this style,[2302] "a
certain way of walking, of sitting down, of saluting, of picking up a
glove, of holding a fork, of tendering any article, in short, a complete
set of gestures and facial expressions, which children had to be taught
at a very early age in order that habit might become a second nature,
and this conventionality formed so important an item in the life of men
and women in aristocratic circles that the actors of the present day,
with all their study, are scarcely able to give us an idea of it."

Not only was the outward factitious but, again, the inward; there
was a certain prescribed mode of feeling and of thinking, of living and
of dying. It was impossible to address a man without placing oneself at
his orders, or a woman without casting oneself at her feet, Fashion, 'le
bon ton,' regulated every important or petty proceeding, the manner
of making a declaration to a woman and of breaking an engagement, of
entering upon and managing a duel, of treating an equal, an inferior and
a superior. If any one failed in the slightest degree to conform to this
code of universal custom, he is called "a specimen." A man of heart
or of talent, D'Argenson, for example, bore a surname of "simpleton,"
because his originality transcended the conventional standard. "That has
no name, there is nothing like it!" embodies the strongest censure.
In conduct as in literature, whatever departs from a certain type is
rejected. The quantity of authorized actions is as great as the number
of authorized words. The same super-refined taste impoverishes the
initiatory act as well as the initiatory expression, people acting as
they write, according to acquired formulas and within a circumscribed
circle. Under no consideration can the eccentric, the unforeseen, the
spontaneous, vivid inspiration be accepted. Among twenty instances I
select the least striking since it merely relates to a simple gesture,
and is a measure of other things. Mademoiselle de--obtains, through
family influence, a pension for Marcel, a famous dancing-master, and
runs off, delighted, to his domicile to convey him the patent. Marcel
receives it and at once flings it on the floor: "Mademoiselle, did I
teach you to offer an object in that manner? Pick up that paper and hand
it to me as you ought to." She picks up the patent and presents it to
him with all suitable grace. "That's very well, Mademoiselle, I accept
it, although your elbow was not quite sufficiently rou