on; and adoring it, what must he not know? He must have a good
knowledge of the history and language of all nations; not the knowledge
of the mere critical scholar, but of the lively and elegant man of
the world. He will not commit the gross blunders of pronunciation that
untravelled Englishmen perpetrate; he will not degrade his subject by
coarse eulogy or sicken his audience with vulgar banter. He will know
where to apply praise and wit properly; he will have the tact only
acquired in good society, and know where a joke is in place, and how far
a compliment may go. He will not outrageously and indiscriminately laud
all objects committed to his charge, for he knows the value of praise;
that diamonds, could we have them by the bushel, would be used as coals;
that above all, he has a character of sincerity to support; that he
is not merely the advocate of the person who employs him, but that the
public is his client too, who honors him and confides in him. Ask him
to sell a copy of Raffaelle for an original; a trumpery modern Brussels
counterfeit for real old Mechlin; some common French forged crockery for
the old delightful, delicate, Dresden china; and he will quit you with
scorn, or order his servant to show you the door of his study.

Study, by the way,--no, "study" is a vulgar word; every word is vulgar
which a man uses to give the world an exaggerated notion of himself or
his condition. When the wretched bagman, brought up to give evidence
before Judge Coltman, was asked what his trade was, and replied that "he
represented the house of Dobson and Hobson," he showed himself to be
a vulgar, mean-souled wretch, and was most properly reprimanded by his
lordship. To be a bagman is to be humble, but not of necessity vulgar.
Pomposity is vulgar, to ape a higher rank than your own is vulgar, for
an ensign of militia to call himself captain is vulgar, or for a bagman
to style himself the "representative" of Dobson and Hobson. The honest
auctioneer, then, will not call his room his study; but his "private
room," or his office, or whatever may be the phrase commonly used among
auctioneers.

He will not for the same reason call himself (as once in a momentary
feeling of pride and enthusiasm for the profession I thought he
should)--he will not call himself an "advocate," but an auctioneer.
There is no need to attempt to awe people by big titles: let each man
bear his own name without shame. And a very gentlemanlike and agreeabl