THE RISE OF FAMILIES 95 



the giants arose first, proved themselves, and, if their 

 rise were due to commercial enterprise, as often as 

 not withdrew from the competitive struggle for wealth, 

 devoting themselves to other less remunerative but more 

 honourable and important kinds of work. 



To illustrate the rise of families, five consecutive 

 titles have been taken at hazard from the Peerage and 

 their history analysed, in some cases with the help of 

 the Dictionary of National Biography. The letter chosen, 

 " G," was taken entirely at random, and a general 

 acquaintance with the history of the families of our 

 titled aristocracy gives the impression that the bio- 

 graphies here noted are fairly typical ones. 



Gage. — In 1234 William de Gauge was constable o^ 

 Carmarthen Castle and received grants of land. Two 

 consecutive marriages of his heirs in the fifteenth 

 century with daughters of members of Parliament prob- 

 ably indicate the introduction of fresh blood of good 

 stock. The son of the second of these marriages. Sir 

 John Gage, was captain of the castle of Calais, constable 

 of the Tower, and captain-general of the bands of 

 horsemen. He was made a Knight of the Garter by 

 Henry VIII. , and, marrying the daughter of a brother 

 Knight of the Garter, had for a great-grandson the 

 gallant Sir Henry Gage, governor of Oxford under 

 Charles I. Sir John's eldest son, Sir Edward, K.B., a 

 man of distinction, had nine sons, whose history we 

 cannot trace. The eldest became a member of Parlia- 

 ment, and, dying apparently unmarried, was succeeded 

 by a nephew. Sir John, created a baronet in 1622. 

 Thence through marriages with the well-known families 



