Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/105

 his descendant finds himself in your Lordship's state—till he is yclept noble, and then he starts fair in the grand course. All these advantages your Lordship has apparently at hand, with the additional advantage (and one, oh! how great!) of having already proved to your country, that you know how to rule."

There was a dead silence, which at length the Marquess broke. "There is much in what you say; but I cannot conceal it from myself, I have no wish to conceal it from you—I am not what I was."—Oh, ambition! thou art the parent of truth.

"Ah, my Lord!" eagerly rejoined Vivian, "here is the terrible error into which you great statesmen have always fallen. Think you not, that intellect is as much a purchaseable article as fine parks and fair castles? With your Lordship's tried and splendid talents, every thing might be done; but, in my opinion, if, instead of a practised, an experienced, and wary