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528 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
for his house ? As I am writing this sentence Mr. Cox, who collects
the taxes in this quarter, walks in. How do you do, Mr. Cox?
We are not in the least afraid of meeting one another. Time was
—two, three years of time—when poor Philip was troubled at the
sight of Cox; and this troublous time his biographer intends to
pass over in a very few pages.
At the end of six months the Upper Ten Thousand of New
York heard with modified wonder that the editor of that fashionable
journal had made a retreat from the city, carrying with him
the scanty contents of the till ; so the contributions of Philalethes
never brought our poor friend any dollars at all. But though one
fish is caught and eaten, are there not plenty more left in the sea 1
At this very time, when I was in a natural state of despondency
about poor Philip's affairs, it struck Tregarvan, the wealthy Cornish
Member of Parliament, that the Government and the House of
Commons slighted his speeches and his views on foreign politics ;
that the wife of the Foreign Secretary had been very inattentive to
Lady Tregarvan; that the designs of a certain Great Power were
most menacing and dangerous, and ought to be exposed and counteracted
; and that the peerage which he had long desired ought to be
bestowed on him. Sir John Tregarvan applied to certain literary
and political gentlemen with whom he was acquainted. He would
bring out the European Review. He would expose the designs of
that Great Power which was menacing Europe. He would show
up in his proper colours a Minister who was careless of the country's
honour, and forgetful of his own : a Minister whose arrogance ought
no longer to be tolerated by the country gentlemen of England.
Sir John, a little man in brass buttons, and a tall head, who loves
to hear his own voice, came and made a speech on the above topics
to the writer of the present biography ; that writer's lady was in
his study as Sir John expounded his views at some length. She
listened to him with the greatest attention and respect. She was
shocked to hear of the ingratitude of Government ; astounded and
terrified by his exposition of the designs of—of that Great Power
whose intrigues were so menacing to European tranquillity. She
was most deeply interested in the idea of establishing the Review.
He would, of course, be himself the editor ; and—and—(here the
woman looked across the table at her husband with a strange
triumph in her eyes)—she knew, they both knew, the very man
of all the world who was most suited to act as sub-editor under Sir
John—a gentleman, one of the truest that ever lived—a University
man; a man remarkably versed in the European languages—that
is, in French most certainly. And now the reader, I daresay, can
guess who this individual was. " I knew it at once," says the lady,