Page:Eliot - Felix Holt, the Radical, vol. II, 1866.djvu/93

Rh the upper hand now, and it's no use fighting with the current. I run with the"

Mr Sircome checked himself, looked furtively at Christian, and, to divert criticism, ended with—"eh, Mr Nolan?"

"There have been eminent Whigs, sir. Mr Fox was a Whig," said Mr Nolan. "Mr Fox was a great orator. He gambled a good deal. He was very intimate with the Prince of Wales. I've seen him, and the Duke of York too, go home by daylight with their hats crushed. Mr Fox was a great leader of Opposition: Government requires an Opposition. The Whigs should always be in opposition, and the Tories on the ministerial side. That's what the country used to like. 'The Whigs for salt and mustard, the Tories for meat,' Mr Gottlib the banker used to say to me. Mr Gottlib was a worthy man. When there was a great run on Gottlib's bank in '16, I saw a gentleman come in with bags of gold, and say, 'Tell Mr Gottlib there's plenty more where that came from.' It stopped the run, gentlemen—it did indeed."

This anecdote was received with great admiration, but Mr Sircome returned to the previous question.

"There now, you see, Wace—it's right there