The Premiership is not a bed of roses, and it requires the phlegm of a Lord North to sleep there at all. It is, no doubt, the pinnacle of political ambition, but from that giddy height many a statesman has looked down with envy, like St. Simon on his column, at the groundlings who walk securely beneath his feet. Elevation brings with it many disadvantages. The searchlight of public opinion beats relentlessly upon a Prime Minister; even his private life is open to criticism. Enemies lay snares for him on every side; friends and political allies have to be treated with tact and tenderness; his labours never cease, day or night.[140] It is his duty, as Gladstone said, "to stand like a wall of adamant between the people and the sovereign," and the burden of an Empire hangs heavy upon his shoulders. From the very moment of a Prime Minister's appointment his responsibilities commence. Entrusted by the sovereign with the delicate duty of forming a Ministry, he is at once faced with a task of exceptional difficulty. Whom shall he choose? This problem awaits his instant solution. Luckily, as Bagehot says, the position of most men in Parliament forbids their being invited to the Cabinet, while that of a few men ensures their being invited.[141] Between the compulsory list, whom he must take, and the impossible list, whom he cannot take, a Prime Minister's independent choice is not very large; it extends rather to the division of the Cabinet offices than to the choice of Cabinet Ministers. [140] Among the unpublished manuscripts at Welbeck Abbey are some private notes made by the Duke of Portland, who was Prime Minister in 1783, suggesting methods of treatment suitable for various political allies at the time of the Coalition Ministry. The following extracts are of interest:-- "Lord Salisbury. Irish jobs. Lord Thanet. Personal attention. Lord Cornwallis. Should be spoken to: has two members in the House of Commons. Lord Clarendon. Anything for himself or Lord Hyde. Lord Wentworth. Wants something. He voted against. Duke of Argyle. Great attention. Scotch jobs. Gen. Luttral. To be sent for next session. Lord Temple should not be allowed all the merit of the job that we done for him lately. Gen. Vaughan. Quebec, or a Command anywhere. Lord Westcote. Distant hopes of a Peerage. Mr. Gibbon. Will vacate his seat for an employment out of Parliament: very much wished by Lord Loughborough." (N.B.--This Gibbon is the historian.) [141] "Fortnightly Review," No. I, p. 10.