Walter Bagehot: “There was so much harm done by it as well as so much good, that it is quite capable of being argued whether on the whole…”

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.

The lessons are good where its primitive assumptions hold, but may be false where those assumptions fail.

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 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.