came pre-eminently visible. By that time its lands were vast, its wealth enormous; its parliamentary influence, as " a Great House," was now a part of the British Constitution, At this period the House of Vipont found it convenient to rend itself into two grand divisions—the peer's branch and the commoner's. The House of Commons had become so important that it was necessary for the House of Vipont to be represented there by a great commoner. Thus arose the family of Carr Vipont. That division—owing to a marriage settlement favoring a younger son by the heiress of the Carrs—carried off a good slice from the estate of the earldom—uno averso,non deficit alter; the earldom mourned, but replaced the loss by two wealthy wedlocks of its own; and had since seen cause to rejoice that its power in the Upper Chamber was strengthened by such aid in the Lower. For, thanks to its parliamentary influence, and the aid of the great commoner, in the reign of George III. the House of Vi- pont became a Marquis. From that time to the present day the House of Vipont had gone on prospering and progressive. It was to the aristocracy what the Times newspaper is to the press. The same quick sympathy with public feeling—the same unity of tone and purpose—the same adaptability—and something of the same lofty tone of superiority to the petty interests of party. It may be conceded that the House of Vipont was less brilliant than the Times newspaper, but eloquence and wit, necessary to the duration of a newspaper, were not necessary to that of the House of Vipont. Had they been so, it would have had them! The Head of the House of Vipont rarely condescended to take office. With a rent-roll loosely estimated at about £170,000 a year, it is beneath a man to take from the public a paltry five or six thousand a year, and undergo all the undignified abuse of popular assemblies, and "a ribald press." But it was a matter of course that the 'House of Vipont should be represented in any cabinet that a constitutional monarch could be advised to form. Since the time of Walpole, a Vipont was always in the service of his country, except in those rare instances when the country was infamously misgoverned. The cadets of the House, or the senior member of the great commoner's branch of it, sacrificed their ease to fulfil that duty. The Montfort marquises in general were contented with situations of honor in the household, as of Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, or Master of the Horse, etc. —not onerous dignities; and even these they only deigned to accept on those especial occasions when danger threatened the Star of Brunswick, and the sense of its exalted station forbade the House of Vipont to leave his country in the dark.
