rulers of the people, and by the same token 

 they chose the beauty of the realm to be 

 their own. 



In the polity of England this superiority 

 was emphasized by the law of primogeni- 

 ture. On " inequality before the law " Brit- 

 ish polity has always rested. Men have tried 

 to take a certain few, to feed these on " roy- 

 al jelly," as the young queen-bee is fed, and 

 thus to raise them to a higher class, distinct 

 from all the workers. To take this leisure 

 class out of the struggle and competition of 

 life, so goes the theory, is to make the first- 

 born and his kind harmonious and perfect 

 men and women, fit to lead and control the 

 social and political life of the state. In Eng- 

 land the eldest son is chosen for this pur- 

 pose, — a good arrangement, according to 

 Samuel Johnson, " because it insures that 

 there shall be only one fool in the family." 

 For the theory of the leisure class forgets that 

 men are made virile by effort and resistance, 

 and the lord developed by the use of" royal 

 jelly " has rarely been distinguished by per- 

 fection of manhood. 



The gain of primogeniture came to the na- 



The 



Human 



Harvest 



[55] 



