Did he possess the magic bridle which would curb that fiery steed?
He could not be certain.

And then, suddenly, another violent crisis revealed more unmistakably than ever the nature of the mind with which he had to deal.
VII The Queen had for long been haunted by a terror that the day might come when she would be obliged to part with her Minister.

Ever since the passage of the Reform Bill, the power of the Whig Government had steadily declined.

The General Election of 1837 had left them with a very small majority in the House of Commons; since then, they had been in constant difflculties--abroad, at home, in Ireland; the Radical group had grown hostile; it became highly doubtful how much longer they could survive.

The Queen watched the development of events in great anxiety.
She was a Whig by birth, by upbringing, by every association, public and private; and, even if those ties had never existed, the mere fact that Lord M.was the head of the Whigs would have amply sufficed to determine her politics.