Introductory 



characteristics of the gentlemen who were sportsmen as well 

 as men of substance. They and their kind were in a sub- 

 stantial majority in both Houses of Parliament. In his 

 ' English Constitution ' Mr. Bagehot tells us that ' a cynical 

 politician is said to have watched the long row of county 

 members, so fresh and respectable-looking, and muttered, 

 " By Jove ! they are the finest brute votes in Europe." ' 



* What will be your profession when you grow up ? ' 

 said the pompous family friend to a boy who was the younger 

 son of a country parson. ' I don't know what it is called,' 

 said the hopeful child, * but it means living in the country, 

 and keeping a lot of horses and dogs and things.' Pathetic, 

 but quite English. This was the life. ' If I were as rich as 

 Mr. Darcy,' cried young Master Lucas in ' Pride and Preju- 

 dice^' ' I would keep a pack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle 

 of wine every day.' How many boys to-day would begin 

 talking about a Rolls Royce } One of the strokes of Surtees's 

 pen portrait in * Ask Mamma ' of the Earl of Ladythorne of 

 Tantivy Castle, who was presumably born about the begin- 

 ning of the last century, hits this existence very shrewdly. 

 His lordship is out cub-hunting with his own Hounds, and 

 is described as ' sitting among his blackthorn bushes like a 

 gentleman in his opera stall, thinking now of the hunt, now 

 of his dinner, now of what a good thing it was to be a lord, 

 with a good digestion and plenty of cash, and nobody to 

 comb his head.' 



Now let us have a look at the next generation that began 

 to be born about the beginning of the forties. In a certain 



II 



