There  are  some  Peers  who  are  not  suffering  from  family

15—2


2  28  Our  Old  Nobility.
greed  of  aggrandisement,  but  from  past  family  extravagance.
1  pity  them.  They  must  make  no  sign  of  distress,  while  the
teeth  of  the  fox  concealed  beneath  the  cloak  arc  fixed  in  their
llesh.  Honest  poverty  is  not  hard  to  bear  so  long  as  it  does
not  verge  on  destitution  ;  but  to  a  good  man,  assumed  wealth
masking  actual  poverty  must  be  a  constant  torture.  But  if  I
pity  such  men,  still  more  do  I  pity  their  lands  and  all  that
dwell  thereon.  If  an  ordinary  trader  cannot  meet  his  bills»
we  wind  up  his  affairs  in  the  Bankruptcy  Court ;  if  a  Duke  of
Newcastle,  with  34,000  acres  of  land  in  a  single  county,  is  in
the  same  position,  another  measure  is  dealt  out  to  him.  From
a  sentimental  point  of  view,  it  may  be  well  that  life-ownership
should  save  an  old  family  from  destruction  ;  but  what  of  the
interests  of  those  who  live  upon  the  estates  of  a  bankrupt
lord  ?

Yet  another  point  must  not  be  overlooked.  The  rent-rolls
given  in  the  preceding  chapters  must  only  be  regarded  as
giving  an  approximate  idea  of  the  incomes  of  their  owners.
