By what was it, then?
Merely by sense, industry, good principles and a good heart, qualities which no well constituted mind need ever despair of attaining.

It was the force of his character that raised him; and this character was not impressed on him by nature, but formed, out of no peculiarly fine elements, by himself.

There were many in the House of Commons of far greater ability and eloquence.

But no one surpassed him in the combination of an adequate portion of these with moral worth.

Horner was born to show what moderate powers, unaided by anything whatever except culture and goodness, may achieve, even when these powers are displayed amidst the competition and jealousies of public life.
A hundred years hence what difference will it make whether you were rich or poor, a peer or a peasant?
But what difference may it not make whether you did what was right or what was wrong?
At a large dinner-party given by Lord Stratford after the Crimean War, it was proposed that every one should write on a slip of paper the name which appeared most likely to descend to posterity with renown.