After a national commotion commensurate with the magnitude of the boon which had been sought for, the great BILL FOR GIVING EVERYBODY EVERYTHING had passed into a law, and the people were frantic with joy. Its blooming first fruits were of a sort calculated to satisfy the public expectation, viz.--two or three earls were turned into marquises, and one or two marquises into dukes, and deservedly; for these great men had far higher titles to the gratitude and admiration of the country, in exacting this second Magna Charta from King ----, than the stern old barons in extorting the first from King John--namely, they parted with vast substantial political power, for only a nominal _quid pro quo_, in the shape of a bit of ribbon or a strawberry leaf. Its next immediate effect was to cleanse the Augean stable of the House of Commons, by opening upon it the floodgates of popular will and popular opinion; and having utterly expelled the herd of ignorant and mercenary wretches which had so long occupied and defiled it, their places were to be supplied by a band of patriots and statesmen, as gifted as disinterested--the people's own enlightened, unbiased, and deliberate choice. Once put the government of the country--it was said--the administration of affairs--into hands such as these, and the inevitable result would be, the immediate regeneration of society, and the securing the greatest happiness to the greatest number. It was fearfully apparent that, under the old system, we had sunk into irredeemable contempt abroad, and were on the very verge of ruin and anarchy at home. So blessedly true is it, that when things come to the worst, they begin to mend! In short, the enlightened and enlarged constituencies began forthwith to look out for fit objects of their choice--for the best men; men of independent fortune; of deep stake in the welfare of the country; of spotless private and consistent public character; who, having had adequate leisure, opportunity, inclination, and capacity, had fitted themselves to undertake, with advantage to the nation, the grave responsibilities of statesmen and legislators. Such candidates, therefore, as Mr. Tittlebat Titmouse, became naturally in universal request; and the consequence was, such a prodigious flight of Titmice into the House of Commons--but whither am I wandering? I have to do with only one little borough--that of Yatton in Yorkshire. The Great Charter operated upon it, by _first_, in a manner, _amputating_ it of one of its members; _secondly_, extending its boundary--Grilston, and one or two of the adjacent places, being incorporated into the new borough; _thirdly_, by the introduction of the new qualification of voters. I have ascertained from a very high quarter--in fact, from a Cabinet Minister, _since deceased_[34]--a curious and important fact; viz. that had Mr. Titmouse failed in recovering the Yatton property, or been of different political opinions, in either of these cases, the little borough of