to say, my lady or your ladyship. Even Sir
Tomahawk himself, although he knew it was
incorrect, was not averse to hearing himself
called your lordship by the ignorant, but
respectful peasantry.

Sir Tomahawk was a most important man
in Fogmoor, as any one could see, who
watched his progress through the town at
any time, in the open landau, with my lady.
It was an ovation—that is the term. Not
that Sir Tomahawk was really liked or
respected. He was far from being affable,
and was known (especially by his tradesmen)
not to be rich. Fogmoor people were not in
the habit of giving their homage or their
affection to those who were not well able to
pay for it. But the secret of Sir Tomahawk's
popularity lay in another direction.

It had been spread about the town that Sir
Tomahawk could do anything he liked with
the ministry of the day. He had got the ear
of the court. Prime Ministers of different
and almost undistinguishable shades of
opinion, might flourish or might fade, as
they had nourished and had faded pretty
frequently during the last three years; but
the court influence of Sir Tomahawk
remained unshaken as a lighthouse. Had he
not been a useful, a favourite, and a
confidential, though seemingly unimportant
member of the household? Lady Tomahawk,
too; all the years that she had been behind
the scenes you may be sure had not been
thrown away. She knew exactly where to
find the hidden springs of patronage, as well
as her illustrious husband. If any man,
whether of Fogmoor, or from any part of England,
could once interest Sir Tomahawk in his
favour, he need not trouble himself much
more with hard work; for he was on the
high road to a government appointment.

Although these opinions savoured of Sternhold
Grange they were implicitly believed in,
and passed current, instead of coin, to a great
extent, in Fogmoor. Tradesmen who wanted
money, and had long accounts against Sternhold
Grange, instead of sending in their
claims, paraded their grown-up male
families, and talked about the Excise or the
Customs. Lawyers or bankers who had
advanced cash upon securities beyond the
margin of their value were not harsh or
importunate; for they were pacified with a
vision of certain vacant places in one of the
fruitful governmental hives of—salary. Men
who had sold their political birthright as
everything else was sold in Fogmoor, upon
credit and a promise of pay, were hopeful
yet of receiving their payment in some
shape from the national purse. There was
little shame upon these subjects; although
the great reform bill was a fact in the land.

Straitened as Sir Tomahawk's
circumstances undoubtedly were for the want of
ready money, he had not neglected certain
duties, that do not cost much, and go a great
way in a country town. Sir Tomahawk's
election had been carried in the interest of
the ministry of the hour—a divine right of
expediency ministry—to which Sir Tomahawk,
for the moment, was attached. He
always was attached to the party in power.
A safe, valuable, and reliable man was Sir
Tomahawk: a man who could be spoken to;
who could be trusted, who could be used;
and who never gave a whipper-in a sleepless
night or a second's uneasiness. Ah! if the
country had more men like Sir Tomahawk
Sternhold, how smoothly and delightfully the
springs of government would move.

Sir Tomahawk being a man of tact, and a
man of self-reliance, acted as his own election-
agent; and no man, not even the renowned
firm of Alabaster and Ermine, could have
managed the business better. He knew his
borough, and bought it at a contract-price,
money down, paid by the standing political
committee of the Woolsack Club; and, with
characteristic prudence and economy, he
made a good profit by each transaction.
Having cashed the handsome ministerial
cheque, he looked round the town of
Fogmoor, to see in what direction he could
make the best investment of the smallest part
of it, to reap, in return, the most plentiful crop
of political capital. After consultation with
my lady, he came to the conclusion that a
new organ for the church, a new pump for
the market-place, and the painting and
white-washing of the charity school-rooms were
things that could no longer be done without.
The pump was ordered and erected, the organ
was built and opened, and the school-room
was made bright and unbearable for the
children, for many weeks to come. Nor did
the exertions of the worthy Sir Tomahawk
end here. He gave a grand entertainment to
the workhouse poor in and around Fogmoor;
a rather numerous body of melancholy units
in the great crowd of local over-population.
A curious entertainment it was; at which
no one was happy and comfortable, because
no one was in earnest; and which all alike,
both guests and entertainers, were glad to
see the end of.

It was the only thing like a mistake that
Sir Tomahawk was guilty of; for it was
evidently not in his way, and he was wise
enough never to try it again. The long,
shambling procession of the juvenile paupers
through the town was one of the most
melancholy spectacles that Fogmoor had seen for
many a day. The children themselves,
young and ignorant, seemed to feel that they
were only being walked out for a purpose.
Some feared they were marching to a
punishment merited by the crimes and poverty
of their parents, and clung to each other for
mutual protection. The genius of the
arrangers of the festival had been exerted to
put the right boy or girl in the wrong place.
Friendships and sympathies spring up even
in workhouses; but they were not to be
allowed to extend their manifestations into