OUR ONLY AMERICAN PEERAGE 207 



who had an established breeding for cen- 

 turies, with outdoor exercise to strengthen 

 it. They had more stamina, better coh- 

 stitutions to stand the ravages of disease 

 and the dissipations than the younger City 

 social set. They only came to London to 

 attend the Court balls and functions and, 

 when they were over, back to their country 

 places and castles they went, to their rid- 

 ing, hunting and open air life. They had 

 time; they were not busy; they had 

 no worries like the City set. They trav- 

 eled on the Continent, and often: inter- 

 married with the foreign royalty and, f rona 

 the best of the foreign Court sets, they se- 

 lected the well-bred, richest and healthiesti 

 These out-crosses were mostly of the. right 

 nature. It was the great Thackeray who 

 once exclaimed that the English Peerage 

 would ,have been wiped out if some one ixi 

 the line, of succession had not once in a 

 while eloped with the butler's daughter. 

 These are the reasons why the Court set 

 of London exists today, and there are, to^ 

 day, so few descendants of the London so- 

 cial set of from 1600 to 1700. 



