RESPECTABILITY.

RESPECTABILITY! Mysterious word! indefinite term! phantom! Who will presume to say authoritatively what thou art? What metaphysician or mental chemist will analyze thee, and expound to the world the curious substance or essence of which thou art composed? Where is the lexicographer gifted with powers, subtle and fine as the spider's thread, to define thee accurately, satisfactorily, so that the general voice shall cry aloud, "that is the meaning of the word ;" and every individual whisper to his neighbor, "that was my meaning." As for the explanations of the existing race of dictionaries, they are mere evasions of the question.

About the boldest and most decided opinion concerning this particle of the English language that I am acquainted with, was that given by a witness in a swindling transaction, who, on being asked by the judge his reason for affirming that the defendant was a respectable man, replied, "that he kept a gig." There is something in the unhesitating and

undoubting confidence of this answer, that carries weight with it. The witness was well acquainted with the defendant's moral obliquities; he knew that he had long been worthy the attention of the laws of his country; he knew, moreover, that he was only enabled to maintain this two-wheeled vehicle by a constant infringement of the right of meum and tuum; he knew, in short, that he was rich by good management and unhanged by good luck; but still, there was no getting over the simple fact he kept his gig; and so long as he did keep it, nothing could impugn his respectability in the mind of the witness. Yet, before we unthinkingly laugh at this man's tenacious adherence to his beau ideal of respectability, let us cautiously examine our own thoughts on the subject. A gig is respectable. A curricle may be dashing-a phaeton stylish-a carriage genteel, lofty, magnificent-but a gig is respectable par excellence. Yet, of itself, and independent of other circumstances, it does not wholly and safely constitute respectability, and here lies the difficulty. It is not all in all-"there's the rub," or the question might be settled. Besides, its condition must be looked to. It may be badly lined, and worse painted; the shafts and wheels may be in ill-condition; it may, in fact, have a disreputable appearance rather than otherwise; it may be

second-handed. All these apparently trivial, but in reality essential circumstances, are to be taken into account before we can definitively pronounce upon the respectability of the possessor; and it behoves us to be cautious; for, to a nice mind, ardently engaged in the pursuit of truth, a hair-breadth distinction is found, at times, more obstinately irreconcileable than a more manifest discrepancy.

Respectability! All-pervading power! like light and life, thou art everywhere; or, at the least, wherever civilization is, there art thou to be found, despotically ruling the minds of men of every grade and station, from the doctor to the dustman-from the lawyer to the laborer. But of all the devotees, none, I think, worship thee with the fervor-the intenseness of shopkeepers and small tradesmen. Thou art their idol-their oracle! They consult thee in all they do or say, or in whatever in any shape appertains to them. Thou art ever uppermost in their thoughts, and there is no sacrifice too great for them to make-no deprivation too severe for them to endure, rather than to be banished either in reality, or in the opinion of the world, from thy presence. But though this race of people are more peculiarly thine own, millions of others put in their claim of kindred to thee on some trivial pretext or other. Thou hast more distant relations

than a Scotchman likely to do well in the world, even though his name be Campbell. And it is curious to mark the different ways in which thy multitudinous kith and kin infer a connection. Some are respectable by descent, some by dress, some by the situation of the dwellings in which they have temporarily located themselves. A man in very low circumstances, if he has no better claim, is consanguineous on the strength of a hat with a brim, or a stocking without a hole" two precious items in a poor man's eye;" the spruce mechanic's dapper coat, or his wife's silk gown, leave no doubt in his own eyes at least, how closely he is allied the small tradesman's snug house, tiny flower-spot before the door, and neat green railings, distinctly mark him for thine own; while the more aristocratical storekeeper in the wholesale or large retail way, getting above business, successful ship-brokers, cotton-speculators, lottery-office keepers, and other anomalies, forgetful of all thou hast done for them, look above thee, and creep into the back ranks of gentility and fashion, where they remain neither fish nor flesh-genteel in their own estimation, simply respectable in that of their neighbors.

Some men neglect their personal appearance, and concentrate their claims to respectability in a brass knocker, a plate with their name engraved thereon,

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venetian blinds, or any other pretty additament to their domiciles; others are respectable by virtue of their connexions; others by going to the private boxes at the theatre; others by a pew next the parson at church; others by the people they visit ; others by having every thing in season. Yet, difficult as it is for the mind of man to comprehend all these things, and to decide properly and justly, the women, taking advantage of their superior powers of penetration, and delicacy of discrimination, divide and subdivide respectability as easily as quicksilver. They have their "respectable sort of people ---very respectable-highly respectable--extremely respectable--most respectable," which makes the thing about as difficult to understand or explain, as political economy or electro-magnetism. Indeed, there are some men, otherwise not deficient in intellect, who never have even a glimmering of light upon the subject. Think of the more than Egyptian darkness of Robert Burns, for instance--mark his heterodoxies,

"What though on hamely fare we dine,

Wear hodden gray and a' that,

Gie fools their silk, and knaves their wine,

A man's a man for a' that."

No, sir, he is not a man; he is only a poor devil. Or, grant that he is so by courtesy, what is a man