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democratic reforms which lessen the necessity for his patronage, has its origin not only in self-interested fears, but in a better sentiment. It is this benevolent and beneficent landowning aristocracy which wins the admiration of Taine; and his appreciation is interesting to note, for his habit of analysis without criticism gives us practically the frame of mind, certainly of the rural population, and in general of the average Briton who looks no deeper than the surface and no farther back than the present. These rich men ", says Taine, are natural leaders, acknowledged as such, and using their influence beneficently... My friend Bhimself is the near relative and the heir of a nobleman whose estate he manages; some day he will have 40.000 pounds a year; meanwhile, on behalf of his relative, he superintends and directs, builds model cottages for the workmen, subscribes to funds for public purposes, and at the same time improves the estate and renders useful service to the country..... There is hardly one of these landowners who does not give freely of his money and his time for the common good. They are municipal magistrates, overseers, justices of the peace, presidents of committees and associations for useful objects. Another great landowner, as Taine points out, builds and endows a church; or founds a village club on temperance lines, where cheerful rooms, well warmed and well lit, newspapers, books, and games, offer a counter-attraction to the public-house. They throw open their parks, with more or less restriction, to the general public; the historic mansions of England, from Windsor downwards. are opened to the public at specified times, and their mines of art-treasures displayed to the people.

Now, in spite of the rapid progress of democratic ideas and democratic power in recent years, and the consequent rapid decay of the

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squirearchic" sentiment, the landowning aristocracy still gains favour by that good use of their wealth, time, and talents which Taine noted forty years ago. Let us take a modern illustration. From every point of view, perhaps no truer type of the modern. British nobleman could be chosen than the Earl of Rosebery. A nobleman of Liberal leanings in politics, he became closely identified with Mr. Gladstone, whose host he was during the famous Midlothian election campaigns. Apart from the advantage of having Mr. Gladstone as his political sponsor, Lord Rosebery's comman

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ding talents and finished oratory soon gave him a foremost place in politics; and his tenure of high state offices, notably those of Foreign Secretary and of Prime Minister, have made his name. doubtless familiar to you. To his earlier political career, to his connection with Mr. Gladstone, to the fact that he espoused the popular and progressive cause in politics, and that in particular he distinguished himself by an attack on the legislative privilege of the House of Lords (of which he himself is of course a member) such circumstances as these was doubtless due in part his immense popularity with the masses. But many other causes contribute to make Lord Rosebery the true type of the popular nobleman. Much that I have already said of the popularity of King Edward equally applies to this his intimate friend and chosen associate. A great sportsman, Lord Rosebery has owned at least one Derby-winner. His estate of Dalmeny, about six miles from Edinburgh, is always open to the public; and the beautiful grounds are a favourite resort of the people of the Scottish metropolis. And with the agreeable the useful is not forgotten. On this estate is Lord Rosebery's model farm, frequently visited by farmers and others from all parts of Scotland; cattle raised on the Dalmeny estate are frequent prize-winners at agricultural shows; of late years, too, Lord Rosebery has kept up at Dalmeny an experimenting-station in the interests of agriculture; here efficient investigators make researches and practical experiments in agricultural chemistry and the higher branches of agriculture; some of the results obtained there with regard to the dressing of the soil have been generally adopted, and have already revolutionised agricultural methods in certain districts. Lord Rosebery is, in a word, a farmer, and proud of his success as a farmer.

Lord Rosebery's connection with multifarious societies, added to his graceful oratory and his genial humour, cause him to be greatly in request at inaugural ceremonies, at the opening of agricultural shows, and such functions; and he responds nobly to the demand thus made on his energies. The expectation of a speech from Lord Rosebery on such an occasion is in itself sufficient to guarantee its success; and those little addresses of his are invariably happy; if Lord Rosebery opens, let us say an Edinburgh flower-show, his remarks are printed verbatim in the Scottish daily press, and fully deserve it.

