midst thee, cursing the genteel service, and the
genteel leader which brought him to such a doom.

Whether the rage for gentility is most prevalent amongst the upper,
middle, or lower classes it is difficult to say; the priest in the text
seems to think that it is exhibited in the most decided manner in the
middle class; it is the writer's opinion, however, that in no class is it
more strongly developed than in the lower: what they call being well-born
goes a great way amongst them, but the possession of money much farther,
whence Mr. Flamson's influence over them. Their rage against, and scorn
for, any person who by his courage and talents has advanced himself in
life, and still remains poor, are indescribable; "he is no better than
ourselves," they say, "why should he be above us?"--for they have no
conception that anybody has a right to ascendency over themselves except
by birth or money. This feeling amongst the vulgar has been, to a
certain extent, the bane of two services, naval and military. The writer
does not make this assertion rashly; he observed this feeling at work in
the army when a child, and he has good reason for believing that it was
as strongly at work in the navy at the same time, and is still as
prevalent in both. Why are not brave men raised from the ranks? is
frequently the cry; why are not brave sailors promoted? The Lord help
brave soldiers and sailors who are promoted; they have less to undergo
from the high airs of their brother officers, and those are hard enough
to endure, than from the insolence of the men. Soldiers and sailors
promoted to command are said to be in general tyrants; in nine cases out
of ten, when they are tyrants, they have been obliged to have recourse to
extreme severity in order to protect themselves from the insolence and
mutinous spirit of the men,--"He is no better than ourselves: shoot him,
bayonet him, or fling him overboard!" they say of some obnoxious
individual raised above them by his merit. Soldiers and sailors, in
general, will bear any amount of tyranny from a lordly sot, or the son of
a man who has "plenty of brass"--their own term--but will mutiny against
the just orders of a skilful and brave officer who "is no better than
themselves." There was the affair of the "Bounty," for example: Bligh
was one of the best seamen that ever trod deck, and one of the bravest of
men; proofs of his seamanship he gave by steering, amidst dreadful
weather, a deeply-la