I think, sir, that they will
acknowledge that I am a man not deficient in filial piety or
general humanity. Sir, I am sorry for what I did in a moment of
heat. I have now spoken the truth, and I shall leave myself in the
hands of the House. My belief is that I should get such a round of
applause as I certainly shall never achieve in any other way. It
is not only that a popular man may do it,--like Phineas Finn,--but
the most unpopular man in the House may make himself liked by
owning freely that he has done something that he ought to be
ashamed of.' Nidderdale's unwonted eloquence was received in good
part by the assembled legislators.
'Taking it altogether,' said the Duke, 'I know of no assembly in
any country in which good-humour prevails so generally, in which
the members behave to each other so well, in which the rules are
so universally followed, or in which the president is so
thoroughly sustained by the feeling of the members.
'I hear men say that it isn't quite what it used to be,' said
Silverbridge.
'Nothing will ever be quite what it used to be.
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