524 SOME LADIES OF THE OLD SCHOOL. one "was congratulating the great French actor, Leakin, upon the glory and the money which he had gained dur- ing a prosperous season. " As to money," said he, " we do not get as much as people think. My income, at the most, is only ten or twelve thousand francs a year." " What ! " cried a young nobleman, " a vile actor not content with twelve thousand francs a year ; while I, who am in the king's service, who sleep upon a cannon, and shed my blood for my country, — I am only too happy to get a thousand francs ! " The actor, inwardly boiling with fury, quietly said : " Do you count it for nothing that you dare to speak to to me in that manner ? " Paris, it is said, marveled at the audacity of the vet- eran actor, not at all at the insolence of the boy lieutenant. All that, let us hope, is over forever. We may boast, too, that an approach has been made to a substantial equality of human conditions and opportunities. Bishop Kip tells us, in a very agreeable article, how tranquil, dignified, and captivating New York society was in the olden time. Very well. But he gives us to understand in the same article, that to maintain one of those refined, dignified families, required an estate ten or fifteen miles square ; and there were only about fifty of them in the whole vast Province of New York. We are also reminded, now and then, of the first families of Virginia, and the grand life they lived ; but it took a plantation of five thousand acres, five hundred slaves, and fifty house ser vants, to keep up one establishment. We must learn to live beautifully at a much cheaper rate than that ; and I feel assured that we are learning it. I went over a clock-factory, in Connecticut, some time ago — a spacious and handsome edifice, filled with intelli- gent, polite men and women doing clean, inviting work ;
