Hunt went to inspect his barns, and was graciously pleased to express his high approbation of the ingenious mode of laying the crab-stick on upon the sheaves of wheat. On Wednesday, Mr. Hunt gave audience to several tax-gatherers, to whose importunities he did not listen with an overstock of complacency.' And so on, day after day. Why should I despair of this, after what I have seen? Your _Tandem_ is become far more renowned than the _Bulletproof coach_, and your horse _Bob_, is far more famous already than the charger of old Blucher. "Oh! the fools! Could not the settled reputation of being the most consummate of _knaves_ content them? Was it necessary, in order to satisfy their ambition, to stand unrivalled through the world for folly as well as for knavery? "Gratified, however, as you must be by these demonstrations of the impotent malice of such men, I hope, and indeed, I am sure, that a more gratifying consideration with you will be, as it ought to be, that these vile men have added to your power of serving your country, and which you will now be the better able to serve, because, having given such ample proofs of earnestness and resolution, you may safely _moderate your zeal_ without risking any imputation of a want of that super-excellent quality. That quality, in which so many men are deficient, you possess to a redundance. Guard against this excess in future: take in a little sail, and add a little to your ballast: exchange a little of the courage of the lion for a little of the wisdom of the serpent: give up a little, and only a very little, of the stubbornness of the oak, for a little, and only a very little, of the pliancy of the reed: do this, and trust to the folly and knavery of these stupid and malignant wretches to make you a _great man_. "The situation of the country is becoming day after day more and more perilous, and there can be no relief without a radical cure. The Prince in his answer to the City of London (which I shall fully notice by and by) confesses, as he well may, the existence of national _distress_ and _difficulty_. These are important words, and especially the last. This is a great change produced since the beginning of last session of Parliament, when the wondrous _prosperity_ of the country was a prominent theme of the Speech, and when your Wiltshire County Member, Mr. Paul Methuen, congratulated the House, that this country bad become the pillar of legitimacy all over Europe! Alas! how soon things have changed! Misery is a greater teacher than Messrs. Lancaster and Bell both put together.