Top Dog

Members of Britain's nether classes often refer collectively to those above as "Them." Enviously they know that a man child born to "Them" can take the soft path that leads through Oxford or Cambridge and then on to Place & Power. Such a scion of "Them" is David George Brownlow Cecil, Lord Burghley, 23, who ran through Cambridge as a track star, and was appointed last week a Justice of the Peace at Peterborough.

"What qualifications!" roared Labor hecklers in the House of Commons, "What qualifications has this athlete which justified his appointment as a justice of the peace?"

Clearly the under dogs were yapping at "Them." Replied Top Dog Sir Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip, His Majesty's Attorney General, sternly: "The Lord High Chancellor [Baron Hogg of Hailsham] himself is satisfied that Lord Burghley takes an active interest in public life and is well fitted to hold the office. . . . I consulted His Lordship before making the appointment. . . . It was his opinion that a young man of standing should receive an opportunity in early life to gain experience in public affairs."

Should Lord Burghley's father, the 5th Marquess of Exeter, die, the young Justice of the Peace would take his seat in the House of Lords, inherit estates of 27,000 acres, and become both Hereditary Grand Almoner to His Majesty & Custos Rotulorum of the Soke of Peterborough.