THE SIX OF SPADES. 85 



shilling, I assure you, in the coinage of etymology) in 

 the assemblies of Englishmen- Orchids, delicately 

 reared in heat, are gathered under one tent with the 

 hardy wild flowers of the field ; the luscious grape 

 from my lord's vinery rests upon the same table with 

 the gooseberry, hirsute and corpulent ; and as the 

 question is, not which of these is more beautiful or 

 better than its neighbour, but which is best of its 

 kind, which has been most carefully and wisely culti- 

 vated ; so when men meet together, lawmakers and 

 brickmakers, coronets and " billycocks," the con- 

 sideration for each to take home with him is this, not 

 whether he is richer in purse or higher in grade than 

 another, because God has put all men in their 

 places, but whether he is useful and good in himself. 

 It concerns every man, and vitally, to reflect, not 

 whether he is a duke or a ditcher, for that is pre- 

 arranged and fixed, but whether his dukery or his 

 dike are in the best available condition. 



If it be said that very few will make this inference, 

 or note my obscure analogy, I may lay stress at all 

 events upon the fact that there is the communion of 

 classes, pleasantly established, and that from this 

 kindly genial intercourse new sympathies cannot fail 

 to spring. All are in good spirits and good temper to 

 begin with. The Duke congratulates Mr. Oldacre 

 upon that glorious basket of forced fruits, grapes, 

 peaches, nectarines, apricots, worth a hundred guineas 

 in Covent Garden Market ; and Mrs. Cooper is still 

 more delighted with a long-legged dusty geranium, 

 which would soon put an end to the pelargoniums at 

 Slough, by causing them to die with laughter, but 



