they say or do; they are ever alive to the dread of compromising
their 'gentility.' At a ball--it was a _charity_-ball!--given at a
fashionable watering-place, a pretty young woman, who was sitting
by her mother, was invited by a gentleman to dance. He led her to
a set; when, instantly, two 'young ladies' who were of it,
haughtily, withdrew to their seats. 'They had no notion of dancing
in _such_ company'--and with good reason. The young person was
nothing more than the daughter of a wealthy and respectable
tradesman of the place; while they--the two Misses KNIBBS--were
members of its resident _small_ 'aristocracy.' The places they had
vacated were good-naturedly filled by two ladies who had witnessed
the proceeding, one of whom was the daughter, the other, the
niece, of a nobleman. _Their_ position was too well established to
be compromised by dancing for a quarter of an hour in the same set
with a respectable tradesman's daughter; but the two Misses KNIBBS
were the daughters of a retired soap-boiler.'
* * * * *
.*. WE have numerous communications in prose and verse, several of them
from favorite contributors, of which we shall make more particular mention
in our next. Three pages of '_Literary Record_,' although in type, are
unavoidably omitted.