distinguished by a stately deportment, a dignified manner, and a certain stiffness of ceremonial, admirably calculated to keep their inferiors at a proper distance. In those days, when pride of family prevailed so universally, it is to be presumed, that no circumstance could atone for the want of birth. Neither riches nor genius, knowledge nor ability, could then have entitled their possessor to hold the rank of a man of fashion, unless he fortunately had sprung from an ancient and honourable family. The immense fortunes which we are now accustomed to see acquired, almost instantaneously, were then unknown. In imagination, however, we may fancy what an awkward appearance a modern nabob, or contractor, would have made in a circle of these proud and high-minded nobles. With all his wealth, he would have been treated as a being of a different species; and any attempt to imitate the manners of the great, or to rival them in expence and splendour, would only have served to expose him the more to ridicule and contempt.

As riches, however, increased in the nation, men became more and more sensible oi the solid advant ages they brought along with them; and the pride of birth gradually relaxing, monied men rose proportionally into estimation. The haughty lord, or proud country gentleman, no longer scrupled to give his daughter in marriage to an opulent citizen, or to repair his ruined fortune by uniting the heir of his title or family with a rich heiress, though of plebeian extraction. These connections daily becoming more common, removed, in some measure, the distinction of rank; and every man possessed of a certain fortune, came to think himself entitled to be treated as a gentleman, and received as a man of fashion. Above all, the happy expedient of purchasing Seats in Parliament, tended to add weight and

N° 45. consideration to what came to be called the Monied Interest. When a person who had suddenly acquired an enormous fortune, could find eight or ten proper, well-dressed gentle-man-like figures ready to vote for him as his proxies, in the House of Commons, it is not surprising, that, in his turn, he should come to look down on the heirs of old established families, who could neither cope with him in influence at court, nor vie with him in show and ostentation.

About the beginning of this century, there seems to have been an intermediate, though short interval, when genius, knowledge, talents, and elegant accomplishments, entitled their possessor to hold the rank of a man of fashion, and were even deemed essentially requisite to form that character.

The society of Swift, Pope, Gay, and Prior, was courted by all; and, without the advantages of high birth, or great fortune, an Addison and a Craggs attained the first offices in the state.

In the present happy and enlightened age, neither birth nor fortune, superior talents, nor superior abilities, are requisite to form a man of fashion. On the contrary, all these advantages united are insufficient to entitle their owners to hold that rank, while we daily see numbers received as men of fashion, though sprung from the meanest of the people, and though destitute of every grace, of every polite accomplishment, and of all pretensions to genius or ability.

This, I confess, I have often considered as one of the greatest and most important improvements in modern manners. Formerly it behoved every person born in obscurity, who wished to rise into eminence, either to acquire wealth by industry or frugality, or, following a still more laborious and difficult pursuit, to distinguish himself by the exertion of superior talents in the field or in the senate. But now nothing of all this is necessary. A certain degree of know

ledge the man of fashion must indeed possess. He must be master of the principles contained in the celebrated treatise of Mr. Hoyle; he must know the chances of Hazard; he must be able to decide on any dispute with regard to the form of a hat, or the fashion of a buckle; and he must be able to tell my Lady Duchess, whether Marechalle powder suits best a brown or a fair complexion.

From the equipage, the dress, the external show of a modern man of fashion, a superficial observer might be apt to think that fortune, at least, is a necessary article; but a proper knowledge of the world teaches us the contrary. A man of fashion must, indeed, live as if he were a man of fortune. He must rival the wealthiest in kind; expence of every he must push to excess every species of extravagant dissipation; and he must game for more money than he can pay. But all these things a man of fashion can do, without possessing any visible revenue what. ever. This, though perhaps the most important, is not the only advantage which the man of fashion enjoys over the rest of mankind. Not to mention that he may seduce the daughter, and corrupt the wife, of his friend, he may also, with perfect honour, rob the son of that friend of his whole fortune in an evening; and it is altogether immaterial that the one party was intoxicated, and the other sober, that the one was skilled in the game, and the other ignorant of it; for, if a young man will play in such circumstances, who but himself can be blamed for the consequences?

The superiority enjoyed by a man of fashion, in his ordinary dealings and intercourse with mankind, is still more marked. He may, without any impeachment on his character, and with the nicest regard to his honour, do things which, in a common man, would be deemed infamous. Thus the man of fashion

may live in luxury and splendour, while his creditors are starving in the streets, or rotting in a jail; and, should they attempt to enforce the laws of their country against him, he would be entitled to complain of it as a gross violation of the respect that is due to his person and character.

The last time my friend Mr. Umphraville was in town, I was not a little amused with his remarks on the men of fashion about this city, and on the change that had taken place in our manners since the time he had retired from the world. When we met a young man gaily dressed, lolling in his chariot, he seldom failed to ask, What young lord is that?" One day we were invited to dine with an old acquaintance, who had married a lady passionately fond of the ton, and of every thing that had the appearance of fashion. We went at the common hour of dining, and, after waiting some time, our host (who had informed us that he would invite nobody else, that we might talk over old stories without interruption) proposed to order dinner; on which his lady, after chiding his impatience, and observing that nobody kept such unfashionable hours, said, she expected Mr. and another friend, whom she had met at the play the evening before, and had engaged to dine with her that day. After waiting a full hour longer, the noise of a carriage, and a loud rap at the door, announced the arrival of the expected guests. They entered, dressed in the very pink of the mode; and neither my friend's dress nor mine being calculated to inspire them with respect, they brushed past us, and addressed the lady of the house, and two young ladies who were with her, in a strain of coarse familiarity, so different from the distant and respectful manner to which Mr. Umphraville had been accustomed, that I could plainly discover he was greatly shocked with it. When

we were called to dinner, the two young gentlemen seated themselves on each hand of the lady of the house, and there ingrossed the whole conversation, if a recital of the particulars of their adventures at the tavern the evening before deserve that name. For a long time every attempt made by our landlord to enter into discourse with Mr. Umphraville and me, proved abortive. At last, taking advantage of an accidental pause, he congratulated my friend on the conquest of Pondicherry. The latter, drawing his brows together, and shaking his head with an expression of dissent, observed, that although he was always pleased with the exertions of our countrymen, and the bravery of our troops, he could not receive any satisfaction from an Indian conquest. He then began an harangue on the corruption of mannersthe evils of luxury-the fatal consequences of a sudden influx of wealth-and would, I am persuaded, ere he had done, have traced the loss of liberty in Greece and the fall of Rome to Asiatic connections, had he not been, all at once, cut short with the exclamation of Damn it, Jack, how does the old boy do to-day? I hope he begins to get better.-Nay, pr'ythee don't look grave; you know I am too • much your friend to wish him to hold out long; but if he tip before Tuesday at twelve o'clock, I • shall lose a hundred to Dick Hazard.After • that time, as soon as you please. - Don't you think, Madam,' (addressing himself to one of the young ladies) that when an old fellow has been scraping money together with both hands for forty years, the civilest thing he can do is to die, and ⚫ leave it to a son who has spirit to spend it?" Without uttering a word, the lady gave one look, that, had he been able to translate it into language, must, for a time, at least, have checked his vivacity. But the rebuke being too delicate to make any impression