Walter Bagehot: “Society, in the sense we are now talking of, is the union of people for amusement and conversation.”

And again, in political matters, how quickly a leading statesman can change the tone of the community!

No doubt this momentary gain is bought at a ruinous after-cost.

The Parliament, the laws, the press were human institutions; but the Monarchy was a Divine institution.

That a House of Commons may work well it must perform, as we saw, five functions well: it must elect a Ministry well, legislate well, teach the nation well, express the nation's will well, bring matters to the nation's attention well.