ancient, may be, as the Abbey ; and perhaps
destined to witness its aisles laid open to the
sunrise, and its monuments to the shifting moon-
light, — the old oak that we passed just now.
My wife pities it, standing exposed in its old age
to the glare and the dust, when it was perhaps, in
its youth, the centre of a cool, green thicket.
But it is worth living through all things to
witness what that oak has seen. If no prophetic
eye were given to men, I think I would accept the
elixir vitai for a chance of beholding the like.
As soon as that oak had a shade to offer, who
came to court it? The pilgrim on his painful way
to the southern shrine, — turning aside to pray
that the helpless might not be ravaged by the
spoiler in his absence ? The nun who mourned
within her cell, and trembled in God's sunshine,
and passed her blighted life in this sad alterna-
tion ? The child who slept on the turf, — safely, —



THIRD AGE. 123

with the adder in the neighbouring grass, and
the robber looking down from the tree in envy of
its innocence ; innocence which, after all, was
poisoned by a worse fang than the adder's, and
despoiled by the hand of a ruder bandit, —
tyranny? — Who came in a later age? — The
soldier reeking from the battle, and in search of
some nook in which to prav for his little ones
and die ? The maiden, fleeing from royal lust,
and her father outlawed by royal vengeance?
What tales were brought when the neighbouring
stems mouldered away, and left space for the
winds to enter with their tidings from afar ?
Rumours of heaped battle-fields across the sea,
and of the murmurings of the oppressed in their
comfortless homes, and the indignant remon-
strance of captives silenced in their proclamation
of the truth ? And then, did weary sailors come
up from the sea, and, while they rested, talk of
peace ? And merchants of prosperity .' And
labourers of better days ? — And now that the
old oak yields but a scanty shade, — children come
to pick up its acorns, and to make a ladder of its
mouldering sides ; and even these infant tongues
can tell of what the people feel, and what the
people intend, and what the King desires for the
people, and what the ministers propose for the
people. The old oak has lived to see the people's
day. — O ! may the breath of heaven stir it
lightly ; — may the spring rains fall softly as the
wintry snow ; — may the thunderbolt spare it,
and the flash not dare to crisp its lightest leaf,
that it may endure to witness something of that

M 2



124 THIRD AGE.

which is yet to come ! — of the wisdom which shall
issue sternly from the abyss of poverty, smoothing
its rugged brow as it mounts to a milder and
brighter region ; and of pleasure descending from
her painted cloud, sobering her mien as she visits
rank below rank, till she takes up her abode with
the lowliest in the form of content. If every
stone of yonder Abbey can be made to murmur
like the sea-shell to the awakened ear, disclosing
echoes of the requiems of ages, yet more may
this oak whisper from every leaf its records of
individual sorrows, of mutual hopes, and now of
common rejoicing ; — a rejoicing which yet has
more in it of hope than of fulfilment. The day
of the people is come. The old oak survives to
complete its annals, — the Abbey has place for a
record — whether the people are wise to use their
day for the promotion of the great objects of
national association, — public order and social
improvement.

It was too late to dine at G.'s ; so Rcid
turned into the Abbev, and staid there till his own
footfall was the only sound that entertained the
bodily car.



( 125 )



Summary of Principles illustrated in
this volume.

It is necessary to the security and advance-
ment of a community that there should be an
expenditure of a portion of its wealth for pur-
poses of defence, of public order, and of social
improvement.

As public expenditure, though necessary, is
unproductive, it must be limited. And, as the
means of such expenditure are furnished by the
people for defined objects, its limit is easily as-
certained.

That expenditure alone which is necessary to
defence, public order, and social improvement,
is justifiable.

Such a direction of the public expenditure
can be secured only by the public functionaries
who expend being made fully responsible to
the party in whose behalf they expend.

For want of this responsibility, the public
expenditure of an early age, — determined to
pageantry, war, and favouritism, — was excessive,
and perpetrated by the few in defiance of the
many.

For want of a due degree of this responsibi-
lity, the public expenditure of an after age, —
determined to luxury, war, and patronage, —
was excessive, and perpetrated by the few in



126 SUMMARY.

fear of the many, by deceiving and defrauding
them.

For want of a due degree of this responsibi-
lity, the public expenditure of the present age,
— determined chiefly to the sustaining of bur-
dens imposed by a preceding age, — perpetuates
many abuses : and, though much ameliorated
by the less unequal distribution of power, the
public expenditure is yet as for from being
regulated to the greatest advantage of the
many, as the many are from exacting due re-
sponsibility and service from the few.

When this service and responsibility shall be
duly exacted, there will be —

Necessary offices only, whose duties will be
clearly defined, fully accounted for, and libe-
rally rewarded:

Little patronage, and that little at the dis-
posal of the people :

No pomp, — at the expense of those who
can barely obtain support : but

Liberal provisions for "the advancement of
national industry and intelligence.



LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES,
Duk« Street, Lambeth.