impression: himself does all; he has signed, and that is enough.'
Lord Munster replied, 'that there were two ranks in life he should
prefer as more suitable to the title he bore, though unaccompanied
by fortune, the magistrate who supports the laws, or that of the
soldier who defends his country!' Highly charmed with his sentiments,
it required no small resolution for his aunt, who fondly loved him,
to support the character she had assumed; but recollecting herself,
observed, that it was not unusual for men of high birth to enrich their
family _by trade_.
When the Earl of Oxford was at the head of affairs in England, his
brother was a factor at Aleppo; and if Lord Townshend was respected in
parliament as a secretary of state, his brother was no less regarded
in the city as a merchant. Without giving way, added she, to ideas of
birth, you may be happy, and by your temper, application, and personal
accomplishments, make a figure in life without the aid of such an
accidental _appendage_; and by your attainments and engaging qualities
obtain a general esteem, the surest step to advancement and honor.
Lord Munster seemed _convinced_, though not allured by her arguments,
yielding himself to her guidance, with that sweetness of disposition,
which though so amiable in itself is so much to be apprehended. For
those dispositions of the mind, which are generally termed virtuous, are
frequently the occasion of our falling into vices, from which opposite
ones, though generally condemned, would have secured us.
In pursuance of Lady Frances's plan, Lord Munster was sent to Holland,
where he was boarded for two years in a creditable family in Amsterdam,
as the best school for learning, temperance, economy, and every domestic
virtue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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