“We may suppose him thick and sturdy, standing for England as it was before the Industrial Era began. The second Jolyon Forsyte⁠—your great-grandfather, Jolly; better known as Superior Dosset Forsyte⁠—built houses, so the chronicle runs, begat ten children, and migrated to London town. It is known that he drank sherry. We may suppose him representing the England of Napoleon’s wars, and general unrest. The eldest of his six sons was the third Jolyon, your grandfather, my dears⁠—tea merchant and chairman of companies, one of the soundest Englishmen who ever lived⁠—and to me the dearest.” Jolyon’s voice had lost its irony, and his son and daughter gazed at him solemnly, “He was just and tenacious, tender and young at heart. You remember him, and I remember him. Pass to the others! Your great-uncle James, that’s young Val’s grandfather, had a son called Soames⁠—whereby hangs a tale of no love lost, and I don’t think I’ll tell it you. James and the other eight children of Superior Dosset, of whom there are still five alive, may be said to have represented Victorian England, with its principles of trade and individualism at five percent and your money back⁠—if you know what that means. At all events they’ve turned thirty thousand pounds into a cool million between them in the course of their long lives.