ministers, when it is very necessary, de payer de sa personne, et d'être bien planté, with your feet not too near nor too distant from each other. More people stand and walk, than sit genteelly. Awkward, ill-bred people, being ashamed, commonly sit up bolt upright and stiff; others, too negligent and easy, se vautrent dans leur fauteuil, which is ungraceful and ill-bred, unless where the familiarity is extreme. [June 10, 1751.]
Little Nothings.—I know a man, and so do
you, who, without a grain of merit, knowledge, or
talents, has raised himself millions of degrees above
his level, simply by a good air and engaging manners;
insomuch that the very prince, who raised him
so high, calls him, mon aimable vaurien[1]: but of
this do not open your lips, pour cause. I give you
this secret, as the strongest proof imaginable, of the
efficacy of air, address, tournure, et tous ces petits
riens. [Same date.]
Ease of Manner.—Les bienséances[2] are a most
necessary part of the knowledge of the world. They
consist in the relations of persons, things, time, and
place; good-sense points them out, good company
