pointment, Mrs. D. at once appealed to me for the
explanation. "What is it, Cregan?--Mrs. Blotter, I fear you don't like
that 'plat'?"

"The truffles were rather old, madame;" or, "the anchovies were too
fresh;" or, "there was too little caviar;" or something of the kind,
I would unhesitatingly aver: for my head was stocked with a strong
catalogue from an old French cookery-book which I used to study each
morning. The more abstruse my explanation, the more certain of its
being indorsed by the company,--only too happy to be supposed capable of
detecting the subtle deficiency; all but the old French Deputy, who on
such occasions would give a little shake of his narrow head, and mutter
to himself, "Ah, il est mutin, ce gaillard-la!"

Under the influence of great names, they would have eaten a stewed
mummy from the Pyramids. What the Marquis of Aeheldown or the Earl of
Brockmore invariably ordered, could not without risk be despised by
these "small boys" of refinement. It is true, they often mourned in
secret over the altered taste of the old country, which preferred
kickshaws and trumpery to its hallowed ribs and sirloins; but, like the
folk who sit at the Opera while they long for the Haymarket, and who
listen to Jenny Lind while their hearts are with Mrs. Keeley, they "took
out" in fashion what they lost in amusement,--a very English habit, by
the way. To be sure, and to their honor be it spoken, they wished the
Queen would be pleased to fancy legs of mutton and loins of veal, just
as some others are eager for royalty to enjoy the national drama; but
they innocently forgot, the while, that "they" might have the sirloin,
and "the others" Shakspeare, even without majesty partaking of either,
and that a roast goose and Falstaflf can be relished even without such
august precedent. Dear, good souls they were, never deviating from that
fine old sturdy spirit of independence which makes us feel ourselves a
match for the whole world in arms, as we read the "Times" and hum "Rule
Britannia."

All this devout homage of a class with whom they had nothing in common,
and with which they could never come into contact, produced in me a very
strange result; and in place of being ready to smile at the imitators,
I began to conceive a stupendous idea of the natural greatness of those
who could so impress the ranks beneath them. "Con," said I to myself,
"that is the class in life would suit you perfectly. There is no trade
like that of a