of the ever-venerated Chang-Feu. There are many ranks
of men in this land, and he of the highest rank is called a lord. When
young, a lord is always rich and gay, and a great admirer of the ladies;
and it is also the case that many ladies are devotedly attached to him,
and make no scruple to confess it to their chambermaids, before they have
been acquainted with him half an hour. When the lord is old, he is a
stiff stupid man, who generally talks politics, and boasts how eloquent he
is in the great national assembly. He is also always very harsh to his
children, till they marry against his will, and then he forgives them, and
prays for their happiness. The title bestowed on the wife, and sometimes
on the daughter of a lord, is lady or ladyship; but this dignity is also
possessed by the wives of a class of men very numerous in this country,
who are called sirs.

The "ladies," almost without exception, are very disagreeable people, and
highly immoral, as they are always in love with some one else besides
their husbands,--and are great gamblers at cards, and very malicious in
their observations on their friends. The "sirs" are divided into two
classes--sometimes they are fat rich old men who have made large fortunes
by trade, and have handsome girls either of their own, or left to their
charge by deceased relations,--and sometimes they are gay fascinating
young men, running away with rich people's daughters, or stupid people's
wives; but luckily they always take names that give fair warning of their
character, so that they are generally foiled in their infamous attempts.
And this is a fine illustration of the openness of the English
disposition. A man here seldom conceals his propensities, but assumes a
name which reveals all his character at once. Sir Brilliant Fashion, and
Sir Bashful Constant, and Sir Harry Lovewit, show at once their respective
peculiarities--as do Colonel Tornado, Tempest, Hurricane, Absolute, Rapid,
and a thousand others that I have met with in my reading. But the thing
which astonished me most of all was, that in this great mercantile nation,
a merchant is very little appreciated unless he is in debt or a cheat; but
the hero of most of the histories, if he is of a mercantile family, is
over head and ears in the books of Jew usurers, and has left the
respectable circle of his equals in rank, and spends his time and
constitution in the gaieties of the lords and ladies. And that this has
long been the