True caste is a social condition existing by authority and general consent, in which every human being has, by birth, his fixed place in the social organism, and receives exactly the degree of respect or contempt which is accorded to the place independently of his personal efforts or qualities. [Sidenote: False Caste.] The state of false caste is a condition of things in which there is still a sort of social hierarchy, but the positions in it are neither fixed nor well defended, so that impostors may get possession of them and enjoy the consideration which formerly belonged only to those who were born in the caste. This is the present condition of England and France, in different ways and in different degrees. It is better than true caste in giving openings to ability, but worse in offering temptations and prizes to imposture. [Sidenote: The Aristocratic Spirit.] The caste spirit is not by any means confined to an aristocracy. The social state of true caste includes all classes of society, fixing the relative inferiorities of the humble as strictly as the superiorities of the great. It will be convenient, however, to consider the aristocratic spirit first and by itself. Are there still genuine aristocracies in England and France? I have observed elsewhere that England has been able to pass through a highly convenient intermediate stage, that of an aristocratic republic, preserving monarchical appearances, and that France has not been able to do this, not having the kind and quality of aristocracy that was necessary for the work. I said this, but I did not say (what some Englishmen believe) that France has no real aristocracy at all. [Sidenote: Aristocratic Spirit in France.] On the contrary, I agree with Littré in the belief that the real aristocratic spirit still lives vigorously in France, but only in the aristocracy itself; and I should say that the great difference between England and France in this respect is that _what there is_ of the aristocratic spirit in England is shared by classes outside of the aristocracy, whereas in France very few people have the aristocratic sentiment unless it has been implanted in them by the traditions of an aristocratic house, and cultivated by a training apart from the ordinary training of Frenchmen. [Sidenote: English Aristocratic Spirit.] Again, it does not appear that the aristocratic spirit in England, though widely diffused, is of a pure or elevated kind. Perhaps it may be for this very reason, perhaps it is just because it is not pure or elevated, that it is so general and so commonly understood. [Sidenote: Title the Sanction of Wealth.] [Sidenote: The Tennyson Peerage.]