The family honours had come to him, and he must support them,--either well or ill as his strength and principles might govern him.

And he did understand that it was much to be a peer, an hereditary legislator, one who by the chance of his birth had a right to look for deferential respect even from his elders.

It was much to be the lord of wide acres, the ruler of a large domain, the landlord of many tenants who would at any rate regard themselves as dependent on his goodness.

It was much to be so placed that no consideration of money need be a bar to any wish,--that the considerations which should bar his pleasures need be only those of dignity, character, and propriety.

His uncle had told him more than once how much a peer of England owed to his country and to his order;--how such a one is bound by no ordinary bonds to a life of high resolves, and good endeavours.