come opened her saloons
for a concert and a ball, at both of which the whole street was crowded
with carriages, and all the great world, and some of the small, were
present. Mrs. Newcome had her ball too, and her concert of English
music, in opposition to the Italian singers of her sister-in-law. The
music of her country, Mrs. N. said, was good enough for her.

The truth must be told, that there was no love lost between the two
ladies. Bryanstone Square could not forget the superiority of Park
Lane's rank; and the catalogue of grandees at dear Anne's parties
filled dear Maria's heart with envy. There are people upon whom rank and
worldly goods make such an impression, that they naturally fall down on
their knees and worship the owners; there are others to whom the sight
of Prosperity is offensive, and who never see Dives' chariot but to
growl and hoot at it. Mrs. Newcome, as far as my humble experience would
lead me to suppose, is not only envious, but proud of her envy. She
mistakes it for honesty and public spirit. She will not bow down to
kiss the hand of a haughty aristocracy. She is a merchant's wife and an
attorney's daughter. There is no pride about her. Her brother-in-law,
poor dear Brian--considering everybody knows everything in London, was
there ever such a delusion as his?--was welcome, after banking-hours,
to forsake his own friends for his wife's fine relations, and to dangle
after lords and ladies in Mayfair. She had no such absurd vanity--not
she. She imparted these opinions pretty liberally to all her
acquaintances in almost all her conversations. It was clear that the two
ladies were best apart. There are some folks who will see insolence in
persons of rank, as there are others who will insist; that all clergymen
are hypocrites, all reformers villains, all placemen plunderers, and
so forth; and Mrs. Newcome never, I am sure, imagined that she had
a prejudice, or that she was other than an honest, independent,
high-spirited woman. Both of the ladies had command over their husbands,
who were of soft natures easily led by woman, as, in truth, are all the
males of this family. Accordingly, when Sir Brian Newcome voted for the
Tory candidate in the City, Mr. Hobson Newcome plumped for the Reformer.
While Brian, in the House of Commons, sat among the mild Conservatives,
Hobson unmasked traitors and thundered at aristocratic corruption, so
as to make the Marylebone Vestry thrill with enthusiasm. When Lady Anne