LETTER VII.
ARISTOCRACY OF THE OLDEN TIME.
The upper, or old town of Norwich, my birthplace, was decidedly aristocratical at the period of which I speak. Yet its aristocracy was not founded on wealth alone, but on the firmer basis of honorable descent and moral excellence. Higher principles were called into exercise more not to disgrace an ancestral name embalmed by the respect and love of the community—than merely to amass money, or to display it. Hence the structure of society was good where the influence of wealth aided the power of virtue.
The aristocracy of that favored spot was principally vested in two families and their collateral branches, the Lathrops and Huntingtons. The dynasty of the first dated back some two hundred years, to the industry, integrity, and piety of Mr. Thomas Lathrop (or Lotrop, as the name is found written in ancient books). He left two sons and a daughter, who nobly sustained the paternal dignity. Of the eldest, Dr. Daniel La-
