Walter Bagehot: “If the New England States possessed a Cabinet government as a separate nation, they would be as renowned in the world…”

The casual line was traced according to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding generations fought elsewhere; and the hesitating line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a perpetual limit.

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.

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.

Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner.