urch
of Rome. Let me whisper to you that your kinswoman is rather a searcher
after what we call here notabilities. I heard talk of one I knew in
better days--of one who was the comrade of my youth, and the delight of
Oxford--poor Pidge of Brasenose, who got the Newdigate in my third year,
and who, under his present name of Father Bartolo, was to have been
here in his capuchin dress, with a beard and bare feet; but I presume
he could not get permission from his Superior. That is Mr. Huff, the
political economist, talking with Mr. Macduff, the Member for Glenlivat.
That is the coroner for Middlesex conversing with the great surgeon
Sir Cutler Sharp, and that pretty laughing girl talking with them is
no other than the celebrated Miss Pinnnifer, whose novel of Ralph the
Resurrectionist created such a sensation after it was abused in the
Trimestrial Review. It was a little bold certainly--I just looked at it
at my club--after hours devoted to parish duty a clergyman is sometimes
allowed, you know, desipere in loco--there are descriptions in it
certainly startling--ideas about marriage not exactly orthodox; but the
poor child wrote the book actually in the nursery, and all England
was ringing with it before Dr. Pinnifer, her father, knew who was the
author. That is the Doctor asleep in the corner by Miss Rudge, the
American authoress, who I dare say is explaining to him the difference
between the two Governments. My dear Mrs. Newcome, I am giving my
brother-in-law a little sketch of some of the celebrities who are
crowding your salon to-night. What a delightful evening you have given
us!"

"I try to do my best, Colonel Newcome," said the lady of the house.
"I hope many a night we may see you here; and, as I said this morning,
Clive, when he is of an age to appreciate this kind of entertainment.
Fashion I do not worship. You may meet that amongst other branches of
our family; but genius and talent I do reverence. And if I can be
the means--the humble means--to bring men of genius together--mind to
associate with mind--men of all nations to mingle in friendly unison--I
shall not have lived altogether in vain. They call us women of the world
frivolous, Colonel Newcome. So some may be; I do not say there are not
in our own family persons who worship mere worldly rank, and think but
of fashion and gaiety; but such, I trust, will never be the objects in
life of me and my children. We are but merchants; we seek to be no more.
If I