Pedigrees Seldom Improve By Age; The Grandson Is Too Often A Weak Infringement On The Grandsire's Parent.
It Is Better To Be The Builder Of Our Own Name Than To Be Indebted By Descent For The Proudest Gifts Known To The Books Of Heraldry.
In The Founders Of Great Families, Titles Or Attributes Of Honor Are Generally Correspondent With The Virtues Of The Person To Whom They Are Applied; But In Their Descendants They Are Too Often The Marks Rather Of Grandeur Than Of Merit. The Stamp And Denomination Still Continue, But The Intrinsic Value Is Frequently Lost.
