In Peace 



of her dominant strains of blood, and 

 it is well for England that her gentle 

 blood flows in all her ranks and in all 

 her classes. When we consider with 

 Demolins " what constitutes the supe- 

 riority of the Anglo-Saxon," we shall 

 find his descent from the old nobility, 

 " Saxon and Norman and Dane," not 

 the least of its factors. 



On the continent of Europe the law 

 of primogeniture existed in less force, 

 and the results were very distinct. All 

 of noble blood were continuously noble. 

 All belonged to the leisure class. All 

 were held on the backs of a third 

 estate, men of weaker heredity, beaten 

 lower into the dust by the weight of an 

 ever-increasing body of nobility. The 

 blood of the strong rarely mingled 

 with that of the clown. The noblemen 

 were brought up in indolence and in- 

 effectiveness. The evils of dissipation 

 wasted their individual lives, while cast- 



29 



