Page:Thackeray - The Book of Snobs, 1855.djvu/7



have all read a statement, (the authenticity of which I take leave to doubt entirely, for upon what calculations I should like to know is it founded?)—we have all, I say, been favoured by perusing a remark, that when the times and necessities of the world call for a Man, that individual is found. Thus at the French Revolution, (which the reader will be pleased to have introduced so early) when it was requisite to administer a corrective dose to the nation, Robespierre was found a most foul and nauseous dose indeed, and swallowed eagerly by the patient, greatly to the latter's ultimate advantage: thus, when it became necessary to kick John Bull out of America, Mr. Washington stepped forward, and performed that job to satisfaction: thus when the Earl of Aldborough was unwell, Professor Holloway appeared with his pills, and cured his Lordship, as per advertisement, &c., &c. Numberless instances might be adduced to show, that when a nation is in great want, the relief is at hand, just as