CHAPTER XVI 



THE SQUIRE 







T is only those who have 

 been much abroad that can 

 right!}' appreciate the ad- 

 vantage of having resident 

 country gentlemen. It is 

 only the absence of the class 

 in other countries that im- 

 presses us with the convic- 

 tion of its importance in our 

 own. In no other country 

 in the world do we find individuals with the same power and 

 territorial possessions occupying so unassuming a place in 

 the national scale — men that in this country rank as mere 

 Esquires, in other lands would be princes and magnates from 

 the importance of their possessions. We, who have seen 

 marquises presiding at gaming tables, and counts figuring off 

 behind counters, feel proud of belonging to a country whose 

 greatness is based on such substantial foundations. 



The title " Esquire " is so prostituted by the indiscriminate 

 application of modern usage, that were it not founded in 

 respectability, and maintained by its "order," it must long 



o 



