IN the evening, the party repaired to the Steyne, which they found almost covered with company, met to enjoy the cool sea-breeze, by the clear rays of a harvest moon, to display themselves, criticise others, and various purposes, according to their age, condition, circumstances, or inclination. Here were lords and baronets, squires and merchants, soldiers and sailors, physicians and counsellors, and dignitaries; here were apothecaries, attorneys, and curates; here were tradesmen and mechanics, and shopmen and journeymen; all with their respective fair, from the duke to the barber, the duchess to the sempstress, all on a footing of equality, under the general denomination of gentlemen and ladies. Here if a fastidious grandee might feel indignant at being elbowed or jostled by a shoemaker or taylor, the liberal and enlightened patriot would rejoice in the consideration, that these were all effects of a free and equitable constitution, which assures to the industrious and skilful the fruits of their labour, enables them to compensate the toils of their arduous exertions by occasional relaxation, and braces their bodies and invigorates their minds for future efforts beneficial to themselves and the public. But a grandee is not the person most likely to feel or express displeasure at this temporary intermixture of ranks; those are often the aptest to stand upon points of precedence and dignity, who really have none to support. An earl may with safety venture to walk from the Pavillion to Fisher’s with his taylor, without any apprehension of being supposed the equal of that taylor; but if a retired soap-boiler or oilman were to allow Mr. Snip the same liberty, the case would be very different; they might be presumed to be companions of the said taylor; which would derogate from their supposed dignity, and would be more heinously offensive to their respective wives. Jealousy is most commonly the result of conscious deficiency; thence those are the most apprehensive of contamination from persons whom they regard as _low_, who are really in their situation or sentiments the most low themselves. This was the view in which the Hamiltons, Wentbridges, and Mortimers, regarded the present amalgamation. They beheld honest vulgarity of manners as an object of sportive humour, when mingled with affectation, but reserved contempt for meanness of conduct. Having enjoyed themselves for an hour in this promenade, they retired into the library, where, after having reconnoitred their fellow-visitors, and recollected various faces they had seen on the Steyne, Mrs. Hamilton was joined by two ladies, whom she recognized as neighbours, with whom she had a slight acquaintance. These were Mrs. Pompous, who had formerly kept a boarding-school near Mile-End, and her daughter, miss, now an unwilling votary of the goddess Diana, and who had received, unasked, the boon prayed for by Daphne, and would not, like that famed nymph,