Pelham — CompleteLytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
History
Pelham — Complete
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
Adventure stories; English fiction -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction
The borough of Buyemall had long been in undisputed possession of the
lords of Glenmorris, till a rich banker, of the name of Lufton, had
bought a large estate in the immediate neighbourhood of Glenmorris
Castle. This event, which was the precursor of a mighty revolution in
the borough of Buyemall, took place in the first year of my uncle’s
accession to his property. A few months afterwards, a vacancy in the
borough occurring, my uncle procured the nomination of one of his own
political party. To the great astonishment of Lord Glenmorris, and the
great gratification of the burghers of Buyemall, Mr. Lufton offered
himself in opposition to the Glenmorris candidate. In this age
of enlightenment, innovation has no respect for the most sacred
institutions of antiquity. The burghers, for the only time since their
creation as a body, were cast first into doubt, and secondly into
rebellion. The Lufton faction, horresco referens, were triumphant, and
the rival candidate was returned. From that hour the Borough of Buyemall
was open to all the world.
My uncle, who was a good easy man, and had some strange notions of free
representation, and liberty of election, professed to care very little
for this event. He contented himself henceforward, with exerting his
interest for one of the members, and left the other seat entirely at
the disposal of the line of Lufton, which, from the time of the first
competition, continued peaceably to monopolize it.
During the last two years, my uncle’s candidate, the late Mr.
Toolington, had been gradually dying of a dropsy, and the Luftons had
been so particularly attentive to the honest burghers, that it was
shrewdly suspected a bold push was to be made for the other seat. During
the last month these doubts were changed into certainty. Mr. Augustus
Leopold Lufton, eldest son to Benjamin Lufton, Esq., had publicly
declared his intention of starting at the decease of Mr. Toolington;
against this personage, behold myself armed and arrayed.
Such is, in brief, the history of the borough, up to the time in which I
was to take a prominent share in its interests and events.
On the second day after my arrival at the castle, the following
advertisement appeared at Buyemall:--
“To the Independent Electors of the Borough of Buyemall.
“Gentlemen,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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