affairs of consequence. Les manières nobles imply exactly the reverse of all this. Study them early; you cannot make them too habitual and familiar to you. [Same date.]
I like the description of your pic-nic;[1] where, I take it for granted, that your cards are only to break the formality of a circle, and your symposium intended more to promote conversation than drinking. Such an amicable collision, as Lord Shaftesbury very prettily calls it, rubs off and smooths those rough corners, which mere nature has given to the smoothest of us. I hope some part, at least, of the conversation is in German. [Same date.]
The Graces.—I send you Mr. Locke's book upon
education, in which you will find the stress he lays
upon the graces, which he calls (and very truly)
good breeding. I have marked all the parts of that
book which are worth your attention; for as he
begins with the child, almost from its birth, the
parts relative to its infancy would be useless to you.
Germany is, still less than England, the seat of the
graces; however you had as good not to say so while
you are there. [Nov. 18, 1748.]
The Duke of Marlborough.—Of all the men
- ↑ Pic-nic. Johnson does not mention this word, nor do his predecessors, Ashe and Bailey. Richardson does not give it even in his supplement. Worcester cites Widegren, 1788; this then is the earliest use of the word by an author of weight.
