If he was watched, he did not care to exhibit himself to his friends as a martyr, to tell stories of the _sbirro_ who sometimes dogged his footsteps, nor to cry aloud that he was unjustly persecuted.

He affected a character above suspicion, and rarely allowed himself to express an opinion.

He was no propagator of new doctrines; that was too dangerous a trade for one of his temper.

But he foresaw changes to come, and he determined that he would profit by them.
He had little to lose, but he had everything to gain; and being a patient man, he resolved to gain all he could by circumspection--in other words, by acting according to his nature, rather than by risking himself in a bold course of action for which he was wholly unsuited.

He was too wise to attempt wholly to deceive the authorities, knowing well that they were not easily deceived; and he accordingly steered a middle course, constantly speaking in favour of progress, of popular education, and of freedom of the press, but at the same time loudly proclaiming that all these things--that every benefit of civilisation, in fact--could be obtained without the slightest change in the form of government.