The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1822-09-20

1
II they did not now aud then ennoble mau
ofmerit To keep up the credit of their ~
der, il would be impossible TO find
persons among them III for the most
insignificant parish officers. So well Is
this understood here, that whenever
one of these rnnts Of antiquity is sent
abroad, or appointed To hrh Office
at home, they always select for him dry
nurse, IN the ahape Of a secretary, to see that
his lordly stupidity does not ruin or dis
grace the nation.
A life exclusively devoted to pleasure
| and dissipation, that il TO say, mere ami
nal Qualifications. almost inevitably produ-
ces, hot only complication OF bodily in.
| firmities, but also cilemnate habits which
| degrade human being below the stan
| dard. Constitutional defects are much more
| apt 10 BIZ hereditary than genius or moralcs-
cclleneiesi and folly and madness, togc-
Their with strange aud unheard of physical
lntrmllirs, are very apt Lo be hair-looms IN
| old families, with nothing hui noble blood
| IN their veins. IL is not therefore much 10
be wondered at, if the old nobility of Eng-
land and Europe has become sort Of ca
PIT mortuuh, ont of which nollliug but
|
conceive The strange and orie nal lollos, alb
surdltes, and diseasos, bodily and mental,
that have generated in the worn-out, i'm
ppvershed vol of nobility. | cauld men
ton some ofthese hardly eccen,rcitirs these
ganbos of bed-ridden imheclity, that
would makayou bless your stars for having
been born in land oilberty, where it is next
| 10 impossible such strange monsters can he
generated. But | wish not 10 make merry
with human infrmity, and refrain from any
direct or personal ..lltisen to lhose victims
of hereditary honors and hereditary mfr
mites. II will be sufficient 20 mention, that
by iarthc most renowned exploit, perior
med IN the fashionable world within three
years past, by one OF the ancient nobility,
was that of the Marquis OF -, who
yaccinated his whole dog. kennel not long
since. This was, beyond all comparisons
the most llIusirlous act of his lie aud the
noble, ! beg pardon, the " mo2t noble,'
marquis tanned to tae yery,samnlit ONO
torlaly.
Pompous notices in the Morning Chro-
niclc, aud other publication, which cireu-
late extensively, are the means lesorted 10
by the nobility OF this country 10 keep up
the consequence of the privileged orders ;
and to these shifts are they reduced Ia pre-
vent the world from forgetting that such
people are in existence. You hardly hear
OF them, except connected with some race
horse, boxing-match, or pedestrian exploit,
unless IL be on occasion Of some oslenta-
tious display Of wasteiul prodigal,ty, or
some migration from one place To another,
seemingly undertak ken With 40 other object
than 10 get their names into the Morning
Chronicle. Nothing appears 70 excite
their satcd appeites but this newspaper i'm
mortality and 10 get INTO a magazine is
an object they will pursue with greater ca
gerncss than Alexander did The conquest of
the world. The noble ambition of beeo-
ming eminent by the exercise Of talents, or
the benefits conferred upon their deepen.
dents OF their eountrymen, seems 10 have
become almost enliroI Y extinct in the young
race OF mobiles and the last thing they APP
pear 10 think OF, is maintaining their dlgnl-
~ by digniicd actions.
am almost ashamed 10 confess, even 10
you, my dear brother, that eaipr 10 this
country prepared by habit and by reading,
to see among the people Of high blood aud
rank, creatures who realized that mysteri-
deiuablr, indcscrbable, and imcnable some.
hing, which we read Of in all the novels
aud poems so familiar 10 our youth.
expected 10 be able 10 detect "A nobleman
AT first sight as easy rs "A thorough bred
Jockey does a blood horse; and when 6rst
came here, amused myself by selecting mo-
billy from the mass that was continually
| passing and repassIng before me. But MT
merous and Notifying to my dlscrimina-
tive faculty were the blundcrs | made, At
one time misleok the Lord for the foot
man, nj another the footman for the Lord
| At another time | selected pickpOeket,
AZ he proved afterwards, for his Royal
! lIighnos5 the Duke Of ----------, who, un-
derstood, was at the public meeting. But
! the most Encouraging affair, and that
which determined me 40 longer TO trust in
stnct in these matters, was installing the
| most noble Marquis Of -----------, who VA =
driving stagc-coach, for the driver him
self! ! thought had got into terrible
scrape by the blunder, but, pn the contra
ry, the Marquis was highly tieklcd with it,,
aud told the story TO all his friends in
proof of his excellence III stage
ship.
IN honest truth, great part of the young
nobility here do very little credit to their
noble blood, either by their persons or their
manners and defy the most thogengh
bred novel reader TO tell one of them either
by his air or his appearance. The lion
would now no longer recognise the blood
royal by instinct, any mere than the man
would nobility, were either TO encounter
II devestcd of ITS tinsel and trappiugs.
Some OF them are the queercst, most dimj-
nutvc, pinehed up, elderly young creatures
you ever saw. They always grow old be
fore their time; aud were it net for corsets,