Q. Although the Ducal system of “improving estates,” by turning out old Tenants and raising the rent to the utmost possible limit, may press hardly on individuals, do not these territorial magnates display a splendid example of public-spirited generosity and self-denying civic virtue which compensates for private loss?
A. Scarcely.
Punch. May 7, 1887.
A Catechism of the Peerage.
Question. What is a Peer.
Answer. The eldest son of his father.
Q. Who gave him that Title?
A. No one; it came to him through the accident of birth.
Q. Has he no other claim or qualification?