"They boast
Their noble birth; conduct us to the tombs
Of their forefathers, and from age to age
Ascending, trumpet to their illustrious race."
COWPER.
Devoted as he was to the instruction of his adopted child, Edward
Forster was nevertheless aware that more was required in the education
of a female than he was competent to fulfil. Many and melancholy were
his reveries on the forlorn prospects of the little girl (considering
his own precarious life and the little chance that appeared of restoring
her to her friends and relations), still he resolved that all that could
should be done; the issue he left to Providence. That she might not be
cast wholly unknown upon the world, in case of his death, he had often
taken Amber to a neighbouring mansion, with the owner of which, Lord
Aveleyn, he had long been on friendly terms; although, until latterly,
he had declined mixing with the society which was there collected. Many
years before, the possessor had entered the naval service, and had,
during the few months that he had served in the capacity of midshipman,
been intrusted to the charge of Edward Forster.
It is a curious fact, although little commented upon, how much society
in general is affected by the entailment of property in aristocratical
families upon the male heir; we may add, how much it is demoralised.
The eldest son, accustomed from his earliest days to the flattery and
adulation of dependents, is impressed with but one single idea, namely,
that he is the fortunate person deputed by chance to spend so many
thousands per annum, and that his brothers and sisters, with equal
claims upon their parent, are to be almost dependent upon him for
support. Of this the latter are but too soon made conscious, by the
difference of treatment which they experience from those around them;
and feelings of envy and ill-will towards their eldest brother are but
too often the result of such inequality. Thus one of the greatest
charms of life, unity between brethren, is destroyed.
The possessor of the title and the estates is at last borne to his long
home, there to lie until summoned before that presence where he and
those who were kings, and those who were clowns, will stand trembling as
erring men, awaiting the fiat of eternal justice. In his turn, the
young lord revels in his youth.
Then how much more trying is the situation of the younger brothers.
During their father's lifetime they had a home, and were brought up in
scenes and with ideas commensurate with the fortune which had been
entailed. Now, they find themselves thrown upon the world, without the
means of support, even adequate to their wants. Like the steward in the
parable, "they cannot dig, to beg they are ashamed;" and like him, they
too often resort to unworthy means to supply their exigences.
Should the young heir prove sickly, what speculations on his demise!
The worldly stake is so enormous, that the ties of nature are dissolved,
and a brother rejoices at a brother's death! One generation is not
sufficient to remove these feelings; the barrenness of his marriage bed,
or the weakly state of his children, are successively speculated upon by
the presumptive heir. Let it not be supposed that I would infer this
always to be the fact. I have put the extreme case, to point out what
must ensue, according to the feelings of our nature, if care is not
taken to prevent its occurrence. There is a cruelty, a more than
cruelty, in parents bringing up their children with ideas which seldom
can be realised, and rendering their future lives a pilgrimage of misery
and discontent, if not of depravity.
But the major part of our aristocracy are neither deficient in talent
nor in worth. They set a bright example to the nobles of other
countries, and very frequently even to the less demoralised society of
our own. Trammelled by the deeds of their forefathers, they employ
every means in their power to remedy the evil, and a large proportion of
their younger branches find useful and honourable employment in the
army, the navy, or the church. But their numbers cannot all be provided
for by these channels, and it is the country at large which is taxed to
supply the means of sustenance to the younger scions of nobility; taxed
directly in the shape of place and sinecure, indirectly in various ways,
but in no way so heavily as by the monopoly of the East India Company,
which has so long been permitted to oppress the nation, that these
_detrimentals_ (as they have named themselves) may be provided for. It
is a well-known fact, that there is hardly a peer in the upper House, or
many representatives of the people in the lower, who are not, or who
anticipate to be, under some obligation to this Company by their
relations or connections being provided for in those distant climes; and
it is this bribery (for bribery it is, in whatever guise it may appear)
that upholds one of the most glaring, the most oppressive of all
monopolies, in the face of common sense, common justice and common
decency. Other taxes are principally felt by the higher and middling
classes; but this most odious, this most galling tax, is felt even in
the cottage of the labourer, who cannot return to refresh himself after
his day of toil with his favourite beverage without paying twice its
value out of his hard-earned pittance, to swell the dividend of the
Company, and support these _pruriencies_ of noble blood.
And yet, deprecating the evils arising from the system of entail, I must
acknowledge that there are no other means by which (in a monarchical
government) the desirable end of upholding rank is to be obtained. I
remember once, when conversing with an American, I inquired after one or
two of his countrymen, who but a few years before were of great wealth
and influence. To one of my remarks he answered, "In our country all
the wealth and power at the time attached to it does not prevent a name
from sinking into insignificance, or from being forgotten soon after its
possessor is dead, for we do not entail property. The distribution
scatters the amassed heap, by which the world around him had been
attracted; and although the distribution tends to the general
fertilisation of the country, yet with the disappearance, the influence
of the possessor and even his name are soon forgotten."
These remarks, as will appear in the sequel, are apposite to the parties
which I am about to introduce to the reader. As, however, they are
people of some consequence, it may appear to be a want of due respect on
my part, if I were to introduce them at the fag-end of a chapter.