He stops everybody whom he knows in the street to inquire what their opinion is of the state of the currency, and looks pained if the question is evaded. He goes into society, because he considers that a little relaxation unbends the mind, and when he is not discussing politics, he is apologising for being seen. If a few intolerant persons call him occasionally tiresome, he has, on the other hand, the satisfaction of hearing many worthy people say that he is a rising young man. He has an extreme contempt for the good-natured and harmless struggler who spends his time on landings or staircases, retrieving cloaks and third daughters and carriages-a variety which is too well known to need description, which delights in afternoon teas, and represents manhood at those mysteries. Like Gulliver, by the Brobdingnagian maids of honour, this struggler is treated" with no kind of ceremony," and is looked upon by old women as one of themselves. He has, however, the merit of performing definite services in return for the invitations he receives, and sometimes crowns a happy old age by arranging a marriage long despaired of. All have a certain

small individuality, even down to the drawingroom acrobat who is supposed to cause the amalgamation of a party, and who at least succeeds in preventing all conversation, while he sings songs which by some strange accident are termed comic.

The disappearance, however, of all these existences would leave no void-they could have no hope of being missed. The women, on the other hand, to whom we have referred, are on a wholly different footing. We have demonstrated that they are social necessities; as much so as junior Lords of the Treasury or vestrymen, and the only wonder is that they have not been called into being at an earlier period. This season they are appearing in quantities, like the lady-birds and yellow flies of last year. It is equally unnecessary to speculate as to the source from which they come to us. They leave their homes and counties to do us good, they supply a vacancy, raise the general standard, and deserve protection and gratitude. Their vanities are very harmless. If they lengthen their names without the direct interposition of Providence, they are the only persons affected by the change

If they send out their cards of invitation at first as recklessly as wine-merchants issue their circulars, and often with as little result, the evil is one which is remedied in the succeeding season. We have described the opportunities they enjoy. The age is a very material one, and it is painful to think that strawberries in the house of a Lady-bird can be preferred to a combination of Portugal grapes and sixteen quarterings. It is needless to dilate upon the advantages to be derived from them; anything must be welcomed which has such an obvious tendency to promote circulation and stimulate rivalry. There is no limit to the possible consequences. The sleeping palace may be awakened, and begin not only to "bang and buzz and clack," but to show its pictures, light its rooms, brush away its cobwebs, weed its courtyards and gravel walks, paint its triste face, and expel its cats. In fact a social El Dorado may be pictured, in which the number of men shall exceed that of the women, disgrace attach itself to an unmarried man of thirty, and the only sufferers by this social revolution be lecturers on women's rights. During, however, the possible interval

which may elapse before the establishment of such a state of things the field is open to these reformers, and they may be assured that their ascent, like the famous one,

"'è tale,

Che sempre al cominciar di sotto è grave:
E quant' uom più va su, e men fa male."

And many of the sisterhood are more than half way up.

THE INFANT'S PROGRESS.

DURING the month of June, when "life would be endurable but for its pleasures," and when among those pleasures dancing is supposed to hold the foremost rank, a ball becomes worthy of the closest attention. In order to know how sublime a spectacle it is, to enter fully into the excitement of the scene, to judge with how great a sagacity its operations are conducted, and to form an adequate conception of the advantages which must result from it, it must be regarded from several points of view. If the evening is a fine one, the centre of a square will be an excellent position to occupy for this purpose, or any other place may serve which is free from irrational interruption, and at the same time sufficiently remote to prevent the sound of the