stood Ashburner and Le Roi. Benson,
Ludlow, and some of the other married men undertook to arrange it,
always under the auspices of the Robinsons.

These Robinsons were evidently the leaders in every movement of the
fashionables, but why they were so was not so clear--at least, to
Ashburner, though he had abundant opportunities of studying the whole
family. There was a father in some kind of business, who occupied the
usual position of New-York fathers; that is to say, he made the money
for the rest of the family to spend, and showed himself at Oldport once
a fortnight or so--possibly to pay the bills. There was a mother, stout
and good-humored, rather vulgar, very fussy, and no end of a talker: she
always reminded Ashburner of an ex-lady-mayoress. There were three or
four young men, sons and cousins, with the usual amount of white tie and
the ordinary dexterity in the polka; and two daughters, both well out of
their teens. The knowing ones said that one of these young ladies was to
have six thousand a year by her grandfather's will, and the other little
or nothing; but it was not generally understood which was the heiress,
and the old lady manoeuvred with them as if _both_ were. This fact,
however, was not sufficient to account for their rank as _belles_, since
there were several other girls in their circle quite as well, or better
off. Nor had their wit or talent any share in giving them their
position; on the contrary, people used to laugh at the _betises_ of the
Robinsons, and make them the butt of real or imaginary good stories.
And, in point of birth, they were not related to the Van Hornes, the
Bensons, the Vanderlyns, or any of the old Dutch settlers; nor like
White Ludlow, and others of their set, sprung from the British families
of long standing in the city. On the very morning of the proposed
excursion Sedley was sneering at them for _parvenus_, and trying to
amuse Ashburner at their expense with some ridiculous stories about
them.

"And yet," said the Englishman, "these people are your leaders of
fashion. You can't do any thing without them. They are the head of this
excursion that we are just going upon." Benson tells me "the Robinsons
are to be there," as if that settled the propriety and desirability of
my being there also."

"As to that," replied Sedley, "fashionable society is a vast absurdity
anywhere, and it is only natural that absurd people should be at the
head of it. The Robinsons want to be fa