Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/552

544 usually simply a country gentleman somewhat better educated, more in touch with intellectual tastes and pursuits, than the other country gentlemen among whom he lived. The proportion of distinguished men and women contributed from among the families of the clergy can only be described as enormous. In mere number the clergy can seldom have equaled the butchers or bakers in their parishes, yet only two butchers and three bakers are definitely ascertained to have produced eminent children, as against 113 parsons. Even if we compare the Church with the other professions with which it is most usually classed, we find that the eminent children of the clergy considerably outnumber those of lawyers, doctors and army officers put together. This preponderance is the more remarkable when we remember that (although I have certainly included eminent illegitimate children of priests) it is only within the last three and a half centuries that the clergy have been free to compete in this field. Law, Medicine and the Army furnish contingents which, though very much smaller than that of the Church, are sufficiently important to be grouped separately, but all the remaining professions I have thrown into a single group. These are: Officials (Government officials, noblemen's stewards, clerks, etc.) 19, Artists (painters, sculptors, engravers, architects) 15, Actors, etc., 14, Musicians, Composers, etc., 8, Naval, etc., 8, Men of Letters 5, Schoolmasters 4, Engineers, Surveyors and Accountants 4, Men of Science 3. Although so few of the fathers of eminent men can be described professionally as men of letters or men of science, it must be added that in a considerable number of cases literary or scientific aptitudes were present.

We now reach a group of altogether different character, Trade. It is a group of great magnitude, but its size is due to the inevitable inclusion of a very large number of avocations under a single heading. These avocations range from banking to inn-keeping. The bankers evidently form the aristocracy of the trading class, and a remarkable number, considering the smallness of the class (not less than 8), have been the fathers of eminent sons. Under the rather vague heading of 'Merchants' we find 16, and there are 6 manufacturers. Wine merchants, brewers, vintners, publicans and others connected with the sale or production of alcoholic liquors have yielded as many as 13 distinguished sons, who have often attained a high degree of eminence, from Chaucer to Joule. Tea and coffee are only responsible for one each. There are 8 drapers, mercers and hosiers, and 6 tailors and hatters; grocers and a great number of other shop-keeping trades count at most 3 eminent men each. It is, perhaps, noteworthy that at least 4 Lord Mayors of London have been the fathers of distinguished sons; only one of them (Gresham) attained fame in business, the others becoming men of letters and scholars. It must be added in regard to this group that in a