Local newspapers dug up from local histories and elsewhere anecdotes of the Verners, and expressed their belief that his lordship the present Earl would now take his place at the head of the county, and mix in society, as his noble father had done before him. It was, indeed, confidently stated that this would be the effect of his lordship’s marriage, and the county was congratulated upon the event in a hearty, manful style. One journalist, evidently with the fear of London and _Punch_ and Eatanswill before him, came out in a very explanatory sketch, in which he ventured to point out how legitimate it was that county people should make a fuss on the occasion of this marriage, and how proper it was that the newspapers should set forth the event as one of great importance. It was all very well for London people to think lightly of such things; but Londoners were altogether differently placed. They made fuss enough on the occasion of royal marriages, and filled their newspapers with orange-blossom articles. In a city like Severntown the nobility were mixed up with the social, political, and religious welfare of the place. The citizens rejoiced in having such neighbours, and it was right that they should acknowledge the dignity and worth of their native aristocracy. In the present instance the union of an Earl of Verner with the daughter of a woman of the house of Petherington, and daughter of the late Christopher Tallant, a merchant prince, was an event of importance not only to the county of Severnshire but to England. The provincial editor, though he might feel that he was saying nothing silly, nor anything smacking of toadyism, thought it judicious once more in this place to contrast the difference between provincial editors and London editors. The latter might think it fine to laugh at enthusiastic provincials, but Londoners could not possibly enter into the feelings which must necessarily animate a provincial community on an occasion like the present. Londoners who did not talk politics, and could not understand the intense excitement of an election, did not know what it was to live in a restricted community associated with noble and wealthy families who possessed means and facilities for being of the greatest social benefit to those amongst whom they lived.