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 exigencies.

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