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PROUD PAUPERS.
to ape the ton, while at the same time they condescend to receive the parish allowance, which ought really to be applied to the benefit of those who possess humbler minds. The " son of Sirach" in his wisdom, saith—" Three sorts of men my soul hateth, and I am greatly offended at their lives;" and first among the trio he mentions, " a poor man that is proud." Now, without making use of such a strong expression as hatred, who can help noticing the fulsome attempts of these persons to appear greater than they are ? while their wives and daughters, instead of dressing as bev comes their station, and thus rendering themselves respected, figure away in rainbow-coloured gowns, and bonnets that would better suit a strolling player, and then falsely think they merit reward ! Some few years ago, about the smartest ladies in the Episcopal congregation were receiving parochial aid ; but upon its being officially notified that the names of all paupers would be published, many of these dashing damsels became alarmed, and resolved rather to depend upon their own unaided exertions than let the world know how they procured their ribbons and laces. But there is another class of white persons, who, although not dependent upon parochial relief, dress and act equally beyond their sphere in life. In illustration of this—A lady brings to Antigua an English servant-girl, and before her mistress can collect her scattered thoughts, after all the rolling and bounding, pitching and jumping of the vessel in which she took passage from Old England, the femme de chambre is turned into the fine lady ; and ere, perhaps, six moons have waned, is united in the holy bands of wedlock with a ci-devant Irish soldier, who plays the part of a policeman ; a lately-imported English ploughman ; or, in lack of these, some red-faced overseer, who may stand in want of that somewhat necessary appendage—a wife. Servitude at an end, our fair lady makes a display of her dignity, and all the cast-off graces of her former mistress—wears very fashionable blonde caps, and long-skirted gowns—patronizes hysterics and eau de Cologne—and laves her previously hard-worked