158 MEMORIES OF MY LIFE 



granddaughters, one has obtained a First Class in 

 History at Oxford. This by no means exhausts the 

 achievements of the grandchildren. The Butler 

 family well deserve study as an instance of hereditary 

 gifts, but this is hardly the place for it. 



Neither can I enlarge as I could have done on the 

 far greater importance of being married into a family 

 that is good in character, in health, and in ability, 

 than into one that is either very wealthy or very 

 noble, but lacks these primary qualifications. The 

 enlargement afforded to the previous family interests 

 through marriage is so great that much must be lost 

 when first cousins marry one another. 



I protest against the opinions of those sentimental 

 people who think that marriage concerns only the two 

 principals ; it has in reality the wider effect of an alliance 

 between each of them and a new family. Moreover, 

 the interests of the unborn should be taken far more 

 seriously into account than they now are. Enough 

 is already known of the laws of heredity to make it 

 certain that the marriage of one class of persons will 

 lead on the whole to good results, and that of another 

 class to evil ones, however doubtful the result may 

 be in particular cases. Of this I shall speak more 

 fully in the final chapter. 



As regards the earlier domestic life of my wife 

 and myself, we lived in a flat in Victoria Street 

 for three years ; then I bought the long lease of 

 42 Rutland Gate, which has been my home ever 

 since. We followed the usual routine of social life of 

 persons of our class, making tours every year, usually 

 abroad. The doctors sometimes sent one or both of 

 us to undergo a cure at some watering-place. In this 



