LORD EVERGREEN 225 



unto lords the things that are lords' ? There is no doubt that 

 Tuft Hunting is an hereditary instinct, descending from father 

 to son, and traceable through families, just like the gout, the 

 tic, or a taste for foxhunting. A good Tuft Hunting father 

 generally begets a good toadying son. Still we should observe 

 that as the slightest twinge of the gout is enough to make 

 people set a man down as gouty, so the slightest contact with 

 a nobleman is apt to saddle a man with the charge of Tuft 

 Hunting. It is of all imputations the easiest made, and is 

 oftentimes made without the slightest foundation. Now, for 

 our own parts, we have no objection to bear the imputation of 

 Tuft Hunting, in as far as admitting that the society of noble- 

 men is oftentimes preferable to the society of commoners, and 

 we are really hardened enough not to be ashamed of the 

 admission. If education, knowledge, talent, manners, inter- 

 course with the polished world, are recommendations for a 

 companion, where are we so likely to find them as in the 

 leisured circles of the aristocracy ? To run after a man merely 

 because he is a lord, is an amusement iit only for a lacquey, 

 but to shun a man because he is a lord, and because his 

 acquaintance might entail upon one the charge of Tuft Hunting, 

 is sacrificing rather too much at the shrine of our estimable 

 friend " public opinion," or the opinion of the gentleman who 

 rejoices in the title of " they say." 



The fable of the old man, the boy, and the ass, is an admirable 

 illustration of the opinion of our good friend the world, with 

 regard to companions. If a man listens to all that is said 

 respecting the objects of his choice, he would very soon be left 

 alone in his glory. Tuft Hunting, however, is always more 

 offensive than what is called keeping "low company," because, 

 in the first place, some people have a secret pleasure in seeing 

 others do wrong, while the protege of the nobleman is lifted, as 

 it were, over the heads of his companions, and thus made an 

 object both for envy and ridicule. 



Q 



