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8 THE ANCESTOR Harris family life and habits, and it is hoped that the short account which is here given of the society in which he him- self, his son and his two brothers were prominent figures, may enable the reader to carry his imagination back to that old-world life which our ancestors lived during the latter halt of the eighteenth century, to those picturesque days of wine and song, of stately minuet and country dance, of true love- making and of much high-playing, of low bows and dainty curtseys, of fine dressing and courtly speaking on the part both of maid and swain — such manners and customs, such sayings and doings as are best revived for us in Sheridan's immortal plays. It is not pretended to claim for each Harris any peculiar distinction. The eldest of the brothers, James (born 1709), and his son, the first Lord Malmesbury, were undoubtedly brilliant men, and from the tastes which they cultivated and the friends which they made, the younger brothers, Thomas and William, born respectively in 171 1 and 17 14, are rather attractive personalities, but that is all that is put forward on their behalf. James Harris married in July, 1745, and it is about this time that the regular family correspondence begins. This year was a critical one for England ; it saw the landing of Charles Edward Stuart, the young Pretender, upon British soil, and his audacious march into the very heart of George II. 's kingdom ; it saw us in open hostility with France, and joining in the general warfare then raging upon the continent. The Harrises and their relations were all strong supporters of the Hanoverian succession, and it is amusing to read their comments upon the successes and failures of the rebel arms. Lord Shaftesbury writing in September, 1745, to his cousin, Mr. James Harris, says : ^ 'I find the affair in Scotland grows serious ' ; and again further on in the same letter, ' it is very happy the nation in general is so well affected to the King, otherwise there would be the greatest danger.' It is hard at this distance to appreciate this great danger, but at the period at which these letters were written the Guelphs had not long occupied the English throne, and there were many who were disgusted with the strong German sympathies of the first two Georges and with the flagrant immorality of their courts. In the same month, the Rev. William Harris, who was 1 Letters of the first Earl of Malmesbury, his family and friends (Bentley).