Other and more important activities he has, or has had. His political career is familiar to you; we have already touched on it. His connection with local government has been hardly less important. He was elected to that remarkable governing body which now so largely sways the destinies of the English capital — the London County Council and became its first chairman; his success in that capacity was conspicuous, and many point to his direction of the London County Council as Lord Rosebery's best work. Add to this his literary activities; apart from innumerable addresses to literary and philosophical societies, he has produced more solid literary work, notably in his Life of Pitt; I would mention to you also his Notes on The Last Phase of the Life of Napoleon a book which may be known to you, as it has been widely read in France as well as in Britain, a book which is in essence a sincere thongh tardy apology for the petty conduct of Britain's representatives at St. Helena towards the fallen Emperor.

I think you can very well conclude from this typical picture which I have drawn that the life of a nobleman in Britain today is not necessarily a life of fainéantise. Not necessarily, I say; of course it could and well might be, and in many cases it certainly is; but what concerns us here, and what appeals to the average Briton, is that there is as a matter of fact among the aristocracy of Britain enough talent, enough intellect, enough still of the tradition and the inspiration of nobleness" to enable them to do justice to the superior opportunities which wealth and birth afford, to make something of that advantage which they have from the beginning. Further, there is found in their ranks a large amount of that public-spiritedness which calls them to use their talents, their time, their wealth, their advantages, in the public interest. The British sense of duty which Taine so emphasises adds force to the half-conscious motive of selfinterest. Not alone are these activities a sop to a menacing democracy; this much can be fairly said of many an unbending and bigoted Conservative, of many a patrician ruler who scorns the idea of democratic government, who firmly and conscientiously believes that the people cannot and ought not to govern themselves this much can be said of many, that considering themselves by natural right lords of the people, they also recognise that they have duties to fulfil as governors of the people, and strive honestly to fulfil these duties according to their lights.

Year by year and day by day the progress of democratic thought, the triumphs of democratic reform, are driving the squirearchic sentiment and the quasi-feudal rule before them; the over-servile dependence of the English villager on the local squire, the grandmotherly administration of charity and favours by the local magnates, is much less obvious than formerly. In the country squire-worship dies hard; but the enormous growth of the towns, the preponderance of an industrial population whose relations. to its social superiors, to the employer, to the capitalist, to the aristocracy of wealth, are necessarily different, and in the social sense more independent, has made inevitable the triumph of democracy. Democratic institutions-instruments of local self-government established by a representative Parliament have gradually taken over many of the quasi-feudal functions of the squire. But it is notable that in this process the squire has not lost his legitimate influence; he is ready to solicit the suffrages of the men whom his grandfathers ruled by right unquestioned; and if he has real popularity and influence and public-spiritedness, he has every chance of being elected by the people to the local boards and councils and committees ; there, adapting himself without difficulty to the new circumstances, he throws himself cheerfully into the work. In the modern devolution of powers, in the extension of local government, there are being created more and more of those entirely unpaid and sometimes onerous posts, there are constantly new openings for administrative ability and public spirit. You can see how this process, in course of which the aristocracy submits itself to popular election and administers democratic laws, is an essentially levelling process; by it the elements of privilege, of fictitious superiority, tend in practice to become eliminated; while real administrative capacity and high talents, nurtured as they are by superior advantages, continue to claim the respect and the support of the people. It is one of these infinitely slow processes, at the same time sure and safe, in which we can trace the democratic evolution characteristic of Britain, just as in the French legislation which made the nobility a thing of the past we can mark the democratic revolution which we have come to consider characteristic of France.

To come back, then, to our first question: How is the perpetuation of aristocratic privilege in Britain, the strong hold

even today of the aristocracy on British sentiment, to be explained? The answer lies largely in the temper of the British people, conservative of the good rather than destructive of the evil, and exceedingly prone to preserve an evil system for the practical good done by its representatives. Taking up the attitude then of the average Briton — which 1 may say now is not my personal point of viewI have endeavoured by a few slight sketches to show you what that good is. To this must be added that the forbearance of the democracy has been won by wise and timely concessions on the part of the aristocracy; the enlightened democratic spirit of the age, it is fair to say, has made its impress on the privileged class; and where it has remained comparatively unmoved by this generous impulse, a wise regard for its own interests has made it yield to the spirit of the people. This class, like the others, has moved with and is moving with the times, making not impossible, though doubtless distant, a democracy perfect in fact at least, if not in form.