THE ELM. 71 



and to perpetuate them to their descendants. Re- 

 publican as I am by birth, and brought up as I have 

 been in republican principles and habits, I can feel 

 nothing of the servile reverence for titled rank, 

 merely because it is titled ; but I trust that I am 

 neither churl nor bigot in my creed. I can both see 

 and feel how hereditary distinction, when it falls to 

 the lot of a generous mind, may elevate that mind 

 into true nobility. It is one of the effects of here- 

 ditary rank, when it falls thus happily, that it multi- 

 plies the duties, and, as it were, extends the exist- 

 ence of the possessor. He does not feel himself a 

 mere individual link in creation, responsible only for 

 his own brief term of being. He carries back his 

 existence in proud recollection, and he extends it 

 forward in honorable anticipation. He lives with 

 his ancestry and he lives with his posterity. To 

 both does he consider himself involved in deep 

 responsibilities. As he has received much from 

 those that have gone before, so he feels bound to 

 transmit much to those who are to come after him. 

 His domestic undertakings seem to imply a longer 

 existence than those of ordinary men ; none are so 

 apt to build and plant for future centuries, as noble- 

 spirited men who have received their heritages from 

 foregone ages." WASHINGTON IRVING. 



