LORD EVERGREEN 223 



assuredly the would-be-countess has proved them so ; yet, let 

 her not regret the loss of that " bauble," the coronet, as Oliver 

 Cromwell called the " mace." It would but have consigned 

 her to a life of inglorious ease, perhaps voluptuous indolence, 

 whereas she has that within her which surpasses rank and 

 wealth — the power of leading the world. If the great man of 

 Great Marlborough Street, or some of the enterprising brethren 

 of the press, have not a nine-volume novel coming out from her 

 pen, all we can say is, that fiction must be out of fashion, or 

 real talent unappreciated. 



But to return to Tuft Hunting. 



A real, determined, out-and-out Tuft Hunter, is a thing that 

 loves a title merely because it is a title, without reference to 

 fame, talent, acquirements, agreeableness, or any of the 

 hundred-and-one qualities that constitute the difference between 

 one man and another. Show such a man a lord, and he " ats 

 him " as a greyhound would a hare. The peerage occupies the 

 sort of place in his head that ale and beer measure occupies in 

 the head of a publican — gallons, half-gallons, quarts, pints, 

 gills, &c., &c. He looks at a duke as a gallon, an earl as a 

 quart, a viscount as a pint, and a baron as a gill, and considers 

 that each rank holds just its own particular quantity, and that 

 the only difference among noblemen is in the sign of the 

 measure. In countries where game is abundant, a hound of 

 this sort may be seen changing from title to title, always, how- 

 ever, on the ascendant ; just as some hounds will change from 

 hare to martin cat, and from roe deer to fox. We have known 

 a real out-and-out Tuft Hunter inconvenience himself by taking 

 up his quarters at hotels frequented by noblemen, even though 

 he had not the slightest chance of a contact, except on the 

 staircase or in the passage. Still he could talk about, " Ah — 

 yes — ah — I remember we were staying together at the Bedford, 

 at Brighton ; "' or, " Ah — yes — ah — I remember meeting him at 

 the Plough, at Cheltenham." These are the sort of Tuft 



