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122 POLITENESS.

called duplicity? Why should the rough,
careless, footstep trampling upon roses, be
thought to display an honest regard to the
proprietor of the garden? No, no, bluntness
is vulgarity, call it what we may; and though
Politeness may be adopted as the hypocrite’s
mask, it is because he knows it to be a
virtue, and would assume its image and su-
perscription.

There is nothing which does more to de-
grade a person than to forget his breeding,
to’ be tempted by a flaw of ill-humour into
some rude, offensive, or insulting look, word
or “action. When once politeness is put
on, and the character of the lady or the
gentleman is assumed, like the armour of the
ancient knight, it is ever to be worn, and
ever to be kept bright. If you meet with a
person who is sometimes polite, and some-
times rude, you may safely set him down as
a sham gentleman or a sham lady, as the
case may be.

One serious thing have I to say to my
friends of the sterner sex; a man who will
on any occasion be guilty of a breach of
politeness to one of the gentler portion of