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Untitled Article
professional etiquette , without which the professions would immediately be degraded iinto trades . Lastly , you distinguish the nobleman , not by his house or equipage , or servants , or manners to strangers and friends , for in all these he is a gentleman and nothing more ; but you see his grade in the formal manner in which he treats his wife and daughters in their domestic privacy ( never for a moment
forgetting that they are ladies , and that the obligation under which he lies to love and cherish them does not cancel the prior obligation which every gentleman at all times feels , to treat ladies with polite attention and consideration ) , rising from his chair when his wife enters the apartment in which he is sitting , and on her departure , never allowing her to open the do . 0 r for herself , on any consideration . Without the forms and ceremonies belonging to rank and station , neither rank nor station could long exist . Estates , titles , distinctions , even Royal favour , could not either make or keep the aristocracy what it is , without the forms an d ceremonies pertaining to distinguished society .
But , lastly , forms have a moral influence which is too often lost sight of . We speak not of religious forms , because we are bound to be tender of religious differences ; but we may be permitted to remark that man naturally embodies his religious as well as his social sentiments ( whatever they be ) in forms and ceremonies ; he cannot do otherwise if he would . Forms may be observed where there is no devotion in the heart , but devotion cannot long be
sustained , if it can at all exist , without forms . Independently of this , however , the forms of society have a moral influence which we must not overlook . The practice of duelling , now happily reprobated and abolished , originated in moral considerations . In feudal times , when all men were armed , a quarrel was very apt to end in bloodshed , which partook ( like modern Californian ruffianism ) of the character of assassination . I ? ot the bravest , bat the most treacherous of the parties , had the best of it ; and the practice of duelling , in which both disputants were placed on equal ground and in the presence of
witnesses , went far to check the tendency to quarrels and bloodshed in which cowardice and revenge played the principal part . It was a barbarous remedy for a more barbarous evil , and its abolition by
common consent attests strongly the progress of moral civilization amongst us . But , as , then , the form proved a check to evil passions , so , now , the conventional forms of polite society prevent offences being given and received , and tend to heal the superficial wounds inflicted in the careless sparring of social or political contention ; or serve as armour for the spirit , protecting it from injury under angry thrusts . Thus the political combatant passes compliments upon his " honourable" opponent , before he crushes him
with sarcasm , and then takes him warmly by the hand as he leaves the house;—thus the barrister is first of all full of adulation of his " learned friend , " then he represents him to the jury as unworthy to be trusted , and finally walks with him arm-in-arm out of court . Nor is it easy for a woman to quarrel with a man ( even if he be her own
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
professional etiquette , without which the professions would immediately be degraded iinto trades . Lastly , you distinguish the nobleman , not by his house or equipage , or servants , or manners to strangers and friends , for in all these he is a gentleman and nothing more ; but you see his grade in the formal manner in which he treats his wife and daughters in their domestic privacy ( never for a moment
forgetting that they are ladies , and that the obligation under which he lies to love and cherish them does not cancel the prior obligation which every gentleman at all times feels , to treat ladies with polite attention and consideration ) , rising from his chair when his wife enters the apartment in which he is sitting , and on her departure , never allowing her to open the do . 0 r for herself , on any consideration . Without the forms and ceremonies belonging to rank and station , neither rank nor station could long exist . Estates , titles , distinctions , even Royal favour , could not either make or keep the aristocracy what it is , without the forms an d ceremonies pertaining to distinguished society .
But , lastly , forms have a moral influence which is too often lost sight of . We speak not of religious forms , because we are bound to be tender of religious differences ; but we may be permitted to remark that man naturally embodies his religious as well as his social sentiments ( whatever they be ) in forms and ceremonies ; he cannot do otherwise if he would . Forms may be observed where there is no devotion in the heart , but devotion cannot long be
sustained , if it can at all exist , without forms . Independently of this , however , the forms of society have a moral influence which we must not overlook . The practice of duelling , now happily reprobated and abolished , originated in moral considerations . In feudal times , when all men were armed , a quarrel was very apt to end in bloodshed , which partook ( like modern Californian ruffianism ) of the character of assassination . I ? ot the bravest , bat the most treacherous of the parties , had the best of it ; and the practice of duelling , in which both disputants were placed on equal ground and in the presence of
witnesses , went far to check the tendency to quarrels and bloodshed in which cowardice and revenge played the principal part . It was a barbarous remedy for a more barbarous evil , and its abolition by
common consent attests strongly the progress of moral civilization amongst us . But , as , then , the form proved a check to evil passions , so , now , the conventional forms of polite society prevent offences being given and received , and tend to heal the superficial wounds inflicted in the careless sparring of social or political contention ; or serve as armour for the spirit , protecting it from injury under angry thrusts . Thus the political combatant passes compliments upon his " honourable" opponent , before he crushes him
with sarcasm , and then takes him warmly by the hand as he leaves the house;—thus the barrister is first of all full of adulation of his " learned friend , " then he represents him to the jury as unworthy to be trusted , and finally walks with him arm-in-arm out of court . Nor is it easy for a woman to quarrel with a man ( even if he be her own