MY ADMIRABLE UNCLE 113 



toric in certain matters, but the prim hand of 

 convention — otherwise the unimaginative pol- 

 iceman — holds me back. However, some of 

 my uncle's views are still more or less widely 

 held. He was, for instance, what in modern 

 speech would be called a strong Conservative ; 

 that is abundantly clear from many of his 

 peculiarities. But in his day Imperialism had 

 not yet been born ; there was so far no urgent 

 necessity to provide for the younger sons of 

 the aristocracy. In fact there was still room 

 in the world for everybody, and as cultivation 

 had not yet been invented, there was no such 

 thing as private ownership of land. Moreover, 

 the pressure of over-population was never 

 really felt until cannibalism went out of 

 fashion, and that happened only quite recently. 



My uncle was, of course, an aristocrat, — 

 his three-fold patent of nobility being founded 

 on his muscular strength, his skill in wielding 

 weapons and his unique talent for concentrat- 

 ing all the faculties of his prehistoric mind 

 on what I, his degenerate nephew, would call 

 the main chance. 



My aunt — there were several of them, of 

 course, but you may take your choice, they 

 were all of the same type — was an extremely 

 practical woman. But she was not a Suffrag- 



G 



