Supposing a Royal Duke were to die. Which is not a great stretch of
supposition,
For golden lads and lasses must,
Like chimney-sweepers, come to dust:
Supposing he had been a good old Duke with a thoroughly kind heart, and
a generous nature, always influenced by a sincere desire to do right,
and always doing it, like a man and a gentleman, to the best of his
ability:
And supposing, this Royal Duke left a son, against whom there was no
imputation or reproach, but of whom all men were disposed to think well,
and had no right or reason to think otherwise:
And supposing, this Royal Duke, though possessed of a very handsome
income in his lifetime, had not made provision for this son; and a
rather accommodating Government (in such matters) were to make provision
for him, at the expense of the public, on a scale wholly unsuited to the
nature of the public burdens, past, present, and prospective, and
bearing no proportion to any kind of public reward, for any sort of
public service:
I wonder whether the country could then, with any justice, complain,
that the Royal Duke had not himself provided for his son, instead of
leaving his son a charge upon the people!
I should think the question would depend upon this:—Whether the country
had ever given the good Duke to understand, that it, in the least
degree, expected him to provide for his son. If it never did anything of
the sort, but always conveyed to him, in every possible way, the
rapturous assurance that there was a certain amount of troublesome Hotel
business to be done, which nobody but a Royal Duke could by any
possibility do, or the business would lose its grace and flavor, then, I
should say, the good Duke aforesaid might reasonably suppose that he
made sufficient provision for his son, in leaving him the Hotel
business; and that the country would be a very unreasonable country, if
it made any complaint.
Supposing the country _did_ complain, though, after all. I wonder what
it would still say, in Committee, Sub Committee, Charitable Association,
and List of Stewards, if any ungenteel person were to propose ignoble
chairmen!
Because I should like the country to be consistent.
* * * * *
Monthly Supplement of “HOUSEHOLD WORDS,”
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THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE
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