ood
fellow;' though it would have puzzled his panegyrists to allege a single
act of his that evinced a good heart. This sort of pseudo reputation,
whether for good or for evil, is not uncommon in the world. Man is
mimetic; judges of character are rare; we repeat without thought the
opinions of some third person, who has adopted them without inquiry;
and thus it often happens that a proud, generous man obtains in time the
reputation of being 'a screw,' because he has refused to lend money
to some impudent spendthrift, who from that moment abuses him; and a
cold-hearted, civil-spoken personage, profuse in costless services, with
a spice of the parasite in him, or perhaps hospitable out of vanity,
is invested with all the thoughtless sympathies of society, and passes
current as that most popular of characters, 'a good fellow.'

Guy Flouncey's dinners began to be talked of among men: it became a
sort of fashion, especially among sporting men, to dine with Mr. Guy
Flouncey, and there they met Mrs. Guy Flouncey. Not an opening ever
escaped her. If a man had a wife, and that wife was a personage, sooner
or later, much as she might toss her head at first, she was sure to
visit Mrs. Guy Flouncey, and, when she knew her, she was sure to like
her. The Guy Flounceys never lost a moment; the instant the season was
over, they were at Cowes, then at a German bath, then at Paris, then at
an English country-house, then in London.

Seven years, to such people, was half a century of social experience.
They had half a dozen seasons in every year. Still, it was hard work,
and not rapid. At a certain point they stuck, as all do. Most people,
then, give it up; but patience, Buff on tells us, is genius, and Mrs.
Guy Flouncey was, in her way, a woman of genius. Their dinners were, in
a certain sense, established: these in return brought them to a certain
degree into the dinner world; but balls, at least balls of a high
calibre, were few, and as for giving a ball herself, Mrs. Guy Flouncey
could no more presume to think of that than of attempting to prorogue
Parliament. The house, however, got really celebrated for 'the best
men.' Mrs. Guy Flouncey invited all the young dancing lords to dinner.
Mothers will bring their daughters where there are young lords. Mrs. Guy
Flouncey had an opera-box in the best tier, which she took only to lend
to her friends; and a box at the French play, which she took only to
bribe her foes. They were both at everyb