prince, such as my
Lord Steyne, must naturally be angry at being kept out of his kingdom, and eye
the occupant of it with no very agreeable glances. »Take it as a rule,« this
sardonic old Eaves would say, »the fathers and elder sons of all great families
hate each other. The Crown Prince is always in opposition to the crown, or
hankering after it. Shakespeare knew the world, my good sir, and when he
describes Prince Hall (from whose family the Gaunts pretend to be descended,
though they are no more related to John of Gaunt than you are) trying on his
father's coronet, he gives you a natural description of all he heirs-apparent.
If you were heir to a dukedom and a thousand pounds a day, do you mean to say
you would not wish for possession? Pooh! And it stands to reason that every
great man, having experienced this feeling towards his father, must be aware
that his son entertains it towards himself; and so they can't but be suspicious
and hostile.
    Then, again, as to the feeling of elder towards younger sons. My dear sir,
you ought to know that every elder brother looks upon the cadets of the house as
his natural enemies, who deprive him of so much ready-money which ought to be
his by right. I have often heard George Mac-Turk, Lord Bajazet's eldest son, say
that if he had his will when he came to the title he would do what the sultans
do, and clear the estate by chopping off all his younger brothers' heads at
once; and so the case is, more or less, with them all. I tell you they are all
Turks in their hearts. Pooh! sir, they know the world.« And here, haply, a great
man coming up, Tom Eaves's hat would drop off his head, and he would rush
forward with a bow and a grin, which showed that he knew the world too - in the
Tomeavesian way, that is. And having laid out every shilling of his fortune on
an annuity, Tom could afford to bear no malice to his nephews and nieces, and to
have no other feeling with regard to his betters, but a constant and generous
desire to dine with them.
    Between the Marchioness and the natural and the tender regard of mother for
children, there was that cruel barrier placed of difference of faith. The very
love which she might feel for her sons, only served to render the timid and
pious lady more fearful and unhappy