544 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



usually simply a country gentleman somewhat better educated, more 

 in touch with intellectual tastes and pursuits, than the other country 

 gentlemen among whom he lived. The proportion of distinguished 

 men and women contributed from among the families of the clergy can 

 only be described as enormous. In mere number the clergy can seldom 

 have equaled the butchers or bakers in their parishes, yet only two 

 butchers and three bakers are definitely ascertained to have produced 

 eminent children, as against 113 parsons. Even if we compare the 

 Church with the other professions with which it is most usually classed, 

 we find that the eminent children of the clergy considerably out- 

 number those of lawyers, doctors and army officers put together. This 

 preponderance is the more remarkable when we remember that (al- 

 though I have certainly included eminent illegitimate children of 

 priests) it is only within the last three and a half centuries that the 

 clergy have been free to compete in this field. Law, Medicine and the 

 Army furnish contingents which, though very much smaller than that 

 of the Church, are sufficiently important to be grouped separately, but 

 all the remaining professions I have thrown into a single group. These 

 are: Officials (Government officials, noblemen's stewards, clerks, etc.) 

 19, Artists (painters, sculptors, engravers, architects) 15, Actors, etc., 

 14, Musicians, Composers, etc., 8, Naval, etc., 8, Men of Letters 5, 

 Schoolmasters 4, Engineers, Surveyors and Accountants 4, Men of Sci- 

 ence 3. Although so few of the fathers of eminent men can be de- 

 scribed professionally as men of letters or men of science, it must 

 be added that in a considerable number of cases literary or scientific 

 aptitudes were present. 



We now reach a group of altogether different character, Trade. It 

 is a group of great magnitude, but its size is due to the inevitable in- 

 clusion of a very large number of avocations under a single heading. 

 These avocations range from banking to inn-keeping. The bankers evi- 

 dently form the aristocracy of the trading class, and a remarkable num- 

 ber, considering the smallness of the class (not less than 8), have been 

 the fathers of eminent sons. Under the rather vague heading of 'Mer- 

 chants' we find 16, and there are 6 manufacturers. Wine merchants, 

 brewers, vintners, publicans and others connected with the sale or pro- 

 duction of alcoholic liquors have yielded as many as 13 distinguished 

 sons, who have often attained a high degree of eminence, from Chaucer 

 to Joule. Tea and coffee are only responsible for one each. There are 

 8 drapers, mercers and hosiers, and 6 tailors and hatters; grocers and a 

 great number of other shop-keeping trades count at most 3 eminent 

 men each. It is, perhaps, noteworthy that at least 4 Lord Mayors of 

 London have been the fathers of distinguished sons; only one of them 

 (Gresham) attained fame in business, the others becoming men of let- 

 ters and scholars. It must be added in regard to this group that in a 



