Stanhope says that the service of the country was then a service of vast emolument; and, instancing the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, he states that, exclusive of Blenheim, of parliamentary grants, of gifts, of marriage portions from the Queen to their daughters, the fixed yearly income of the Duke, at the height of his favour, was no less than 54,825l., and that the Duchess had, in offices and pensions, an additional sum of 9500l. This is a moderate estimate; Lord Dartmouth, in a note on Burnet, computes their joint salaries at 90,000l. When Sir Robert Walpole became Prime Minister, his paternal estate was computed at less than 3000l. a year. During his tenure of office he lived magnificently: he laid out enormous sums (popularly computed at 150,000l.) in buildings and pictures; and he more than quadrupled his private income, besides providing for his sons by patent places to the tune of 14,000l. a year between them. We shall not much mend the matter by accepting Archdeacon Cox's palliation, that Sir Robert had been a large gainer from the South Sea bubble. When In the times of which we speak, every functionary who had to receive or pay over money was deemed entitled to a handsome per-centage; and if it remained any time in his custody, he was tacitly permitted to employ it for his own personal advantage. England, besides keeping up a large fleet and army, was liberally subsidising foreign princes, the profits of paymasters and treasurers were immense; and the first Lord Holland availed himself of his opportunities as Paymaster of the Forces without scruple or remorse. His rival, the great commoner, when he held the same office, proudly declined to receive a sixpence beyond the regular salary; and his example has been followed by the three last generations of English statesmen, pre-eminently by his illustrious son, who is one amongst many instances that, so far as pecuniary considerations are concerned, a political career in this country has become one of the least tempting a man of talent can adopt. The Bar, too, is beginning to elevate without enriching; and the majority of lawyers recently ennobled are far poorer than their predecessors. Literature, as yet, has only helped to found two peerages (Macaulay and Lytton), but it is rapidly rising to the rank of a well-remunerated as well as honourable vocation, and the time may come when the works of a popular author may support a title as well as Blenheim or Strathfieldsaye. 6 In the investigation of past events (says Gibbon in his Autobiography) our curiosity is stimulated by the immediate or indirect reference to ourselves; but in the estimate of honour we should learn to value the gifts of nature above those of fortune; to esteem in our ancestors the qualities that best promote the interests of society; and to pronounce the descendant of a king less truly noble. than the offspring of a man of genius, whose writings will instruct or delight the latest posterity. The family of Confucius is, in my opinion, the most illustrious in the world. After a painful ascent of eight or ten centuries, our barons and princes of Europe are lost in the darkness of the middle ages; but, in the vast equality of the empire of China, the posterity of Confucius have maintained, above 2200 years, their peaceful honours and perpetual succession. The chief of the family is still revered by the sovereign and the people, as the living image of the wisest of mankind. The nobility of the Spencers has been illustrated and enriched by the trophies of Marlborough ; but I exhort them to consider the "Fairy Queen" as the most precious jewel of their coronet. 'Our immortal Fielding was of the younger branch of the Earls of Denbigh, who drew their origin from the Counts of Habsburg, the lineal descendants of Eltrico, in the seventh century, Duke of Alsace. Far different have been the for 1 Nor less praiseworthy are the ladies three, Of which I meanest boast myself to be.' Spencer, Colin Clout, &c. v. 538. : tunes of the English and German divisions of the family of Habsburg the former, the knights and sheriffs of Leicestershire, have slowly risen to the dignity of a peerage: the latter, the Emperors of Germany and Kings of Spain, have threatened the liberty of the Old, and invaded the treasures of the New, World. The successors of Charles the Fifth may disdain their brethren of England; but the romance of "Tom Jones," that exquisite picture of human manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the imperial eagle of the house of Austria.' As for science, it seems her destiny to invent and discover on the sic vos non vobis principle. Of the five or six remarkable men who brought unquestioned. originality of mind to bear on the cotton-manufacture, only one (Arkwright) received his reward in wealth. Of the many who co-operated in maturing the invention of the steam-engine, Watt alone derived even a moderate fortune from its wonder-working capabilities. The electric telegraph has not made Professor Wheatstone a millionaire; and whoever may have first alighted on the gold-fields of Australia, it is clear that no estate in this land of promise, nor share of its produce, has been assigned to any of the alleged discoverers, although we have heard that a Colonial minister offered Sir E. de Strzelecki to call the auriferous district by his name. In the meantime, enormous fortunes are rapidly accumulating, the results of energy and enterprise, in many walks of life besides gold-digging, and the lucky possessors may soon be bidding for the mansions of the decayed gentry, like the flight of Nabobs who followed in the wake of Clive and Hastings. It must be admitted, however, that the development of commerce and industry has proportionally strengthened the position of the proprietary class by adding incalculably to the value of their land. The accession of income accruing to the Bedford, Portland, Grosvenor, Portman, and Berkeley estates in and about the metropolis may be taken as a sample of what is going on in other rich and populous neighbourhoods; whilst the revenues of many lordly owners of mines have simultaneously increased. On the whole, therefore, we see no reason to fear that any sweeping or revolutionary change in the well-ordered social system of the United Kingdom is at hand; and the effect on our minds of this review of the vicissitudes of families, especially in their political bearings, is rather reassuring than the contrary. 325 LIVES OF THE LORD CHANCELLORS OF IRELAND. The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of Ireland, from the Earliest Times to the Reign of Queen Victoria. By J. RODERICK O'FLANAGAN, M.R.I.A., Barrister-at-Law, Author of Recollections of the Irish Bar,' the Bar Life of O'Connell,' &c. In two volumes. London: 1870. IT has been wittily said that bad books make good reviews, as bad wine makes good vinegar. If this were true, the critics ought to be grateful to Mr. O'Flanagan for the opportunity afforded them by his 'Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland.' It is a bad book, although with judicious correction and curtailment it may eventually take rank as a useful compilation. Notwithstanding the amount of anxious labour bestowed upon the composition, we cannot say materiam superabat opus; for the conception is better than the execution, and the materials rise superior to the arrangement and the style. Till within living memory, owing to political causes, the Irish woolsack was practically reserved for Englishmen. The lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland, therefore, are mostly the lives of English lawyers; so that the nicest discrimination was required in selecting such portions as relate to their judicial career in Ireland, and compressing or rapidly glancing over the rest. Not marking this peculiarity of his subject, Mr. O'Flanagan has overloaded it with general history, English and Irish. But he is rich in traditions and reminiscences: he is well versed in Irish |