A little farther on Carlyle's hatred of political economy, in which Froude fully shared, breaks out with amusing vigour.

"If," wrote the younger historian, "the tendency of trade to assume a form of mere self-interest be irresistible," etc.

"And is it ?" comments the elder.

"Let us all get prussic acid, then." A recent speculator preferred cyanide of potassium.

But if "mere self-interest" comprises fraudulent balance-sheets, it cannot claim any support from political economy.