214 



then a stray gentleman, or one in the garb of a 



gentleman, may be seen threading his way through 



the dirty mob; especially at Tattersall's, on the 



sale of a racing or hunting stud ; on these state 



occasions, they, in fact, constitute the mob. It is 



some small comfort to find oneself in clean society, 



but as regards all substantial points, the novice 



is as safely mixed with the one herd as the other* 



I must not omit the auctioneer ; but description is 



difficult. Shabby gentility is not the phrase ; yet 



their cut is always " shabby genteel." Were the 



coat made by Stultz, and the boots by Hoby, there 



is an indescribable peculiarity in the wear of the 



habiliments, that marks, not the gentleman, but 



the tolerated associate of soi-disant gentility; — a 



vulgar would-be equality, recognized on the turf, 



and scouted elsewhere ; — a "one of us" pretension, 



countenanced at Newmarket, half-acknowledged 



at Melton, but spurned within the purlieus of St. 



James's : a salutation of professional familiarity 



in the field, is no security against a place at 



the second table in Grosvenor Square ; and the 



consciousness of this, gives these indispensable 



patrons of horseflesh a sort of mock importance, 



on the strength of which they court the gay, 



quiz the stranger, and rule the canaille. These 



men, too, have the peculiar traits of their calling ; 



