Great Houses like that of Vipont assist the work of civiliza- tion by the law of their existence. They are sure to have a spirited and wealthy tenantry. to whom, if but for the sake of that popular character which doubles political influence, they are liberal and kindly landlords. Under their sway fens and sands become fertile—agricultural experiments are tested on a large scale—cattle and sheep improve in breed—national capital augments, and springing beneath the ploughshare, circulates indirectly to speed the ship and animate the loom. Had there been no Woburn, no Holkham, no Montfort Court, England would be the poorer by many a million. Our great Houses tend also to the refinement of national taste; they have their show-places, their picture-galleries, their beautiful grounds. The humblest drawing-rooms owe an elegance or comfort—the smallest garden, a flower or esculent—to the importations which luxury borrowed from abroad, or the inventions it stimulated at home, for the original benefit of great Houses. Having a fair share of such merits, in common with other great Houses, the House of Vipont was not without good qualities peculiar to itself. Precisely because it was the most egotistical of Houses, filled with the sense of its own identity, and guided by the in- stincts of its own conservation, it was a very civil, good-natured House—courteous, generous, hospitable; a House (I mean the Head of it—not, of course, all its subordinate members, including even the august Lady Selina) that could bow graciously, and shake hands with you. Even if you had no vote yourself, you might have a cousin who had a vote. And once admitted into the family, the House adopted you; you had only to marry one of its remotest relations, and the House sent you a wedding present; and at every general election invited you to rally round your connection—the Marquis. Therefore, next only to the Established Church, the House of Vipont was that British in- stitution, the roots of which were the most widely spread.
Now the Viponts had for long generations been an energetic race. Whatever their defects, they had exhibited shrewdness and vigor. The late Marquis (grandfather to the present) had been, perhaps, the ablest (that is, done most for the House of Vipont) of them all. Of a grandiose and superb mode of liv- ing—of a majestic deportment—of princely manners—of a remarkable talent for the management of all business, whether private or public—a perfect enthusiast for the House of Vipont, and aided by a marchioness in all respects worthy of him, he might be said to be the culminating flower of the venerable stem. But the present lord, succeeding to the title as a mere
