The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-30 00:00:00

LITJRATURE.

.7TG2-117 OF THE COMMONERS OF GREAT

BRITAIN AND IRELAND,

Enjoying Territorial Possessions, or High Rank; but unin

vested with Iferittrble Rol ours.

BY JOHN NU/UM )?SQUIRE, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF THE
PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE.
Henry CoMurn, Marlborough-street, 1835.

The second volume of this excellent and truly na-
tional work has just made its appearance, and after
examining and comparing parts of it with authentic
records of private families, we feel justified in asserting,
that it realizes all that could possibly be hoped from
th 3 happiest combination of sound judgment, learned
research, patient investigation, and a discriminating
sagacity. A careful examination of it removes all
doubt of the author's competency to the arduous task
he has chosen, and of the earnestness with which he
has studied to fulfil it, with credit to himself, and ad-
vantage to his country—and in both he has been tri-
umphantl) successful. It has been too much the

mode, latterly, to laugh at all references to ancestry,

and to make a boast of spurning all claims to respect
arising from family associations and recollections. No
doubt this arose from the indignation which great
minds felt when they beheld the memory of the illus-
trious dead prostituted to screen the debaucheries, ve-
nalities, endless faults, and frivolous pretensions of the
living Pride of birth, and allusion to ancestry, is de-
testable in the persons, and on the tongues of incipient
profligacy, and hoary imbecility. To make it a sub-
ject of boast is also an act of injustice, as well as a
direct insult to those who cannot lay claim to it ; as
it upbraids them with that as a crime which at
the utmost can only be accounted a misfortune. But

n this instance, as in most others, the public, from one

extreme, ran directly into the very opposite. Infuriated
by the prevailing profligacy in the highest ranks, which

could only be fed ley sacrificing every right privilege,
and immunity of the industrious 'classes—disgusted by
the exhibition of imbecility ascending the judgment-
seat merely because a deceased ancestor once was
worthy of such an honour—enraged at witnessing he-
reditary honours, instead of being employed to awaken

he emulation of a virtuous ambition in the bosoms of

the young, paraded as a secure palladium against the
cries of oppressed innocence, and the threats of out-
raged humanity--the more virtuous among the aristo-
cracy were the first to waive the accidental honours of
an illustrious ancestry, and to claim the confidence of
their countrymen, solely on the merit of their indivi-
dual deserts. The public mind was too much excited
to understand aright the real motives which led to this
wise determination. It was construed as a renuncia-
tion of all claims to past glory ; and in this misinter-
pretation of their real views, the patriotic aristocrats
were obliged to give a tacit concurrence, by the appre-
hension that all attempts to steer a middle course would
only make matters worse. The French Revolution gave
a powerful impetus to the downfall of the pride of
birth ; but what tended to ruin it most effectually was
the great riches acquired by commerce, and the frequent
necessity which the nobility of Great Britain and

reland have been under, of propping up the sinking

fortunes of an illustrious house, by a matrimonial
alliance with the children of rich merchants, whose ear-
liest recollections were the workhouse, and whose here-
ditary possessions hardly included a broom, and the
prescriptive privilege of sweeping a crossing. The
fruits of these marriages of necessity on one side, and
ambition on the other, naturally enough were not slow
in reminding the world of the nobility of their descent ;
and an example thus set by the highest ranks was fol-.
lowed with avidity by the less wealthy among the most
distinguished of the Commoners. Still if we want to
find the real current of the purest blood in England, as
well as examples of the good effects of cherishing a
proper veneration for the honours and virtues of an-
cestry, it is to the Commoners we must turn for both.
Proud, shy, and standing aloof from the corrupt in-
fluence of the Court, they are never whirled round in that
vortex of dissipation which prepares men to sacrifice
Earth and Heaven to the gratification of their worst pas-
sions : neither can their numbers be increased by the
same immediate process to which Royalty has only to
have recourse, in order to swell the ranks of an hereditary
peerage. The talismanic touch—the whispered spell
which sanctifies the person of a pettifogging lawyer,
and encircles with a halo of lambent glory the brainless
head of a city alderman—would produce no effect in ele-
vating a man to that proudest of all titles—an old Eng-
lish gentleman, reflecting in himself the virtues of a
long line of ancestry.
Impressed with the correctness of this view of the
honors of ancestry, we do not hesitate to affirm that
Mr. Burke has conferred a national benefit on the
country by his past labours. In a sound state of so-
ciety the recollection of ancestorial virtue has a happy
effect in awakening a spirit of high emulative virtue,
and in checking the evil passions which more immedi-
ately beset the footsteps of youth and inexperience.
We might cite many instances of this, but the truth
must appear so obvious to all who have ever in their

lives avoided the perpetration of any mean or wicked
deed from seeing the picture of an ancestor, looking, as
it were, reproachfully upon them, or from the sudden
recollection of what a high-souled parent would have
done under the influence of such a temptation, that
the labour would be one of supererogation. This is
a species of restraint which almost all have felt—a
check which has suddenly influenced the conduct of
every person at some period or other of his life. As
to an utter disregard of ancestry, we believe it hardly
exists ; nor have we ever known the feeling greatly
affected, save where all pretension to birth would pro-
voke laughter, or excite disgust. The majority of
mankind are ever disposed to play the part of the fox
in the fable, affecting to despise what they find to be
unattainable. Now this is very foolish, and very
mean besides. Every person cannot be born of an
ancient line of rich and powerful ancestors—whether
he be or be not, is an accident which individually
ought neither to redound to his honour, or substract
from his real merits—but every person can at least
endeavour to controul the accident of birth, by being
himself the founder of a family—one of the most
noble aims of earthly ambition, provided the means to
effect it be honourable. Here the child of indigence
may outshine the noblest in the land ; and such is the
force of innate worth, that the person who jealously
attempts this may have his claims acknowledged,
and his hopes realized, in an very brief period.
It is credibly reported of the father of the
Right Hon. Sir R. Peel, that at seven years of age
he formed the design of becoming the founder of a
family, and this noble project he lived to see matured
in consequence of his own great industry, and close
attention to business. It ought to be a subject of
proud exultation to the posterity of this noble-minded
man, to date their origin from such a source ; and this
honourable remembrance every person may at least en-
deavour to bequeath to his descendants.
The second volume of " Mr. Burke's History of

:he Commoners " includes the names of some of the

most celebrated men of the present day, together with
a considerable number of the late and present members
of the House of Commons. The armorial bearings of
each family are very carefully executed, and the chain
of descent, from the earliest periods in our history, pre-
served with wonderful care and astonishing fidelity.
The work, when completed, will be a proud record of
the hereditary worth of the Commoners of Great
Britain and Ireland.