What if he could become the parent of a totally different order of things! What if the Civil Service, through his instrumentality, should become the nucleus of the best intellectual diligence in the country, instead of being a byword for sloth and ignorance! Mr.Hardlines meditated deeply on this, and, as he did so, it became observed on all sides that he was an altered man as regarded his solicitude for the Weights and Measures.

One or two lads crept in, by no means conspicuous for their attainments in abstract science; young men, too, were observed to leave not much after four o'clock, without calling down on themselves Mr.Hardlines' usual sarcasm.

Some said he was growing old, others that he was broken-hearted.

But Mr.Hardlines was not old, nor broken in heart or body.

He was thinking of higher things than the Weights and Measures, and at last he published a pamphlet.
Mr.Hardlines had many enemies, all in the Civil Service, one of the warmest of whom was Mr.Oldeschole, of the Navigation, and at first they rejoiced greatly that Job's wish had been accomplished on their behalf, and that their enemy had written a book.