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And the full city, warm, from street to street,
And shop to shop, responsive, rings of him,
Nor joys one land alone: his praise extends,
Far as the sun rolls the diffusive day;
Far as the breeze can bear the gifts of peace ;
Till all the happy nations catch the song.

DIGNITY of MANNERS.

TAIN

1. A CERTAIN dignity of manners is abso lutely necessary to make even the most valuable character either respected or respectable in the world.

Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of laughter, jokes, waggery, and indiscriminate familiarity, will sink both merit and knowledge into a degree of contempt. They compose at most a merry fellow, and a merry fellow was never a respectable man. Indiscriminate familiarity either offends your superiors, or else dubs you their dependant and led captain. It gives your inferiors just, but troublesome and improper claims of equality. A joker is near a kin to a buffoon; and neither of them is the least related to wit.

2. Mimicry, the favourite amusement of little minds, has been even the contempt of great ones. Never give way to it yourself, nor ever encour

age it in others; it is the most illiberal of all buffoonery; it is an insult to the person you mimic; and insults, I have often told you, are seldom forgiven.

As to a mimic or a wag, he is little else than a buffoon, who will distort his mouth and his eyes to make people laugh. Be assured, no one person ever demeaned himself to please the rest, unless he wished to be thought the Merry-Andrew of the company, and whether this character is respectable, I will leave you to judge.

3. If a man's company is coveted on any other account than his knowledges, his good sense, or his manners, he is seldom respected by those who invite him, but made use of only to entertain. "Let's have such a one, for he sings a good song, or he is always joking or laughing;" or, "let's send for such a one, for he is a good bottle companion;" these are degrading distinctions, that preclude all respect and esteem. Whoever is had (as the phrase is) for the sake of any qualifications, singly, is merely that thing he is had for, is never considered in any light, and, of course, never properly respected, let his intrinsic merits be what they will.

4. You may possibly suppose this dignity of manners to border upon pride; but it differs as much from pride, as true courage from blustering.

To flatter a person right or wrong, is abject slavery, and to consent readily to every thing proposed by a company, be it silly or criminal, is fully as degrading, as to dispute warmly upɔ̃n every subject, and to contradict upon all occasions. To preserve dignity, we should modestly assert our own sentiments, though we politely acquiesce in those of others.

So again, to support dignity of character, wé should neither be frivolously curious about trifles nor be laboriously intent on little objects that deserve not a moment's attention; for this implies an incapacity in matters of greater impor

tance.

A great deal likewise depends upon our air, address, and expressions; an aukward address and vulgar expressions infer either a low turn of mind, or a low education.

5. Insolent contempt, or low envy, is incompatible also with dignity of manners. Low-bred persons, fortunately lifted in the world, in fine clothes and fine equipages, will insolently look down on all those who cannot afford to make as good an appearance; and they openly envy those who perhaps make a better. They also dread the being slighted; of course are suspicious and captious; are uneasy themselves, and make every body else so about them.

6. A certain degree of outward seriousness in looks and actions gives dignity, while a con

stant smirk upon the face (with that insipid silly sinile, fools have when they would be civil) and whiffling motions, are strong marks of futility.

But above all, a dignity of character is to be acquired best by a certain firmness in all our actions. A mean, timid, and passive complaisance, lets a man down more than he is aware of: but still his firmness or resolution should not extend to brutality, but be accompanied with a peculiar and engaging softness, or mildness.

7. If you discover any hastiness in your temper, and find it apt to break out into rough and unguarded expressions, watch it narrowly, and endeavour to curb it; but let no complaisance, no weak desire of pleasing, no wheedling, urge you to do that which discretion forbids; but persist and persevere in all that is right. In your connections and friendships, you will find this rule of use to you. Invite and preserve attachments, by your firmness; but labour to keep clear of enemies, by a mildness of behaviour. Disarm those enemies you may unfortunately have, (and few are without them) by a gentleness of manner, but make them feel the steadiness of your just resentment; for there is a wide difference between bearing malice and a determined self defence; the one is imperious, but the other is prudent and justifiable.

8. In directing your servants, or any person you have a right to command; if you deliver

your orders mildly and in that engaging manner which every gentleman should study to do, you will be cheerfully, and consequently, well obeyed: but if tyranically, you would be very unwillingly served, if served at all. A cool, steady determination should shew that you will be obeyed, but a gentleness in the manner of enforcing that obedience should make service a cheerful one. Thus will you be loved without being despised, and feared without being hated.

9. I hope I need not mention vices. A man who has patiently been kicked out of company, may have as good a pretence to courage, as one rendered infamous by his vices, may to dignity of any kind; however, of such consequence are appearances, that an outward decency, and an affected dignity of manners, will even keep such a man the longer from sinking. If therefore you should unfortunately have no intrinsic merit of your own, keep up, if possible, the appearance of it; and the world will possibly give you credit for the rest. A versatility of manner is as necessary in social life, as a versatility of parts in political. This is no way blameable, if not used with an ill design. We must, like the cameleon, then, put on the hue of the persons we wish to be well with; and it surely can never be blameable, to endeavour to gain the good-will or affection of any one, if, when obtained, we do not mean to abuse it,

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