anded property as on the whole the best,
though the arguments may not be all on one side. In the present
case, they are to my mind entirely conclusive. First, because I am
able thoroughly to repose in you an entire confidence as to your
use of the estate during your lifetime, and your capacity to
provide wisely for its future destination. Secondly, because you
have, delivered over to you with the estate, the duty and office of
progressively emancipating it from the once ruinous debt; and it is
almost necessary towards the satisfactory prosecution of this
purpose, which it may still take very many years to complete, that
you should be entire master of the property, and should feel the
full benefit of the steady care and attention which it ought to
receive from you.

2. I hope that with it you will inherit the several conterminous
properties belonging to me, and that you will receive these in such
a condition as to enjoy a large proportion of the income they
yield. Taking the two estates together, they form the most
considerable estate in the county, and give what may be termed the
first social position there. The importance of this position is
enhanced by the large population which inhabits them. You will, I
hope, familiarise your mind with this truth, that you can no more
become the proprietor of such a body of property, or of the portion
of it now accruing, than your brother Stephen could become rector
of the parish, without recognising the serious moral and social
responsibilities which belong to it. They are full of interest and
rich in pleasure, but they demand (in the absence of special cause)
residence on the spot, and a good share of time, and especially a
free and ungrudging discharge of them. Nowhere in the world is the
position of the landed proprietor so high as in this country, and
this in great part for the reason that nowhere else is the
possession of landed property so closely associated with definite
duty.

3. In truth, with this and your seat in parliament, which I hope
(whether Whitby supply it, or whether you migrate) will continue,
you will, I trust, have a well-charged, though not an
over-charged, life, and will, like professional and other
thoroughly employed men, have to regard the bulk of your time as
forestalled