The friendship between him and Chide appeared to be very close, yet not
a little surprising. They were old comrades in Parliament, and Chide was
in the main a whole-hearted supporter of Ferrier's policy and views;
resenting in particular, as Diana soon discovered, Marsham's change of
attitude. But the two men had hardly anything else in common. Ferrier
was an enormous reader, most variously accomplished; while his political
Whiggery was balanced by a restless scepticism in philosophy and
religion. For the rest he was an ascetic, even in the stream of London
life; he cared nothing for most of the ordinary amusements; he played a
vile hand at whist (bridge had not yet dawned upon a waiting world); he
drank no wine, and was contentedly ignorant both of sport and games.
Chide, on the other hand, was as innocent of books as Lord Palmerston.
All that was necessary for his career as a great advocate he could
possess himself of in the twinkling of an eye; his natural judgment and
acuteness were of the first order; his powers of eloquence among the
most famous of his time; but it is doubtful whether Lady Niton would
have found him much better informed about the politics of her youth than
Barton himself; Sir James, too, was hazy about Louis Philippe, and could
never remember, in the order of Prime Ministers, whether Canning or Lord
Liverpool came first.
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