sand, who have no share in them. Emerson, in looking back at the mighty progress of the ninety years which preceded the writing of this book, has to look on the other side of the picture. And this is among the things which could not be overlooked. It was among the sad things which inspired Carlyle in the writing of his "Chartism" only a few years before.

WEALTH AND THE ENGLISH PEOPLE.

"In the culmination of national prosperity, in the annexation of countries; building of ships, depots, towns; in the influx of tons of gold and silver; amid the chuckle of chancellors and financiers, it was found that bread rose to famine prices; that the yeoman was forced to sell his cow and pig, his tools and his acre of land; and the dread barometer of the poor-rates was touching the point of ruin. The poor-rate was sucking in the solvent classes, and forcing an exodus of farmers and mechanics. What befalls from the violence of financial crises, befalls daily in the violence of artificial legislation."

This, and the citation which follows, was evidently written after Emerson's return from Europe, say some thirty years ago. Since then it has received an added emphasis of stern truth: a truth also which it concerns us to ponder well in our own behoof; for the United States in this year 1881 have come rapidly to approximate to the England of 1851.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF WEALTH.

"Such a wealth has England earned-ever new, bounteous, and augmenting. But the question recurs, Does she take the step beyond; namely, to the wise use, in view of the supreme wealth of nations? We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital. And in view of these injuries, some compensation has been attempted in England. A part of the money earned returns to the brain, to buy schools, libraries, bishops, astronomers, chemists, and artists with; and a part to repair the wrongs of this intemperate weaving, by hospitals, saving-banks, mechanics' institutes, public grounds, and other charities and amenities. But the antidotes are frightfully inadequate, and the evil requires a deeper cure, which time and a simpler social organization must supply. At present she does not rule her wealth. She is simply a good England, but no divinity, or wise and instructed soul. She, too, is in the stream of fate-one victim more in a common catastrophe.

"But being in the fault, she has the misfortune of greatness to be held as the chief offender. England must be held responsible for the despotism of expense. Her prosperity, the splendor which so much manhood and talent and perseverance has thrown upon vulgar aims, is the very argument of materialism. Her success strengthens the hands of base wealth. Who can propose to youth, poverty and wisdom, when mean gain has arrived at the conquest of letters and arts? when English success has grown out of the very renunciation of trifles, and the dedication to outsides? Hardly the bravest among them have the manliness to resist it successfully. Hence it has come that not the aims of a manly life, but

the means of meeting a ponderous expense, is that to be considered by a youth in England emerging from his minority. A large family is reckoned a misfortune; and it is a consolation in the death of the young that a source of expense is closed.”

Of the aristocracy of England-using the term in its limited sense, to indicate that class who owe their position rather to birth than to personal qualities-Emerson speaks half in admiration and half in kindly deprecation. "The feudal character of the English State, now that it is getting obsolete, glares a little in contrast with the democratic tendencies. The inequality of power and property shocks republican nerves. Palaces, halls, villas, walled parks, all over England, rival the splendor of royal seats. Many of the halls, like Herdon or Redleston, are beautiful desolations. The proprietor never saw them, or never lived in them. Primogeniture built those sumptuous piles, and, I suppose, it is the sentiment of every traveler, as it is mine, "Twas well to come ere these were gone.''

ENGLISH PRIMOGENITURE.

"Primogeniture is a cardinal rule of English property and institutions. Laws, customs, manners, the very persons and faces affirm it. The frame of society is aristocratic, the taste of the people is loyal. The estates, names, and manners of the people flatter the fancy of the people, and conciliate the necessary support. In spite of broken faith, stolen charters, and the devastation of so

ciety by the profligacy of the court, we take sides, as we read, for the loyal England, and King Charles's 'return to his right' with his cavaliers-knowing what a heartless trifler he is, and what a crew of God-forsaken robbers they are. The people of England knew as much, but the fair idea of a settled government, connecting itself with heraldic names, with the written and oral history of Europe, and at last with the Hebrew religion and the oldest traditions of the world, was too pleasing a tradition to be shattered by a few offensive realities, and the politics of shoemakers and costermongers."

BOND BETWEEN COMMONERS AND NOBLES.

"The hopes of the commoners take the same direction with the interest of the patricians. Every man who becomes rich buys land, and does what he can to fortify the nobility, into which he hopes to rise. The Anglican clergy are identified with the aristocracy. Time and law have made the joining and molding perfect in every part. The cathedrals, the universities, the national music, the popular romances, conspire to uphold the heraldry which the current politics of the day are sapping. The taste of the people is conservative. They are proud of the castles and of the language and symbols of chivalry. Even the word 'lord' is the luckiest style that is used in any language to designate a patrician. The superior education and manners of the nobles recommend them to the country."

CHANGES IN THE NOBILITY.

"The Norwegian pirate got what he could, and held it for his son. The Norman noble, who was the Norwegian

pirate baptized, did likewise. There was this advantage of Western over Oriental nobility, that this was recruited from below. English history is aristocracy with the doors open. Who has courage and capacity, let him come in. Of course, the terms of admission to this club are hard and high. The selfishness of the nobles comes in aid of the interest of the nation to require signal merit. Piracy and war gave place to trade, politics, and letters of the war-lord to the law-lord, the law-lord to the merchant and mill-owner; but the privilege was kept, while the means of obtaining it were changed."

The successive changes in the manner of getting place among the nobles are briefly touched upon. We abbreviate them still more :

THE OLD WAR-LORDS.

"The foundations of these families lie deep in Norwegian exploits by sea, and Saxon sturdiness on land. All nobility, in its beginnings, was somebody's natural superiority. The things these English have done were not done without peril of life, nor without wisdom and conduct; and the first hands, it may be presumed, were often challenged to show their right to their honors, or yield them to better men. And I make no doubt that the feudal tenure was no sinecure, but baron, knight, and tenant often had their memories refreshed in regard to the service by which they held their lands. The warlord earned his honors, and no donation of land was large, as long as it brought the duty of protecting it hour by hour against a terrible enemy. In France and England the nobles were, down to a late day, bred to war, and the duel, which in peace still held them to the risks