The morning call., 1893-10-22

men who could not make better use of
their lives were out of place with titles.
This consciousness of the power Of
wealth has lmpelled the arstocracy not
only to cling to lis own estates but to study
how to form alliances which would add to
them. 1t happens that there are hundreds
of wealthy landed proprietors who have
more claim to long and high pedlgrees than
many who have titles They are common
ers, who are proud of their descent They
figure cOnspicuously in the very thick
volume about the county families or
gentry and have their coats-of-arms and
crests as distinctive as have the enno bled.
Many of them would not accept a peerage
if offered, on the ground that they would
eXtlnguiSh their pre-emlDence and prece-
dence as commoners and fall into the tail
of the peeragp. But alliances with the
sons and daughters OF these old families
are sought with becoming foresight
The nouveaux riches among merchants,
inventors, manufacturers, ship-owners,
brewers, contractors. bankers and spec
ulators, when they shine by the FURNISHED
light OF their gold. are also deemed worthy
of admission to the circle of the titled. A
spendthrift lord looks around for a bride
who has hundred thousand or more TO
give for a title, and thus fortunes are
mended and blended. A few years ago a
Manchester banker gave away with his
daughter two million dollars to Scotch
peer. The dowry soon disappeared. and
now the banker nurses the estates as more
or less his own. 1t is not to be doubted
that numbers of the matches made with
American ladies have sordid prompting
humillatng to think about. They are not
all of them positively unhappy, but in
numbers of instances they are. Widow
Hammersley, who married the late Duke
of Marlborough, cannot have had an ideal
life with peer whose reputation had suf
fered so many rents.
The wealth and station to which aristo-
Gratis, h hereditary and Otherwise, are born
under snobbish partitionlng of life, nat
urally combine to deprive fine specimens
of humanity of all incentive to individual
exertion. and the poorer specimens in ply
sique and mental capacity are pitiable rep
resentatves of their order. We shall see
what comes of the favoritism of silver
spoon fortunes when we glance at the sort
of life led by persons of rank, and perhaps
be surprised that things fall out as we'll
as they 90.
In the very matter of upbringing there is
a marked difference between the children
OF the arlstOcracy and those OF the middle
classes, and the children of the poor differ
materially from both. The offs pring OF my
lady do not take nourishment at natures
fount in the arms of the mother as did the
hoDeiuls of Micawber. They are trans
ferred to nurse, who is advertised for.
They are ID the hands of servants all
through childhood. As soon as the boys
are able TO trundle hoop, play marbles
or rob nest. they are bundled off to Eton
or Harrow for their education, which takes
the shape of smaitering OF Greek and
Latin, slight infliction of mathematics,
perhaps modern tongue and modicum
OF useful knowledge, combined with very
democratic sport in the playground, which
stamps ont some of the pretentiousnes nat
urally clinging TO pride of birth.
Tie boys are home dutifully for the
holidays, but not always to see their
parents. who are moving up and down the
great world Of vanity fair aud are not per-
sonifcations of domestic devotion and
simplicity. The girls are not sent to school
at all. They are schooled at home under
nurses. governesses in languages. music,
drawing and physical exercise. Some of
them learn and become accomplished :;
others DO not, but remain doll-like ounces,
who comfort themselves with the hope
that it is not necessary 10 know much
since mamma some day will find them a
husband, for whose entertainment and
companionship they only need good man.
neIs. Polished manners they generally
have. these hlRh-bred daughters of Albion,
and they may be gentle and goOd-looking,
and they may speak a delightful English,
round and musical and without accent
English, but not identifiable with any par
ticuar part of England-and grammatical
without any effort. from sheer hebit of
speaking correctly from infancy.
In the novels of to-day are to be found
very faithful pictures of the life which
passes in drawing-rooms. and the daily oc-