But such things wear out. The American Indians and the Australian nations
wear out; they are not progressive, and as Nature abhors a vacuum, she
does not forget the vacuum wherever it may be, whether in a hot desert,
or in a cold and stately Rockville;--a very ancient, honorable, and
substantial family that lies fallow till the thinking faculty literally
dies out.

For several generations there had been symptoms of decay about the
Rockville family. Not in its property, that was as large as ever; not in
their personal stature and physical aspect. The Rockvilles continued, as
they always had been, a tall and not bad-looking family. But they grew
gradually less prolific. For a hundred and fifty years past there had
seldom been more than two, or at most three, children. There had
generally been an heir to the estate, and another to the family pulpit,
and sometimes a daughter married to some neighboring squire. But Sir
Roger's father had been an only child, and Sir Roger himself was an only
child. The danger of extinction to the family, apparent as it was, had
never induced Sir Roger to marry. At the time that we are turning our
attention upon him, he had reached the mature age of sixty. Nobody
believed that Sir Roger now would marry; he was the last, and likely to
be, of his line.

It is worth while here to take a glance at Sir Roger and his estate. They
wore a strange contrast. The one bore all the signs of progress, the
other of a stereotyped feudality. The estate, which in the days of the
first Sir Roger de Rockville had been half morass and half wilderness,
was now cultivated to the pitch of British agricultural science. The
marshlands beyond the river were one splendid expanse of richest meadows,
yielding a rental of four solid pounds per acre. Over hill and dale on
this side for miles, where formerly ran wild deer, and grew wild
woodlands of furze-bushes, now lay excellent farms and hamlets, and along
the ridge of the ancient cliffs rose the most magnificent woods. Woods,
too, clothed the steep hillsides, and swept down to the noble river,
their very boughs hanging far out over its clear and rapid waters. In the
midst of these fine woods stood Rockville Hall, the family seat of the
Rockvilles. It reared its old brick walls above the towering mass of
elms, and travelers at a distance recognized it for what it was, the
mansion of an ancient and wealthy family.

The progress of England in arts, science, commerce, and m