Walter Bagehot: “And the difficulty of matching a Ministry is more than that of fitting a puzzle, because the Ministers to be put in can…”

But it is natural also that persons used to analyse political institutions should look at these anomalies with a little tenderness and a little interest.

I own that I do not entirely sympathise with the horror of these anomalies which haunts some of our best critics.

I cannot, therefore, join in the full cry against anomalies; in my judgment it may quickly overrun the scent, and so miss what we should be glad to find.

Just so the lines of our Constitution were framed in old eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple habits; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though civilisation has come with its dangers, complications, and enjoyments.