Yes, it sounds as though that was a challenge: the first chapter talks about 'the everlasting [difficulty] of persuading—even of discovering—the old men and women of the upper classes to lay down a portion of their burden. They splendidly, rather enragingly, wasted away of various wants in their funkholes. Reticent in life, they preserved their privacy in death. There were exceptions, of course: the fine-drawn, aquiline-nosed old aristocrats who took their pension with philosophy and humour, writing their letters of heartfelt gratitude and appreciation in graceful handwriting upon cheap note-paper from addresses unthinkable...' Well, anyway, Ferguson is very good at handling just that sort of nuance!