‘Hardly that, my dear father, for I have not expressed an opinion.’
‘I wish I knew what your opinions were, my dear boy, or even your wishes.’
‘Well, then, to do my duty.’
‘Exactly; you are a pillar of the State; support the State.’
‘Ah! if any one would but tell me what the State is,’ said Lord Montacute, sighing. ‘It seems to me your pillars remain, but they support nothing; in that case, though the shafts may be perpendicular, and the capitals very ornate, they are no longer props, they are a ruin.’
‘You would hand us over, then, to the ten-pounders?’
‘They do not even pretend to be a State,’ said Lord Montacute; ‘they do not even profess to support anything; on the contrary, the essence of their philosophy is, that nothing is to be established, and everything is to be left to itself.’
‘The common sense of this country and the fifty pound clause will carry us through,’ said the duke.
‘Through what?’ inquired his son.
‘This—this state of transition,’ replied his father.