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"Seeing my surprise and almost dismay at this, Bostock observed, It is only Lord Gayhurst, and his two sons and daughter, the uncle, and some more cousins of Lady Cherubina; they always come here preparatory to the first of September. Perhaps I ought to have apprised you of it, knowing your retired habits; but to tell you the truth, I was afraid would not come if you had known it.'

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، ، I trust there are no more, said I, somewhat annoyed; which I saw rather discomposed him.

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"I am not sure,' answered he, again somewhat embarrassed, for visitors are always Lady Cherubina's province; and I never know exactly-that is, she does not always tell me how many or whom she invites.'

"Is that quite so comfortable or convenient?' asked I; but seeing that he was a little flurried, I addedheaven forgive the equivocation-'it at least shews on what very pleasant terms you must be together.'

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Why, yes,' replied he, 'it is pleasant to have no restraint on either side, and Lady Cherubina has done so much for me, that it would be hard if she was not her own mistress in these respects.'

، ، Or in any others,' I was about to add; but recollecting we were not at Queen's, I checked my tutorlike customs, and was silent.

"I own I was annoyed by the prospect of all this company, having promised myself a quiet week with my old pupil, to say nothing of a wish to investigate his real position as a husband, in a marriage so unequal in point of rank. Not that I thought there

might not be happiness if each party studied the thing as they ought; that is, if the gentleman made up his inferiority in birth and connections by great decision of character and superiority of mind, and the lady had sense and moderation enough duly to appreciate his merits; but here I doubted both. Bostock was too sensitive, I had almost said too modest, too much alive to his own deficiencies in birth and breeding, to be firm in asserting himself against his highbred wife, if she chose to oppose his authority; and, from what I have heard, the Lady Cherubina was no cherub in nature, whatever she might be in name.

"But the awful ceremony of introduction now approached, and put an end to all my speculations. For I felt forced to brush up all my old recollections of the fine manners I had formerly seen, when I found myself in a rich drawing-room, furnished in the most costly taste by this high lady, and surrounded by half a dozen of her high relations, with no one of my own degree to give me countenance, except my friend, who, though the master of the house and giver of the feast, I grieve to say, seemed to stand quite as much in need of countenance as myself.

"His wife, to do her justice, was a very magnificent person, tall and well-shaped, with a commanding, perhaps I might say a haughty air, eyes like basilisks, and hair in dark profusion. The former flashed incessantly, and yet seemed to have but little sentiment in them. She was any thing but soft; fitter we might say for a queen among subjects, than the wife of a bourgeois gentilhomme, which, with all his merits,

I am afraid, in the midst of his fine company, my poor friend appeared to be.

"Indeed, the company seemed so to consider him, and when he saluted them, returned him but a slight recognition-the men with a distant jerk of their chins, the women with a slight bend, instead of a courtesy; no shaking of hands, but all immediately turning away to talk to the sovereign lady. Lord Gayhurst, who, from not being admitted into the younger circle, (faute d'agrémens), himself wanted employment, was the only person who seemed disposed to converse with him.

"All this engaged me during the four or five minutes which passed before I was presented, for which I prepared myself with due resignation, yet a little wondering at the delay. For Bostock, though so generally hearty in his manner, shewed no alacrity to perform this necessary ceremony. Indeed, the lady was obliged herself to force it on, and, coming to the place where I stood at her husband's elbow, said, in a loud, decided tone, but with a visible air of condescension, promising even to be one of protection if necessary, 'You are Mr. Fothergill, I suppose, my husband's tutor formerly at Oxford. I have often heard him speak of you, and your visit will make him happy. Indeed, he often wants the society of an old friend of his own set, to talk of former days, which is what he can seldom do here among so many strangers. I am quite glad you have come, for it will put him in his element, and be a comfortable change for him.'

"Having said this, she returned to her friends in the

circle she had left, who all seemed to admire her for such proper and amiable condescension.

"To own the truth, she did it vastly well; whether friend Bostock had reason to admire her too, especially when she talked of his being among strangers in the midst of his wife's family, is another question.

، When dinner was announced, being no stranger to the etiquette which prevails in fashionable life upon these occasions, I was curious to observe what would be the proceeding; and as I knew my own place, that is, that I had no place at all, I very quietly kept behind, watching the rest of the party.

"And here I rather felt for my timid pupil. As master of the house, there could be no doubt of his duty, which was, to offer his arm to the lady of the highest rank. This was Lady Sophia Gayhurst, who probably, knowing what custom required, could not have refused it; but seeing him rather falter, and uncertain what to do, she, nothing loath (indeed, very willingly), took the arm of a more lively and more decided personage, a well-dressed Mr. Wilmot, who stept in critically between her and Bostock, whom he thus threw out.

، The worst was, that as all the other guests, in expectation of his escorting Lady Sophia, as a thing of course, had matched themselves, he was left without a mate, and instead of leading the van, brought up the rear, with me for a partner ;- —nor was he relieved by hearing Lady Cherubina laughingly exclaim, That

is so like Bostock's awkwardness.'

"At dinner this little accident was not without its

consequences; for Lady Sophia, having secured Mr. Wilmot, forgot that Bostock, as master of the house, had a sort of right to her as a neighbour, and scudding to the upper end of the table, seized a chair next to Lady Cherubina; and this seemed so preferable an arrangement to the lady next in precedency, that she too abandoned the lord of the feast, and the rest following the example, he was left altogether without notice, with only myself and a brother clergyman, who happened to dine with us, for his supporters.

"Though in reality this was a relief to him, as it delivered him from the irksomeness of talking to unwilling ears, I saw plainly that he was disconcerted; and he was certainly not consoled by his lady's remark from the other end of the table, that Lady Sophia had only properly punished him for his want of attention. At this Lady Sophia laughed, the other ladies giggled, and the laugh and the giggle were echoed by the male cousins, all men of determined fashion. Bostock had nothing left for it but to laugh too, which he did, rather awkwardly, and took refuge in carving; which, and being able to talk without restraint with two musty parsons, one on each side, consoled him in the end for the seemingly total neglect of the rest of the company.

"I own I felt outraged by this gross breach of good (which I have long found is by no means the same as fine) manners, for I need not tell you that the most distinguishing feature of genuine high-breeding is to shew the respect due to every one who has not forfeited it, and not to imagine that you can elevate

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