THE RISE OF FAMILIES 101 



the co-ordination and persistence of a fresh set of 

 characteristics. 



The seafaring population of Devon and the adjoin- 

 ing counties, and especially the families of the great 

 west-country admirals and explorers, would also well 

 repay careful study, and might give very suggestive 

 facts on the respective parts played by inheritance, 

 environment, and opportunity. The Royal Navy still 

 draws a large proportion of its men from the south- 

 west of England. 



Turning now to the third period in which the rise of 

 families is a marked phenomenon, we may say that the 

 opening years of the eighteenth century found England 

 in the full swing of the period of drinking, gambling, 

 and hard living which is usually associated with the 

 Restoration. Not only do the local records of the time 

 make the prevalence of this kind of life very clear, but 

 the number of societies founded by the upper classes for 

 the " Reformation of Manners " in the lower orders 

 furnish strong evidence of the extent of the movement 

 and the alarm it caused. In plain English, the labour- 

 ing classes, as well as those in higher positions, had a 

 rollicking good time, just as they had had in the days 

 of Queen Elizabeth, when the newly won sea-power 

 was developing and expanding the resources of the 

 country. The incompetent and incapable went under 

 in the general merry-making ; a vigorous, healthy 

 animal stock remained to grow up, and attributed any 

 success in life that they achieved to good fortune and 

 their own merits, leaving Providence with credit only 

 for the periods of pestilence and the lean years of a 



