266 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



what I mean is touchingly told in the Life of Sir James 

 Simpson, the famous Edinburgh doctor. All his elder 

 brothers contributed to educate the clever youth, above 

 their station in life, for a profession of which he became 

 so distinguished an ornament. 



Once more I ask you to consider how common it 

 seems in human nature that people will give what they 

 are asked for and bothered about, rather than what they 

 can afford. However much this weakness may be taken 

 advantage of in the charitable world, it is most desirable 

 that it should be kept out of family life. Some people 

 even put forward the objection that allowances check the 

 growth of generosity. As a matter of fact, the very 

 essence of generosity is to give what is your own, and, in 

 the highest sense, there is no generosity without self- 

 denial. Often no one appears so generous as the worldly 

 spendthrift, who gives with a free hand what in fact he 

 owes to his tradespeople. Another idea is that the 

 independence resulting from freedom in money matters 

 increases the difficulty of home life. This is markedly 

 more the case in England than in other European 

 countries. Nations are so unconsciously steeped in the 

 atmosphere of their literature that I have often won- 

 dered whether ' King Lear ' has helped to bring about 

 the state of mind in parents who, though most anxious 

 to leave money to their children after death, yet so 

 grudgingly deal it out to them, either in allowance or 

 capital, during their lifetime. One of the amusing 

 anomalies of the new succession duties is that they have 

 induced many parents, who have never thought of it 

 before, to pay over while they are still alive a portion 

 of their capital to their children. This gives a young 

 man an experience in money management which he could 

 not have gained while only receiving an allowance. 



A frequent mistake of parents, even when they think 



