travelling; hearing and knowing are the essential points.[1] [September, 1746. From Bath.]
False Delicacy.—As for the mauvaise honte, I
hope you are above it; your figure is like other people's,
I hope you will take care that your dress is so,
too. Why, then, should you be ashamed? Why
not go into mixed company with as little concern as
you would into your own room? [Bath, September.]
The Well-Bred Man.—Feels himself firm and
easy in all companies; is modest without being bashful,
and steady without being impudent; if he is a
stranger, he observes, with care, the manners and
ways of the people the most esteemed at that place,
and conforms to them with complaisance. Instead
of finding fault with the customs of that place, and
telling the people that the English ones are a thousand
times better (as my countrymen are very apt
to do), he commends their table, their dress, their
houses, and their manners, a little more, it may be,
than he really thinks they deserve. But this degree
of complaisance is neither criminal nor abject;
and is but a small price to pay for the good-will and
affection of the people you converse with. As the
- ↑ Mr. Stanhope was then travelling with his tutor in Germany.
