known, and the sum embraced so many cyphers as to create
as many O's of admiration in the wondering hearer. It was a known fact
that an envoy from an Indian Prince, a Colonel Altamont, the Nawaub of
Lucknow's prime favourite, an extraordinary man, who had, it was said,
embraced Mahometanism, and undergone a thousand wild and perilous
adventures was at present in this country, trying to negotiate with the
Begum Clavering, the sale of the Nawaub's celebrated nose-ring diamond,
'the light of the Dewan.'

Under the title of the Begum, Lady Clavering's fame began to spread in
London before she herself descended upon the Capital, and as it has been
the boast of Delolme, and Blackstone, and all panegyrists of the British
Constitution, that we admit into our aristocracy merit of every kind,
and that the lowliest-born man, if he but deserve it, may wear the robes
of a peer, and sit alongside of a Cavendish or a Stanley: so it ought to
be the boast of our good society, that haughty though it be, naturally
jealous of its privileges, and careful who shall be admitted into its
circle, yet, if an individual be but rich enough, all barriers are
instantly removed, and he or she is welcomed, as from his wealth he
merits to be. This fact shows our British independence and honest
feeling--our higher orders are not such mere haughty aristocrats as the
ignorant represent them: on the contrary, if a man have money they will
hold out their hands to him, eat his dinners, dance at his balls, marry
his daughters, or give their own lovely girls to his sons, as affably as
your commonest roturier would do.

As he had superintended the arrangements of the country mansion, our
friend, the Chevalier Strong, gave the benefit of his taste and advice
to the fashionable London upholsterers, who prepared the town house for
the reception of the Clavering family. In the decoration of this elegant
abode, honest Strong's soul rejoiced as much as if he had been himself
its proprietor. He hung and re-hung the pictures, he studied the
positions of sofas, he had interviews with wine merchants and purveyors
who were to supply the new establishment; and at the same time the
Baronet's factotum and confidential friend took the opportunity of
furnishing his own chambers, and stocking his snug little cellar: his
friends complimented him upon the neatness of the former; and the
select guests who came in to share Strong's cutlet new found a bottle
of excellent claret to