2 Concer7iing Kingsleys in General \ 



for century after century hunting, fishing, fighting 

 in an English gentlemanly kind of way ; then it 

 has turned out some one who was generally valuable, 

 and settled down again. Money-making has, so 

 far, never been its strong point ; money -keeping 

 still less so. Whenever it has had a generation 

 that has had opportunities in this direction, and 

 could have passed on wealth to the next generation, 

 it has not done so : it has raised a regiment and 

 gone to the wars and had an enjoyable tim.e of it, 

 according to Kingsley ideas. Or, if there were not 

 an attractive war handy, it has flung its money 

 away more foolishly by far, trying to establish its 

 claim to an earldom, which it believes it ought to 

 have, because its traditions tell it is descended from 

 Robin Hood. 



It is possible that if this family goes on down 

 through the ages, in some far away time it may 

 develop a generation excelling in the fine arts, or 

 music, or sound business capacity. Now and again 

 a Kingsley shows symptoms of excellence in poetry 

 and painting to a promising degree. Of music, as far 

 as record goes, it has shown no such symptom. The 

 rank and file of us have a difficulty in distinguishing 

 between ' God save the Queen ' and ' Rule Britannia.' 

 One member of the family only has been known to 

 possess a taste for figures, which, after a 600 

 years', more or less, authentic record, and a legendary 

 past behind that of indefinite extent, is not an 

 encouraging percentage. However, I will neither 



