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<h2> LETTER CXXIII </h2>
<h3> LONDON, November 12, O. S. 1750 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: You will possibly think, that this letter turns upon
strange, little, trifling objects; and you will think right, if you
consider them separately; but if you take them aggregately, you will be
convinced that as parts, which conspire to form that whole, called the
exterior of a man of fashion, they are of importance. I shall not dwell
now upon these personal graces, that liberal air, and that engaging
address, which I have so often recommended to you; but descend still
lower, to your dress, cleanliness, and care of your person.</p>
<p>When you come to Paris, you may take care to be extremely well dressed;
that is, as the fashionable people are; this does by no means consist in
the finery, but in the taste, fitness, and manner of wearing your clothes;
a fine suit ill-made, and slatternly or stiffly worn, far from adorning,
only exposes the awkwardness of the wearer. Get the best French tailor to
make your clothes, whatever they are, in the fashion, and to fit you: and
then wear them, button them, or unbutton them, as the genteelest people
you see do. Let your man learn of the best friseur to do your hair well,
for that is a very material part of your dress. Take care to have your
stockings well gartered up, and your shoes well buckled; for nothing gives
a more slovenly air to a man than ill-dressed legs. In your person you
must be accurately clean; and your teeth, hands, and nails, should be
superlatively so; a dirty mouth has real ill consequences to the owner,
for it infallibly causes the decay, as well as the intolerable pain of the
teeth, and it is very offensive to his acquaintance, for it will most
inevitably stink. I insist, therefore, that you wash your teeth the first
thing you do every morning, with a soft sponge and swarm water, for four
or five minutes; and then wash your mouth five or six times. Mouton, whom
I desire you will send for upon your arrival at Paris, will give you an
opiate, and a liquor to be used sometimes. Nothing looks more ordinary,
vulgar, and illiberal, than dirty hands, and ugly, uneven, and ragged
nails: I do not suspect you of that shocking, awkward trick, of biting
yours; but that is not enough: you must keep the ends of them smooth and
clean, not tipped with black, as the ordinary people's always are. The
ends of your nails should be small segments of circles, which, by a very
little care in the cutting, they are very easily brought to; every time
that you wipe your hands, rub the skin round your nails backward, that it
may not grow up, and shorten your nails too much. The cleanliness of the
rest of your person, which, by the way, will conduce greatly to your
health, I refer from time to time to the bagnio. My mentioning these
particulars arises (I freely own) from some suspicion that the hints are
not unnecessary; for, when you were a schoolboy, you were slovenly and
dirty above your fellows. I must add another caution, which is that upon
no account whatever, you put your fingers, as too many people are apt to
do, in your nose or ears. It is the most shocking, nasty, vulgar rudeness,
that can be offered to company; it disgusts one, it turns one's stomach;
and, for my own part, I would much rather know that a man's fingers were
actually in his breech, than see them in his nose. Wash your ears well
every morning, and blow your nose in your handkerchief whenever you have
occasion; but, by the way, without looking at it afterward. There should
be in the least, as well as in the greatest parts of a gentleman, 'les
manieres nobles'. Sense will teach you some, observation others; attend
carefully to the manners, the diction, the motions, of people of the first
fashion, and form your own upon them. On the other hand, observe a little
those of the vulgar, in order to avoid them: for though the things which
they say or do may be the same, the manner is always totally different:
and in that, and nothing else, consists the characteristic of a man of
fashion. The lowest peasant speaks, moves, dresses, eats, and drinks, as
much as a man of the first fashion, but does them all quite differently;
so that by doing and saying most things in a manner opposite to that of
the vulgar, you have a great chance of doing and saying them right. There
are gradations in awkwardness and vulgarism, as there are in everything
else. 'Les manieres de robe', though not quite right, are still better
than 'les manieres bourgeoises'; and these, though bad, are still better
than 'les manieres de campagne'. But the language, the air, the dress, and
the manners of the court, are the only true standard 'des manieres nobles,
et d'un honnete homme. Ex pede Herculem' is an old and true saying, and
