supposed wealth, so
did the parties obtain credit; an expenditure beyond their means was,
therefore, with commercial men, nothing more than a speculation, which
very often succeeded, and eventually procured to the parties the means
of expenditure. It is well known that the income tax, in many cases,
was paid double; commercial men preferring to give in their income at
twice its real value, and pay the tax to that amount, that they might be
supposed to possess more than they really had; indeed, as it was
imagined that a man would evade so heavy an impost as much as possible,
he was generally considered to be worth even more than what he himself
had stated. It is from these causes that has arisen what I have called
the English feeling, for display beyond the means, and which has made
our countrymen look down upon those who cannot compete with them in
expense. Let a married couple be ever so well connected--let them have
talent, and every other advantage, it will avail them nothing, if they
have not money, sufficient at least to keep a carriage, and not shock
the mistress of a house by the sound of the rattling steps of a
hackney-coach at her door; besides which, in our commercial country, the
principle of barter, of _quid pro quo_, is extended even to dinner and
evening parties--and the reason is obvious--when people live to the full
extent, or even beyond their incomes, a little management is required.
A dinner-party is so arranged, that the dinners received from others are
returned to them, and they cannot afford to ask a couple who cannot give
them a dinner in return, as they would fill up the places of others to
whom a dinner is due, and who, if not asked then, must be at another
time; and an extra dinner is an extra expense to be avoided. The
English therefore, who have only moderate incomes, have the choice,
either to live beyond their means, and leave their children unprovided
for, or of being shut out from that society, to which every other is but
the adventitious claim of wealth, they are entitled. The consequence
has been that since the peace thousands and thousands have settled on
the Continent, that they may make more display with a small income, and
thousands more, with a much better feeling, to avoid expense, and lay by
a provision for their children. Of course all these remarks are made
with reservation, but with reservation, it may be said, that in England
we have, or soon shall have, only two classes