Having, in the preceding chapter, glanced at the “rise and progress” of the _mushroom_ part of the aristocracy, it may be deemed requisite for me to enlarge upon the merits of those members of that body who, to present high bearing, add the claim of good descent. And yet I know not what to say more than I have done already in many parts of these pages, that they are fully entitled to the respect they so universally meet with. For among them are to be found men of superior knowledge, and distinguished by the possession of all the cardinal virtues; men in whom dignity of station is blended with kindliness of heart, and who, amid the blessings wherewith Providence has blessed them, have an open purse, and an outstretched hand, ever ready to administer to the wants of their less fortunate brethren; men of agreeable manners and pleasing conversation, and whose intercourse with the polite circle in other parts of the world has corrected any little errors they might have imbibed from their West Indian mode of life, and divested them of that narrow-minded spirit so much to be deplored. In this class of individuals are to be found the Creole proprietor, as well as those who may have purchased estates within these last few years, and, in consequence, emigrated from England, clergymen, barristers, and physicians, merchants and planters, the offspring of the soil itself, or wanderers from the several countries of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. I have already spoken of the worth of many of the clergymen; men who practise what they preach, and who, in their private as well as public life, shew forth, by the fruit they bear, that they are branches of the _true vine_. The barristers are generally considered men of distinguished abilities, and some of them plead with powerful eloquence. They also act as solicitors and attorneys; but they honour the profession too much to speculate in cargoes of horses or corn-meal, as some of their brothers of the profession are said to do in an island not seventy miles from Antigua. In that colony there is at the present day a firm, consisting of three parties, who, to their numerous duties of pleading before the bar, add the more primeval occupation of agriculturists, the partners taking it by turns to play the planter for the space of three years,[56] and so leaving Coke, Blackstone, and similar other worthies, study instead the art of _planting canes_ and _boiling sugar_. How far their professional knowledge retains its vigour in the interim their several clients can best tell; I suppose they refrain from tasting the waters of Lethe, but pay daily orisons at the shrine of Mnemosyne. It must not be supposed that all the barristers of the island in question engage in such diversified occupations; many of them pay as much respect to their profession as their brethren of Antigua do, and among them are to be found some very clever men. One in particular is possessed of very superior qualifications, and his