*b The calculations of gain, therefore, which decide the rich man to sell his domain will still more powerfully influence him against buying small estates to unite them into a large one.
[Footnote b: I do not mean to say that the small proprietor cultivates his land better, but he cultivates it with more ardor and care; so that he makes up by his labor for his want of skill.] What is called family pride is often founded upon an illusion of self-love.

A man wishes to perpetuate and immortalize himself, as it were, in his great-grandchildren.

Where the esprit de famille ceases to act individual selfishness comes into play.

When the idea of family becomes vague, indeterminate, and uncertain, a man thinks of his present convenience; he provides for the establishment of his succeeding generation, and no more.

Either a man gives up the idea of perpetuating his family, or at any rate he seeks to accomplish it by other means than that of a landed estate.