If, then, any difference
was made between Tom's treatment and that of her own brood, it was
considerably in favour of the former; to whom the largest
proportions of treacle were allotted for his bread, and the
handsomest supplies of hasty pudding. Besides, to do Mrs. Billings
justice, there WAS a party against him; and that consisted not only
of her husband and her five children, but of every single person in
the neighbourhood who had an opportunity of seeing and becoming
acquainted with Master Tom.
A celebrated philosopher--I think Miss Edgeworth--has broached the
consolatory doctrine, that in intellect and disposition all human
beings are entirely equal, and that circumstance and education are
the causes of the distinctions and divisions which afterwards
unhappily take place among them. Not to argue this question, which
places Jack Howard and Jack Thurtell on an exact level,--which would
have us to believe that Lord Melbourne is by natural gifts and
excellences a man as honest, brave, and far-sighted as the Duke of
Wellington,--which would make out that Lord Lyndhurst is, in point
of principle, eloquence, and political honesty, no better than Mr.
O'Connell,--not, I say, arguing this doctrine, let us simply state
that Master Thomas Billings (for, having no other, he took the name
of the worthy people who adopted him) was in his long-coats
fearfully passionate, screaming and roaring perpetually, and showing
all the ill that he COULD show.
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