But the temporary distress into which the family fell was caused
not so much by his own extravagance as by that of two sons, and by
his indulgence in regard to them. He had three children, none of
whom were very fortunate in life. The eldest, John, married the
daughter of a peer, stood for Parliament, had one son, and died
before he was forty, owing something over 20,000 pounds. The estate
was then worth 7,000 pounds a year. Certain lands not lying either
in Bragton or Mallingham were sold, and that difficulty was
surmounted, not without a considerable diminution of income.
In process of time the grandson, who was a second John Morton,
grew up and married, and became the father of a third John Morton,
the young man who afterwards became owner of the property and
Secretary of Legation at Washington. But the old squire outlived
his son and his grandson, and when he died had three or four
great-grand-children playing about the lawns of Bragton Park. The
peer's daughter had lived, and had for many years drawn a dower
from the Bragton property, and had been altogether a very heavy
incumbrance.

But the great trial of the old man's life, as also the great
romance, had arisen from the career of his second son, Reginald. Of
all his children, Reginald had been the dearest to him. He went to
Oxford, and had there spent much money; not as young men now spend
money, but still to an extent that had been grievous to the old
squire. But everything was always paid for Reginald. It was
necessary, of course, that he should have a profession, and he took
a commission in the army. As a young man he went to Canada. This
was in 1829, when all the world was at peace, and his only
achievement in Canada was to marry a young woman who is reported to