A gentleman he was, but with an experience and
training quite unlike that of a gentleman in England. The young
heir to an English estate might or might not go to a university.
He could, like the young Charles James Fox, become a scholar, but
like Fox, who knew some of the virtues and all the supposed
gentlemanly vices, he might dissipate his energies in hunting,
gambling, and cockfighting. He would almost certainly make the
grand tour of Europe, and, if he had little Latin and less Greek,
he was pretty certain to have some familiarity with Paris and a
smattering of French. The eighteenth century was a period of
magnificent living in England. The great landowner, then, as now,
the magnate of his neighborhood, was likely to rear, if he did
not inherit, one of those vast palaces which are today burdens so
costly to the heirs of their builders. At the beginning of the
century the nation to honor Marlborough for his victories could
think of nothing better than to give him half a million pounds
to build a palace. Even with the colossal wealth produced by
modern industry we should be staggered at a residence costing
millions of dollars. Yet the Duke of Devonshire rivaled at
Chatsworth, and Lord Leicester at Holkham, Marlborough's building
at Blenheim, and many other costly palaces were erected during
the following half century.
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