With this brilliant exception before us, we must, however, admit the general truth of this experience: “The nobility of trade usually ends with the second generation. A thrifty and persevering man falls into a line of business by which he accumulates a large fortune, preserving through life the habits, manners, and connexions of his trade; but his children, brought up with expectations of enjoying his property, understand only the art of spending. Hence, when deprived of fortune, without industry or resources, they die in beggary, leaving a third generation to the same chances of life as those with which their grandfather began his career fourscore years before.”[[108]]
[103]. Spectator newspaper, 1862.
[104]. Saturday Review.
[105]. When the Duke and Duchess, in taking farewell of Stowe, had reached the flower-garden, they both burst into a violent fit of tears. They went through the two gardens, and left them in silent sorrow: as he passed along, the Duke gave the Duchess a rose, which she treasured as the last gift.
[106]. See Ulster’s Vicissitudes of Families, in three volumes, for many impressive narratives of the same class as the above.
[107]. The Examiner.
[108]. Golden Rules of Social Philosophy, by Sir Richard Phillips.