Hereupon, of course, I
observed him more closely; and I must say that I was not long in
discovering a gentle dignity and half-imperceptible reserve in his
manner; but still my first impression was quite as real as my second one.
He occupies, I suppose, the foremost position among the young men of
England, and has the fairest prospects of a high course before him;
nevertheless, he did not impress me as possessing the native qualities
that could entitle him to a high public career. He has adopted public
life as his hereditary profession, and makes the very utmost of all his
abilities, cultivating himself to a determined end, knowing that he shall
have every advantage towards attaining his object. His natural
disadvantages must have been, in some respects, unusually great; his
voice, for instance, is not strong, and appeared to me to have a more
positive defect than mere weakness. Doubtless he has struggled manfully
against this defect; and it made me feel a certain sympathy, and, indeed,
a friendliness, for which he would not at all have thanked me, had he
known it. I felt, in his person, what a burden it is upon human
shoulders, the necessity of keeping up the fame and historical importance
of an illustrious house; at least, when the heir to its honors has
sufficient intellect and sensibility to feel the claim that his country
and his ancestors and his posterity all have upon him. Lord ------ is
fully capable of feeling these claims; but I would not care, methinks, to
take his position, unless I could have considerably more than his
strength.
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