Rank is very apt to attract and dazzle vulgar and feeble optics; and the belief that such is its effect upon mankind generally, is unspeakably gratifying to a vain and ignorant possessor of that rank. Of the truth of one part of this observation, take as an illustration the case of Tittlebat Titmouse; of the other, that of the Earl of Dreddlington. The former's dinner engagement with the latter, his august and awful kinsman, was an event of such magnitude as to absorb almost all his faculties in the contemplation of it, and also occasion him great anxiety in preparing for an effective appearance upon so signal an occasion. Mr. Gammon had repeatedly, during the interval, instructed his anxious pupil, if so he might be called, as to the manner in which he ought to behave. He was--Heaven save the mark, poor Titmouse!--to assume an air of mingled deference, self-possession, and firmness; not, on the one hand, to be overawed by the greatness with which he would be brought into contact, nor, on the other, unduly elated by a sense of his own suddenly acquired importance. He was, on the contrary, to steer evenly between the extremes of timorousness and temerity--to _aim_, at least, at that happy mean, so grateful to those able to appreciate the effort, and object, of those who had attained to it. Titmouse was to remember that, great as was the Earl of Dreddlington, he was yet _but a man_--related, too, by consanguinity, to him, the aforesaid Titmouse; who might, moreover, before many years should have elapsed, become himself Lord Drelincourt, and by consequence equally entitled, with the present possessor of that resplendent rank, to the homage of mankind. At the same time that the earl's advanced years gave him a natural claim to the reverence of his young kinsman--(whom his Lordship was about to introduce into the sublime regions of aristocracy, and also of political society)--Titmouse might extract a few ingredients of consolation from the reflection, that his income probably _exceeded_, by a third, that of the Earl of Dreddlington. This is the sum of Mr. Gammon's _general_ instructions to his eager and excited pupil; but he also gave Titmouse many minor hints and suggestions. He was to drink very little wine--(whereat Titmouse demurred somewhat vehemently, and asked "How the d--l he was to _get his steam_ up without it?")--and on no account to call for beer or porter, to which plebeian beverages, indeed, he might consider himself as having bid a long and last adieu;--to say occasionally, only, "my Lord" and "your Lordship," in addressing the earl--and "your Ladyship," in addressing Lady Cecilia;--and, above all, never to appear in a hurry, but to do and say whatever he had to do and say calmly; for that the nerves of aristocracy were very delicate, and could not bear a bustle, or the slightest display of energy or feeling. Then, as to his _dress_--Gammon, feeling himself treading on very doubtful ground, intimated merely that the essence of true fashion was _simplicity_--but here Titmouse grew fidgety, and his Mentor ceased.