Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-05-16
v
ARlsTocRATlc PRIDE.
what 1t u 60 BE . Lord In GFea3 nEital1~
Byrou's Title.

ARISTOcRA1lc PRtOE
what It II Go BE . Lord In Greas nritsls- Z
lByr0u's Title.
II in difficult for an American citt1e1
Ia realize what it is in England to be .
lord. Common people in Great Britain
can hardly stand upright or comm aud
their organs of speech in the presence
of a man VINO has the legal righs 20 =
place that little word ''lord" before his
name. Perhaps one reason is that there
are only four or five hundred lords in
the whole British empire, SO that many
people never have . chance to sec thas
a lord is, after ali. only 8 man An
other reason is thatsEAs2ish lords are
almost always exceedingly rich: live In
enormous castles OF splendid mansions
and ride about in elegant carriages
Then, too, most Of they have names
and titles which are met Tith in htstory-
and in Shakespeare. and ignorant Peos
pie suppose that when they see the
Duke Of Buckingham they are looking
upon a descendant Of ''Iny lord of Buck
ingham" whose head was cut on by
Richard III. at Salisbury. In addition
to this a lo1 d sits in the house OF lords
and holds rank in the commonwealth
similar to that of senator in the Uni
States x.t--.....
OF course, the adulation which lords
| receive, even from their childhood. has
an effect upon themselves-since they
| are but men, no better and no worse
| than others It is apt to make them
| think that they are composed OF SUI
perior clay to that out of which COM
| mon people are formed. All the foolish
part of them fully believe that they diff
| fer from ordinary mortals as fine porce-
| lain differs from the red material OF
| hower-pots.
! Byron, with all his geniusy was infat-
| uatcd with this ridiculous notion, and
the more because the title came to him
| suddenly, when he was just old enough
to be spoiled by it. He was a school
boy, ten years old at the time, living in
Scotland with his mother, who had an
income of one hundred and thirty live
pounds year, equal to about twenty
| five dollars a week in our present cur
rency. All at once the news that Lord
Byron, the granduncle of the boy. was
| dead. leaving no heirs to his title and
estates except this poor widows son
Imagine the effect upon a forward, SEN
sitivc, bashful, imaginative boy-pain-
| fully ashamed because he had a lame
foot. It seems that he was puzzled at
first with his new lordship. The day
. | after the news arrived he ran up to ms
mother and said: g. Sl go
| Mother, 90 you sec any uiiAeiS5HuSo
in me since / became a lord? see
| none" -' % 60
The next morning, when the roll was
, called at school, the teacher: instead OF
' calling out his name, George Gordon
' BYRON, as he had always done before
: gave it with the title in Latin, thus:
r George Gordon, Dominus de Byron
: The boy could not utter the usual re-
s,,onsc, "Adsum' q am presently, sc
l. paralyzed was he by his emotions
= Pale and speechIess he stood, with the
8 ! eyes of the whole school upon him. un
IS til he found relief in a gush OF tears
e The time never came when he coule
l. take a rational view of this imaginary
A | honor. His friend and biographer
n Thomas Moore, tells us that, in th'
r height of his celebrity, he was NOR
le proud of his descent from the Byron
c who came over from Normandy will
4. william the Conqucror than OF bein'
D. the most admired poet OF his time. 1e
c, his ancestors were not people to o
,e proud o..
IS All this is inconceivable to true
j. hearted American; although some o
s. our citizens seem to be strongly infect
Of ed with the degrading spirit OF hunkeJ
c. ism.-N. Y. Ledger. e..