very applicable to our present subject; for a man of parts, who has been
bred at courts, and used to keep the best company, will distinguish
himself, and is to be known from the vulgar by every word, attitude,
gesture, and even look. I cannot leave these seeming 'minutiae', without
repeating to you the necessity of your carving well; which is an article,
little as it is, that is useful twice every day of one's life; and the
doing it ill is very troublesome to one's self, and very disagreeable,
often ridiculous, to others.</p>
<p>Having said all this, I cannot help reflecting, what a formal dull fellow,
or a cloistered pedant, would say, if they were to see this letter: they
would look upon it with the utmost contempt, and say that surely a father
might find much better topics for advice to a son. I would admit it, if I
had given you, or that you were capable of receiving, no better; but if
sufficient pains have been taken to form your heart and improve your mind,
and, as I hope, not without success, I will tell those solid gentlemen,
that all these trifling things, as they think them, collectively, form
that pleasing 'je ne sais quoi', that ensemble, which they are utter
strangers to both in themselves and others. The word aimable is not known
in their language, or the thing in their manners. Great usage of the
world, great attention, and a great desire of pleasing, can alone give it;
and it is no trifle. It is from old people's looking upon these things as
trifles, or not thinking of them at all, that so many young people are so
awkward and so ill-bred. Their parents, often careless and unmindful of
them, give them only the common run of education, as school, university,
and then traveling; without examining, and very often without being able
to judge, if they did examine, what progress they make in any one of these
stages. Then, they carelessly comfort themselves, and say, that their sons
will do like other people's sons; and so they do, that is, commonly very
ill. They correct none of the childish nasty tricks, which they get at
school; nor the illiberal manners which they contract at the university;
nor the frivolous and superficial pertness, which is commonly all that
they acquire by their travels. As they do not tell them of these things,
nobody else can; so they go on in the practice of them, without ever
hearing, or knowing, that they are unbecoming, indecent, and shocking.
For, as I have often formerly observed to you, nobody but a father can
take the liberty to reprove a young fellow, grown up, for those kinds of
inaccuracies and improprieties of behavior. The most intimate friendship,
unassisted by the paternal superiority, will not authorize it. I may truly
say, therefore, that you are happy in having me for a sincere, friendly,
and quick-sighted monitor. Nothing will escape me: I shall pry for your
defects, in order to correct them, as curiously as I shall seek for your
perfections, in order to applaud and reward them, with this difference
only, that I shall publicly mention the latter, and never hint at the
former, but in a letter to, or a tete-d-tete with you. I will never put
you out of countenance before company; and I hope you will never give me
reason to be out of countenance for you, as any one of the above-mentioned
defects would make me. 'Praetor non, curat de minimis', was a maxim in the
Roman law; for causes only of a certain value were tried by him but there
were inferior jurisdictions, that took cognizance of the smallest. Now I
shall try you, not only as 'praetor' in the greatest, but as 'censor' in
lesser, and as the lowest magistrate in the least cases.</p>
<p>I have this moment received Mr. Harte's letter of the 1st November, N. S.,
by which I am very glad to find that he thinks of moving toward Paris, the
end of this month, which looks as if his leg were better; besides, in my
opinion, you both of you only lose time at Montpelier; he would find
better advice, and you better company, at Paris. In the meantime, I hope
you go into the best company there is at Montpelier; and there always is
some at the Intendant's, or the Commandant's. You will have had full time
to learn 'les petites chansons Languedociennes', which are exceedingly
pretty ones, both words and tunes. I remember, when I was in those parts,
I was surprised at the difference which I found between the people on one
side, and those on the other side of the Rhone. The Provencaux were, in
general, surly, ill-bred, ugly, and swarthy; the Languedocians the very
reverse: a cheerful, well-bred, handsome people. Adieu! Yours most
affectionately.</p>
<p>P. S. Upon reflection, I direct this letter to Paris; I think you must
have left Montpelier before it could arrive there.</p>
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