ll 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 numbers cannot all be provided
for by these channels; and it is the country at large which is taxed to
supply the means of sustenance to the younger scions of nobility--taxed
directly in the shape of place and sinecure, indirectly in var