They
have been too long at the beck of a minister, not to be somewhat callous
in their feelings. And they are too numerous, not to have shoulders
capacious enough to bear all the obloquy, with which their conduct may
be attended.
But then, my lord, as I would not recommend it to you to bring into
practice the royal negative, so neither perhaps would it be advisable
for the sovereign, to instruct those lords immediately attendant upon
him, in person. Kings, you are not to be informed, are to be managed and
humoured by those that would win their confidence. If your lordship
could invent a sort of down, more soft and yielding than has yet been
employed, it might be something. But to point out to your master, that
he must say this, and write that, that he must send for one man, and
break with another, is an unpleasant and ungrateful office. It must be
your business to take the burden from his shoulders. You must smooth the
road you would have him take, and strew with flowers the path of ruin.
If he favour your schemes with a smile of approbation, if he bestow upon
your proceedings the sanction of a nod, it is enough. It is godlike
fortitude, and heroic exertion.
But secrecy is the very essence of deep and insidious conduct. I would
advise your lordship to bring even your own name into question, as
little as possible.
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