She had no natural leaning to the study of political economy. Instead,
she had always imagined any question relating to the government of her
country to be inherently dry-as-dust and uninviting. But had John
Hammond devoted his days to the study of Coptic manuscripts, or the
arrow headed inscriptions upon Assyrian tablets, she would have toiled
her hardest in the endeavour to make herself a Coptic scholar, or an
adept in the cuneiform characters. If he had been a student of Chinese,
she would not have been discomfited by such a trifle as the fifty
thousand characters in the Chinese alphabet.
And so, as he was to make his name in the arena of public life, she set
herself to acquire a proper understanding of the science of politics;
and to this end she gorged herself with English history,--Hume, Hallam,
Green, Justin McCarthy, Palgrave, Lecky, from the days of Witenagemote
to the Reform Bill; the Repeal of the Corn Laws, the Disestablishment of
the Irish Church, Ballot, Trade Unionism, and unreciprocated Free Trade.
No question was deep enough to repel her; for was not her lover
interested in the dryest thereof; and what concerned him and his welfare
must needs be full of interest for her.
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