With this brilliant exception before us, we must, however, admit the general truth of this experience: “The nobility of trade usually ends with the second generation. A thrifty and persevering man falls into a line of business by which he accumulates a large fortune, preserving through life the habits, manners, and connexions of his trade; but his children, brought up with expectations of enjoying his property, understand only the art of spending. Hence, when deprived of fortune, without industry or resources, they die in beggary, leaving a third generation to the same chances of life as those with which their grandfather began his career fourscore years before.”[108] --------------------- Footnote 103: _Spectator_ newspaper, 1862. Footnote 104: _Saturday Review._ Footnote 105: When the Duke and Duchess, in taking farewell of Stowe, had reached the flower-garden, they both burst into a violent fit of tears. They went through the two gardens, and left them in silent sorrow: as he passed along, the Duke gave the Duchess a rose, which she treasured as the last gift. Footnote 106: See Ulster’s _Vicissitudes of Families_, in three volumes, for many impressive narratives of the same class as the above. Footnote 107: The _Examiner_. Footnote 108: _Golden Rules of Social Philosophy_, by Sir Richard Phillips. ---------------------------- CIVIC WORTHIES. The state and dignity of the office of Chief Magistrate of the City of London have, during nearly centuries of its existence, pointed many a moral,—from the nursery-tale of Whittington to the accessories of Hogarth’s pictures and a homelier illustration of our own days: Our Lord Mayor and his golden coach, and his gold-covered footmen and coachman, and his golden chain, and his chaplain, and great sword of state, please the people, and particularly the women and girls; and when they are pleased, the men and boys are pleased: and many a young fellow has been more industrious and attentive from his hope of one day riding in that golden coach.—_Cobbett._ This is, however, but the bright side of the picture. Civic office is often a costly honour; not only by large expenditure, but by neglect of private business to attend to the public duties of the station. All that we propose to do here is to record a few noteworthy Mayoralties of the _present century_, to show that the office continues to be filled by men of high character and moral worth.