His knowledge is frequently minute, and he can prophesy the result of a District Council election by reckoning up the number of leading men who read the _United Irishman_, and weighing them against those who delight in the pages of the _Leader_.

The men who can do these things are themselves local.

They reside in their district, and, as a rule, push the sales and collect the debts of local brewers and flour-merchants.

The representatives of the larger English firms only make their rounds twice or three times a year, and are less interesting.

They pay the penalty of being cosmopolitan, and tend to become superficial in their judgment of men and things.
Hyacinth, like most members of the public, was ignorant of the greatness and interest of his new profession.