The delicate balance between the generations has changed. This passing on of property is a very ancient and humane custom. It was a moment of liberation at least for the eldest child of the family, who could expect to get his or her inheritance at a reasonably young age, certainly in their 30s or 40s. The great botanical artist Pierre Joseph Redouté, and the novelist Anthony Trollope, are two among thousands of men and women who could never have achieved what they did without their inheritance. For many too it was the key to a life of creativity. For most people it was the only possible way to start a business or buy a house. In the 18th and 19th centuries inheritance was recognized as an important stepping-stone in life. A search of books in print shows at least 40,000 titles containing the word “inheritance,” so we are obviously just as fascinated by this lottery as the Victorians were. Inheritance is something of a taboo subject of conversation these days, although it is still the central theme of many books and movies. They talked and wrote about inheritance constantly. The slow working-out of these questions, which are usually inextricably tangled with the question of who will marry who, carries the reader smoothly through hundreds of pages and, for the Victorians themselves - at least the middle and upper classes - it was clearly one of the major preoccupations of their lives. Who will get the old man’s money, who will get the estate, will the disgraced nephew get un undeserved share, will be disgraced sister be cut out of the will entirely? Many plots center around the absorbing question of inheritance. They are so satisfying, so richly endowed with the essential human themes of love and money. I am mildly addicted to Victorian novels.
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