The unconscious grace of life MAY be in the middle classes: finely-mannered persons are born everywhere; but it OUGHT to be in the aristocracy: and a man must be born with a hitch in his nerves if he has not some of it.
Bagehot reflects on the expected qualities of the aristocracy compared to the middle classes.
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And again, in political matters, how quickly a leading statesman can change the tone of the community!
It is absurd to choose by contested party election an impartial chooser of Ministers.
Perhaps such powers as these are what a wise man would most seek to exercise and least fear to possess.
Savages waste away before modern civilisation; they seem to have held their ground before the ancient.
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