The faculties which fit a man to be a great ruler are not those of society; some great rulers have been unintelligible like Cromwell, or brusque like Napoleon, or coarse and barbarous like Sir Robert Walpole.
Bagehot reflects on the qualities that make a great ruler, which may not align with social skills.
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They are above corruption because they are the corruptors.
They say, We reject your Bill for this once or these twice, or even these thrice: but if you keep on sending it up, at last we won't reject it.
Thirdly, we see why so few nations have made rapid advance, and how many have become stationary.
I do not think I put this too high when I say that a most important if not the most important object of early legislation was the enforcement of LUCKY rites.
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