Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/232

 is not up to the nineteenth century;" and perhaps this very significant phrase will give the reader a more significant idea of Sir Christopher Mowbray, than a character as long, and as laboured, as the most perfect of my Lord Clarendon's. The truth is, the good Baronet had no idea of "liberal principles," or anything else of that school. His most peculiar characteristic, is a singular habit which he has got of styling political economists, French smugglers. Nobody has ever yet succeeded in extracting a reason from him for this singular appellation, and even if you angle with the most exquisite skill for the desired definition, Sir Christopher immediately salutes you with a volley of oaths, and damns French Wines, Bible Societies, and Mr. Huskisson. Sir Christopher for half a century has supported in the senate, with equal sedulousness and silence, the constitution, and the corn laws; he is perfectly aware of "the present perilous state of the country,"