THE RISE OF FAMILIES 99 



are an interesting example of long-continued eminence 

 in commerce and local municipal service. The charac- 

 teristics required for the skilful carrying through of 

 negotiations in regard to trade, and especially foreign 

 trade, can be turned to advantage in the higher 

 spheres of international diplomacy. This conjunction 

 of qualities is illustrated also by the recent history of 

 the Baring family. The records of the five families 

 described above throw little light on the nature of 

 the marriages, but whenever any information is con- 

 veyed as to the part probably played by the mothers, 

 it is in accordance with what we might have anticipated 

 from the achievements of the next generations. 



The five families we have taken by chance for 

 detailed study are but a sample of the specialized 

 ability of different kinds to be found, latent or manifest, 

 in the classes of our people whose ancestors in recent 

 generations have distinguished themselves by honour- 

 able service. The list could be extended almost 

 indefinitely, and the same phenomenon of slow, steady 

 rise, as a characteristic of stability, traced through count- 

 less other names in the titled and untitled aristocracy. 



It should be noted that for centuries a large pro- 

 portion of those men who attain great eminence have 

 been given Peerages. The state is accustomed to 

 reward conspicuous merit by an honour which involves 

 the duty of serving the country in Parliament The 

 consequent concentration of ability, administrative, legal, 

 military, or scientific, in many of the families whose 

 heads at one time or another have been ennobled should 

 not be overlooked. It is certain that the House of 

 Lords itself contains a very high percentage of men 



