The "veni, vidi, vici" was the ordinary mode of expression in those times, and in earlier times among the Greeks.[123] This is distasteful to us; and it will probably be distasteful to those who come after us, two or three hundred years hence, that this or that British statesman should have made himself an Earl or a Knight of the Garter.

Now it is thought by many to be proper enough.

It will shock men in future days that great peers or rich commoners should have bargained for ribbons and lieutenancies and titles.

Now it is the way of the time.

Though virtue and vice may be said to remain the same from all time to all time, the latitudes allowed and the deviations encouraged in this or the other age must be considered before the character of a man can be discovered.