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Montalenibert, Guizot, Chateaubriand. (1) Merit is 

 then the touch-stone which wrung from these brilliant 

 writers the unqualified praise they bestowed on the 

 nobility of Great Britain. 



Let us see whether we can apply this test to one of 

 the oldest and most houored names in our own history ; 

 we mean that of the Baron de Longueuil. 



In former times, we had bloody wars to wage ; mer- 

 ciless foes existed on our frontiers ; the soil then found 

 generous and brave soldiers to defend it : men who 

 went forth each day with their lives in their hands, 

 ready to shed the last drop of Wood for all they held 

 dear, their homes, their wives, their children. Has the 

 stout race of other days degenerated, grown callous to 

 what its God, its honor, its country may command in 

 the hour of need ? We should hope not. We said the 

 Baron de Longueuil. 



Who was the Baron de Longueuil ? With your per- 

 mission, kind reader, let us peruse together the royal 



(1) u The nobility of Great Britain is the finest modern 

 society since the Koman Patriciate, " has said the illustrious 

 Chateaubriand. His vast researches, his presence at the 

 English court as French ambassador, in 1822, had given him 

 ample opportunity of judging. This estimate does not quite 

 agree with that of the author of " Representative Men," 

 Emerson : " Twenty thousand thieves landed at Hastings. 

 These founders of the House of Lords were greedy and fero- 

 cious dragoons, sons of greedy and ferocious pirates. They 

 were all alike ; they took everything they could carry. They 

 burned, harried, violated, tortured, and killed, until everything 

 English was brought to the verge of ruin. Such, however, is 

 the illusion of antiquity and wealth, that decent and dignified 

 men now existing boast their descent from these petty 

 thieves, who showed a far juster conviction of their own 

 merits, by assuming for their types the swine, goat, jackal, 

 leopard, wolf, and snake, which they severally resembled. 



"It took many generations to trim, and comb, and perfume 

 the first boat-load of Norse pirates into royal highnesses and 

 most noble knights of the garter ; but every sparkle of orna- 

 ment dates back to the Norse boat." — English Traits. 



