They go there with no more idea of shining than they do when they are elected to a first-class club;--hardly with more idea of being useful.

It is the thing to do, and the House of Commons is the place where a man ought to be--for a certain number of hours.

Such men neither succeed nor fail, for nothing is expected of them.

From such a one as Thackeray something would have been expected, which would not have been forthcoming.

He was too desultory for regular work,--full of thought, but too vague for practical questions.