"In politics, in society, in everything."

"You ladyship can not think it desirable."

"I do not pretend to desire it. I am not false to my own people. But the
fact remains that you are coming to the front, and we are falling
behind. And the sooner you get to the front, the better it will be for
the world, and for us too."

"I can not say I understand you."

"I will tell you why. There are now no fewer than three aristocracies.
There is one of rank, and one of brains. I belong to the one, you to the
other. But there is a third."

"If you recognize the rich as an aristocracy, you must allow me to
differ from you--very much!"

"Naturally. I quite agree with you. But what can your opinion and mine
avail against the rising popular tide! All the old families are melting
away, swallowed by the _nouveaux riches_. I should not mind, or at least
I should feel it in me to submit with a good grace, if we were pushed
from our stools by a new aristocracy of literature and science, but I do
rebel against the social _regime_ which is every day more strongly
asserting itself. All the gradations are fast disappearing; the
palisades of good manners, dignity, and respect, are vanishing with the
hedges; the country is positively inundated with slang and
vulgarity--all from the ill-breeding, presumption, and self-satisfaction
of new people."