The Squire’s younger uncle, Edgar, who for some years had led a dissipated and extravagant life at Bath, Cheltenham, and other inland watering-places, had an only son named Tresham; and as he never expected him to succeed to the family estates, he apprenticed him to a Mr. Grubbe, a solicitor of good repute and considerable practice at Clitheroe, and the young man, on the death of his principal, set up for himself. Tresham Manwaring had not, or at all events was not supposed to have, inherited the vices of his father. On the contrary, he was persevering to a degree, economical, and even parsimonious in his habits, and his worst enemy (and he had many) could not have accused him of the crime which Archbishop Whately so bitterly denounced, to wit, of having ever given a halfpenny to a beggar. For the rest, Tresham was secretly self-indulgent, when self-indulgence could be purchased at a cheap rate; rude in his manners; and he took a delight in affecting a coarseness of behaviour and a vulgarity of diction which were altogether out of harmony with the education he had received. A more selfish man never existed, and the ruling maxim by which he steered his conduct was the base one, “_Take care of Number One._” When he set up on his own hook, the young lawyer felt the want of ready money, and he accordingly wooed and won the wealthy heiress of a retired cheesemonger of Halifax, who rejoiced in the euphonious name of Sally Potts, on the easy condition of taking the name of Potts in lieu of his own, and of assuming the newly-granted arms of that family, to wit, on a Field, Vert, three Milk Pails Or, with the motto _“Ex Vaccâ, sed Potabilis_.” The lady, who was considerably older than himself, was a vulgar, ambitious woman, whose main object in life was to obtain a position amongst the “County Families.” In her husband’s eyes her sole merit was probably the grist that she brought to his mill. In nature, she was prolific, and she annually offered the tribute of a new daughter to her disgusted spouse, who would have been glad of a male heir to the family of Potts. When the Head of the Family heard of this ill-starred and ignominious match, he felt it his duty to make an example of the chief offender, and accordingly, before witnesses, he solemnly erased his name from the Family Pedigree, and gave strict orders that his cousin’s name should never be mentioned in his presence again. Pride, like love, is blind; and in the performance of this judicial act, the Squire of Holmcastle forgot that his cousin Tresham was _in the entail_!