The Ayrshire Legatees

It would be invidious, perhaps, to criticise the different candidates for

the representation of London and Westminster very severely. I think it

must be granted, that they are as sincere in their professions as their

opponents, which at least bleaches away much of that turpitude of which

their political conduct is accused by those who are of a different way of

thinking. But it is quite evident, at least to me, that no government

could exist a week, managed with that subjection to public opinion to

which Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Hobhouse apparently submit; and it is

no less certain, that no government ought to exist a single day that

would act in complete defiance of public opinion.

I was surprised to find Sir Francis Burdett an uncommonly mild and

gentlemanly-looking man. I had pictured somehow to my imagination a dark

and morose character; but, on the contrary, in his appearance,

deportment, and manner of speaking, he is eminently qualified to attract

popular applause. His style of speaking is not particularly oratorical,

but he has the art of saying bitter things in a sweet way. In his

language, however, although pungent, and sometimes even eloquent, he is

singularly incorrect. He cannot utter a sequence of three sentences

without violating common grammar in the most atrocious way; and his

tropes and figures are so distorted, hashed, and broken--such a patchwork

of different patterns, that you are bewildered if you attempt to make

them out; but the earnestness of his manner, and a certain fitness of

character, in his observations a kind of Shaksperian pithiness, redeem

all this. Besides, his manifold blunders of syntax do not offend the

taste of those audiences where he is heard with the most approbation.

Hobhouse speaks more correctly, but he lacks in the conciliatory

advantages of personal appearance; and his physiognomy, though indicating

considerable strength of mind, is not so prepossessing. He is evidently

a man of more education than his friend, that is, of more reading,

perhaps also of more various observation, but he has less genius. His

tact is coarser, and though he speaks with more vehemence, he seldomer

touches the sensibilities of his auditors. He may have observed mankind

in general more extensively than Sir Francis, but he is far less

acquainted with the feelings and associations of the English mind. There

is also a wariness about him, which I do not like so well as the

imprudent ingenuousness of the baronet. He seems to me to have a cause

in hand--Hobhouse versus Existing Circumstances--and that he considers

the multitude as the jurors, on whose decision his advancement in life

depends. But in this I may be uncharitable. I should, however, think

more highly of his sincerity as a patriot, if his stake in the country

were greater; and yet I doubt, if his stake were greater, if he is that

sort of man who would have cultivated popularity in Westminster. He

seems to me to have qualified himself for Parliament as others do for the

bar, and that he will probably be considered in the House for some time

merely as a political adventurer. But if he has the talent and prudence

requisite to ensure distinction in the line of his profession, the

mediocrity of his original condition will reflect honour on his success,

should he hereafter acquire influence and consideration as a statesman.

Of his literary talents I know you do not think very highly, nor am I

inclined to rank the powers of his mind much beyond those of any common

well-educated English gentleman. But it will soon be ascertained whether

his pretensions to represent Westminster be justified by a sense of

conscious superiority, or only prompted by that ambition which overleaps

itself.