ted by the mere personal merits of their nieces' admirers,
and I wanted to ascertain how much of all this favor I owed to my
driving an equipage and having great expectations.

I had received many hints how charming their native town was during the
summer months; what pleasant society they had; and what beautiful
drives about the neighborhood. They had not, therefore, returned home
long, before I made my appearance in dashing style, driving down the
principal street. It is an easy thing to put a little quiet cathedral
town in a buzz. The very next morning I was seen at prayers, seated in
the pew of the reigning belle. All the congregation was in a flutter.
The prebends eyed me from their stalls; questions were whispered about
the aisles after service, "who is he?" and "what is he?" and the
replies were as usual--"A young gentleman of good family and fortune,
and great expectations."

I was pleased with the peculiarities of a cathedral town, where I found
I was a personage of some consequence. I was quite a brilliant
acquisition to the young ladies of the cathedral circle, who were glad
to have a beau that was not in a black coat and clerical wig.

You must know that there was a vast distinction between the classes of
society of the town. As it was a place of some trade, there were many
wealthy inhabitants among the commercial and manufacturing classes, who
lived in style and gave many entertainments. Nothing of trade, however,
was admitted into the cathedral circle--faugh! the thing could not be
thought of. The cathedral circle, therefore, was apt to be very select,
very dignified, and very dull. They had evening parties, at which the
old ladies played cards with the prebends, and the young ladies sat and
looked on, and shifted from one chair to another about the room, until
it was time to go home.

It was difficult to get up a ball, from the want of partners, the
Cathedral circle being very deficient in dancers; and on those
occasions, there was an occasional drafting among the dancing men of
the other circle, who, however, were generally regarded with great
reserve and condescension by the gentlemen in powdered wigs. Several of
the young ladies assured me, in confidence, that they had often looked
with a wistful eye at the gayety of the other circle, where there was
such plenty of young beaux, and where they all seemed to enjoy
themselves so merrily; but that it would be degradation to think of
descending from the