THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



When Henry VH. reached the throne, the power 

 of the old nobihty was on the wane. In place 

 of a number of semi-independent feudal chiefs, 

 the king had to deal with discontented nobles 

 whose resources had been scattered in the Wars 

 of the Roses, and whose chief strength lay in their 

 great names. Those of the old families whose 

 power was not broken were generally hostile to 

 the king. 



The crown, therefore, needed a new aristocracy 

 to replace the old. Though Henry probably did 

 not see what the tendencies of his time were — 

 few of us indeed can do so — yet, with the political 

 insight that distinguished his family, he recognised 

 the instruments he needed to carry out his policy 

 of government. The new nobles were to have 

 power and influence derived directly from the 

 favour of the crown, yet by their services to the 

 crown and the nation they soon came to act as a 

 restraint on the kingly power. The English peerage 

 is to-day a record of past and a reward of present 

 services to the crown and country. The history 

 of the country from the fifteenth to the twentieth 

 century tells us that, unless a great house is willing 

 to serve, it cannot retain its influence, but will 

 become a useless though interesting survival of the 

 past, like the suits of armour and the weapons that 

 hang on the walls of its palaces. It is this great 

 Tudor idea that has preserved the English aristo- 

 cracy in a democratic age. 



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