To Lord Lyndhurst I of course feel personal gratitude, and I shall always take care how I speak of him." The emoluments of the office made up his income, for the three or four years during which he held it, to about nine hundred pounds per annum.
His means were more than sufficient for his wants, but too small, and far too precarious, for the furtherance of the political aspirations which now were uppermost in his mind.

"Public affairs," writes Lady Trevelyan, "were become intensely interesting to him.

Canning's accession to power, then his death, the repeal of the Test Act, the Emancipation of the Catholics, all in their turn filled his heart and soul.

He himself longed to be taking his part in Parliament, but with a very hopeless longing.
"In February 1830 I was staying at Mr.Wilberforce's at Highwood Hill when I got a letter from your uncle, enclosing one from Lord Lansdowne, who told him that he had been much struck by the articles on Mill, and that he wished to be the means of first introducing their author to public life by proposing to him to stand for the vacant seat at Calne.
Lord Lansdowne expressly added that it was your uncle's high moral and private character which had determined him to make the offer, and that he wished in no respect to influence his votes, but to leave him quite at liberty to act according to his conscience.

I remember flying into Mr.Wilberforce's study, and, absolutely speechless, putting the letter into his hands.