Few sons attain the praise
Of their great sires and most their sires disgrace.

Few sons attain the praise
Of their great sires and most their sires disgrace.

The nobler the blood the less the pride

The nobler the blood the less the pride

Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.

Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.

I came up-stairs into the world; for I was born in a cellar.

I came up-stairs into the world; for I was born in a cellar.

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves
achieved, we can scarcely call our own.
[Lat., read more

Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves
achieved, we can scarcely call our own.
[Lat., Nam genus et proavos et quae non fecimus ipsi
Vix ea nostra voco.]

Say, when the ground our father Adam till'd,
And mother Eve the humble distaff held,
Who then read more

Say, when the ground our father Adam till'd,
And mother Eve the humble distaff held,
Who then his pedigree presumed to trace,
Or challenged the prerogative of place?
[Lat., Primus Adam duro cum vertet arva ligone,
Pensaque de vili deceret Eva colo:
Ecquis in hoc poterat vir nobilis orbe videri?
Et modo quisquam alios ante locandue erir?

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another.

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another.

No, my friends, I go (always other things being equal) for the
man that inherits family traditions and the read more

No, my friends, I go (always other things being equal) for the
man that inherits family traditions and the cumulative humanities
of at least four or five generations.