w of soul so often talked of,
and so seldom enjoyed. Lord Colambre found a spirit of improvement, a
desire for knowledge, and a taste for science and literature, in most
companies, particularly among gentlemen belonging to the Irish bar;
nor did he in Dublin society see any of that confusion of ranks or
predominance of vulgarity of which his mother had complained. Lady
Clonbrony had assured him that, the last time she had been at the
drawing-room at the Castle, a lady, whom she afterwards found to be a
grocer's wife, had turned angrily when her ladyship had accidentally
trodden on her train, and had exclaimed with a strong brogue, 'I'll
thank you, ma'am, for the rest of my tail.'

Sir James Brooke, to whom Lord Colambre, without GIVING UP HIS
AUTHORITY, mentioned the fact, declared that he had no doubt the thing
had happened precisely as it was stated; but that this was one of the
extraordinary cases which ought not to pass into a general rule--that it
was a slight instance of that influence of temporary causes, from which
no conclusions, as to national manners, should be drawn.

'I happened,' continued Sir James, 'to be quartered in Dublin soon after
the Union took place; and I remember the great but transient change that
appeared. From the removal of both Houses of Parliament, most of the
nobility, and many of the principal families among the Irish commoners,
either hurried in high hopes to London, or retired disgusted and in
despair to their houses in the country. Immediately, in Dublin, commerce
rose into the vacated seats of rank; wealth rose into the place of
birth. New faces and new equipages appeared; people, who had never been
heard of before, started into notice, pushed themselves forward, not
scrupling to elbow their way even at the Castle; and they were presented
to my lord-lieutenant and to my lady-lieutenant; for their excellencies,
for the time being, might have played their vice-regal parts to empty
benches, had they not admitted such persons for the moment to fill their
court. Those of former times, of hereditary pretensions and high-bred
minds and manners, were scandalised at all this; and they complained,
with justice, that the whole TONE of society was altered; that the
decorum, elegance, polish, and charm of society was gone; and I among
the rest (said Sir James) felt and deplored their change. But, now it is
all over, we may acknowledge that, perhaps, even those things which we
felt most disagreea