"
"Like the Marquis of Londonderry, sir, and the Earl of Durham. Come,
father, don't sacrifice your son, and his happiness and his love for
you, to notions the world has outlived. Commerce does not lower a
gentleman, nor speculation either, in these days. The nobility and the
leading gentry of these islands are most of them in business. They are
all shareholders, and often directors of railways, and just as much
traders as the old coach proprietors were. They let their land, and so do
you, to the highest bidder, not for honor or any romantic sentiment, but
for money, and that is trade. Mr. Bartley is his own farmer; well, so was
Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, and the Queen made him a peer for it--what a
sensible sovereign! Are Rothschild and Montefiore shunned for their
speculations by the nobility? Whom do their daughters marry? Trade rules
the world, and keeps it from stagnation. Genius writes, or paints, or
plays Hamlet--for money; and is respected in exact proportion to the
amount of money it gets. Charity holds bazars, and sells at one hundred
per cent.
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