SIR GREGORY HARDLINES Great changes had been going on at the Weights and Measures; or rather it might be more proper to say that great changes were now in progress.

From that moment in which it had been hinted to Mr.
Hardlines that he must relax the rigour of his examinations, he had pondered deeply over the matter.

Hitherto he had confined his efforts to his own office, and, so far from feeling personally anxious for the amelioration of the Civil Service generally, had derived no inconsiderable share of his happiness from the knowledge that there were such sinks of iniquity as the Internal Navigation.

To be widely different from others was Mr.Hardlines' glory.

He was, perhaps, something of a Civil Service Pharisee, and wore on his forehead a broad phylactery, stamped with the mark of Crown property.