After all our endeavours, and plots, and advances,

Routs, dinners, wines, dishes, songs, music, and dances,

One morn, on returning from calls unexpected
His card, on the table I found, but connected
Three grief-speaking letters-two P's and a C,

Rear'd their forms, as in mockery of love and of me."

MASTERS, MISTRESSES,

AND

SERVANTS.

THESE are titles of distinction betokening certain ranks in society, and not therefore beyond the of my undertaking; though I shall not find perhaps very much to say about them.

scope

Demoralization is a long hard word which has lately been a good deal obtruded upon us, as expressive of the change that has taken place lately, not only in the actual morals or manners of the lower orders of people, but in their feelings. The poor are become, through the unfortunate operation of laws, made expressly for their behoof, a dissatisfied, restless, complaining class of persons, careless of doing any thing for themselves, and never quite satisfied with what others do for them. Servants have become careless of their master's interests, neglectful of their own, prone to change, unsteady, and eager to resent every trifling order that does not seem

exactly to accord with the strict letter of their original compact. I do not say, there are no exceptions: far from it; but such is the general aspect of things. Is there any anomaly to be traced here, any thing irregular and inconsistent with what we might be led to expect, in these times, from persons in such situations? If the upper and the lower orders of society do not go on together so well as they used to do, is it owing to any political change of condition or circumstances, palpably detrimental to both or either of the parties? Far from it. Here is the anomaly. Every thing has been done to favor the improvement of both classes, and yet bad management has not only rendered such changes abortive as to their proper and expected fruits, but turned them almost into curses.

We must all know that there were times when the lower classes, even of these nations, were in such a state of subjection to the will of their superiors, as to be no more independent of the latter, than the cattle in their stalls, the sheep in their folds, or the dogs that hunted down their prey. True it is, subjected as they were, they were still superior to the cattle, sheep, and dogs, inasmuch as they were endowed more or

man.

less with reason, the distinguishing faculty of What then did reason do for them-that it did not set them free, is a clear case; did it then, let me ask, render them restless, discontented, treacherous, saucy, unfaithful, dishonest, disobedient? or did it render them as patiently submissive as the cattle in the stalls? as meek and inoffensive as the sheep in the folds? as faithful, active, alert, and indefatigable in the service of their Lords, as the dogs, their associates, or at all events, their fellow servants? I cannot help believing from the little I know of history, that the latter was the case. And if so, what a strange anomaly is it, to find that all that has passed since, to ameliorate the condition of the lower classes, to raise and elevate them in the order of society, to secure them from oppression, and render them free, should have only tended to make them more restless and discontented, than they formerly were, when they wore the trammels of slavery— and yet God forbid we should put such trammels upon them again. I only want to examine a little into the anomaly I have pointed out, that we may be able to judge how the present state of things can have arisen out of the very im

provements that have taken place; for when we know the cause of any malady or grievance, we must be rather more in the way of finding a remedy. First however I am sensible that I ought to shew, why I conceive, that the course of things was better both in regard to superiors and dependents, in former days than at present, that they were more attached to each other; and consequently, more united by principle and feeling, than can be said to be the case now; and that it is the want of this uniting principle and feeling at this time that makes all the difference, and renders a connection, equally necessary to both parties, more frequently a source of uneasiness and disquietude, than, as it might be, a lasting bond of comfort and satisfaction.

In casting back our views then, to those times, when the domestics and dependents of our great feudal lords, were, as to proprietorship, mere goods and chattels, to be employed or disposed of just as their lords chose, I find cases that plainly prove, in my estimation, not only that such lords and masters were well and faithfully served, but that the latter were capable of requiting such services, in a way that bespoke not only a considerable degree of benevolence, but of per