It is curious, in contemplating Lord Rosebery's intellectual qualities and
his career as a statesman, which, in a sense, may be said to have culminated this 'week, to _remember what Bishop Burnet said of his direct ancestor, Sir Archibald Primrose (tempo Charles II.) : "The subtlest of all Lord Midletoun's friends was Sir Archibald Primrose. He was a dexterous man in business; he had always expedients ready at every difficulty; he had an art of speak' g to all men according to their sense of things; and so drew out their secrets, while he concealed his own; for words went for nothing with him. He said everything that was necessary to persuade those he spoke to that he was of their mind; and did it in so genuine a way that he seemed to speak his heart. He was always for soft counsels and slow methods; and thought that the chief thing that a great man ought to do was to raise his family and his kindred, who naturally stuck to him ; for he had seen so much of the world that he did not depend much on friends, and so took no care in making any." We shall leave our readers to say how much or how little of this character has been inherited by Lord Rosebery.
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