"
"Of whom are you speaking?"
"Well, I mean Lord Warburton and his friends- the radicals of the
upper class. Of course I only know the way it strikes me. They talk
about the changes, but I don't think they quite realize. You and I,
you know, we know what it is to have lived under democratic
institutions: I always thought them very comfortable, but I was used
to them from the first. And then I ain't a lord; you're a lady, my
dear, but I ain't a lord. Now over here I don't think it quite comes
home to them. It's a matter of every day and every hour, and I don't
think many of them would find it as pleasant as what they've got. Of
course if they want to try, it's their own business; but I expect they
won't try very hard."
"Don't you think they're sincere?" Isabel asked.
"Well, they want to feel earnest," Mr. Touchett allowed; "but it
seems as if they took it out in theories mostly. Their radical views
are a kind of amusement; they've got to have some amusement, and
they might have coarser tastes than that. You see they're very
luxurious, and these progressive ideas are about their biggest luxury.
They make them feel moral and yet don't damage their position.
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