Hansford would have considered the question of
peril involved in a contest like this."

"I am at a loss to understand your meaning," said Hansford, indignantly.
"If you think I regard danger for myself, I tell you that it is a
feeling as far a stranger to my bosom as to your own, and this I am
ready to maintain. If you meant no offence, I will merely say that it is
the part of every general t