this state of things , by some strange fatality , had gone on for nearly a hundred years , and the consequence was what might have been fairly expected , namelythat , what with their vices and what with their extravagances , the successive heads of the bannerworth family had succeeded in so far diminishing the family property that , when it came into the hands of henry bannerworth , it was of little value , on account of the numerous encumbrances with which it was saddled .