ABSTRACT
The rest of England was different in its character, divided in its pursuits, and sometimes opposed in its opinions; and where politics and religion entered in, these opinions might have to be deferred to. The amalgam of Caroline profligacy, Gallic tone, hotheaded politics, and the first pencillings of modern thought produced a race of aristocrats who resemble, more than anything else, quick-change artists. In modern society those who command are well aware that they must hold what they have against a clamour from without; but among the typical aristocrats of Queen Anne's day, privilege was taken wholly for granted. Such people felt that their position derived from something obscure and ultimate like God. Almost all the aristocrats with brains spent their life misusing them. There were many men who, like Bolingbroke, were nominal deists or indifferent churchgoers; yet every one of them professed strong party views on religion.
