company by a nobler tenure, and that you will hold it (you can bear a quibble, I believe, yet) in capite. Have a will and an opinion of your own, and adhere to them steadily; but then do it with good humor, good breeding, and (if you have it) with urbanity; for you have not yet beard enough either to preach or censure. [Same date.]
The Fine Gentleman.—What the French justly
call les manières nobles, are only to be acquired in
the very best companies. They are the distinguishing
characteristics of men of fashion: people of low
education never wear them so close, but that some
part or other of the original vulgarism appears. Les
manières nobles equally forbid insolent contempt, or
low envy and jealousy. Low people, in good circumstances,
fine clothes, and equipage, will insolently
show contempt for all those who cannot afford
as fine clothes, as good an equipage, and who have
not (as they term it) as much money in their
pockets: on the other hand, they are gnawed with
envy, and cannot help discovering it, of those who
surpass them in any of these articles; which are far
from being sure criterions of merit. They are, likewise,
jealous of being slighted; and, consequently,
suspicious and captious: they are eager and hot
about trifles; because trifles were, at first, their
