What think you, Charles, of the various dresses you saw? Young Owen’s shabby coat appeared very conspicuous near Sir William Turner’s elegant fashionable suit. CHARLES. Young Owen is not rich, but I am sure that he in his plain dress commands more respect than Sir William, if we go into company to be amused and improved and not to see a block on which fine clothes are hung. WILLIAM. You make me laugh, Charles; so, those who take so much pains to adorn their persons are, in your opinion, mere blocks. CHARLES. I do not absolutely say so, but this I am certain of, that those who are as accomplished and entertaining as young Owen, ought to take place of him, whose rank, fortune, and appearance are his only claim to notice. EMILIA. Lady Jane L—— was of a different opinion; she said, she should certainly have staid at home, had she guessed that Owen would have been there, for she could not bear to sit in company with a youth whose grandfather was a mean mechanic. CHARLES. Many persons of quality are of the same opinion, but I have been told that we ought always to prefer merit to birth and riches; the former is the fruit of our own labour, but the latter is merely accidental. EDWARD. But it seems a rule in life to seek rather the company of superiors than inferiors. CHARLES. To seek either to associate with superiors or inferiors constantly, would, in my opinion, be equally mean, equally tend to debase the soul; friendship requires equality. WILLIAM. Lady Jane, whom Emilia was speaking of, appears to me very ill-natured. Did you not observe how she ridiculed that modest young gentleman who was a little deformed? EMILIA. Yes; she called him a spider, a little ape, and spoke so loud, that he heard her and appeared disconcerted, and yet she continued to laugh. CHARLES. Lady Jane did not recollect, that though her title announced her rank, her behaviour proved she was not well-bred. She had not sense to discover, that intolerable pride is a great fault, and deformity only a misfortune. She did not recollect, that it is her Creator she was blaming, and that a single fall, or some other casualty, might soon render her an object of ridicule; and, at any rate, time quickly flies, and will insensibly destroy those charms she is now so proud of; and the ignorant may in their turn laugh at her, when she appears old and ugly, without wisdom or virtue to render gray hairs respectable. How often have I heard my tutor say, that wisdom and virtue never grow old, on the contrary, while they are useful to mankind, they spread a real splendor over the character of an individual.