w of self-consciousness or effort. To assume a
would-be charming manner for the moment, with the desire to be unusually
pleasing to some one in particular, does not confer the enviable
reputation of having a charming manner. It does not sit easy enough to
be altogether natural; it conveys the idea of being put on for the
occasion, and, like all other imitations, it hardly ever pleases and
seldom deceives. Etiquette and true politeness would have us go further
than this, and our manners of to-day should be our manners of to-morrow,
and not variable according to place and persons. The world is quick to
note these uncertain demeanours, and every one's measure is readily
taken and retained.

The rules of etiquette are indispensable to the smooth working of
society at large. Take, for example, the etiquette of precedency, in
force both in public and in private: on every public occasion, and in
every private circle, precedency steps in to render assistance, and is
as necessary in the smallest private circle as in the largest public
gathering, because it assigns to every one his or her place as far as
claim can be laid to place. Mistakes in the matter of precedency are not
only committed by those who have enjoyed few social advantages, but by
those also who have had everything in their favour. Young ladies, for
instance, when married from the schoolroom, as it were, often make grave
mistakes on the question of precedency, if they do not ignore it
altogether.

The etiquette of card leaving and that of paying calls are indisputably
necessary and only the very ignorant would attempt to gainsay their
utility; without these aids to order and method all intercourse between
friends and acquaintances would be uncertain and chaotic; as it is there
is little excuse when the right thing is not done, and any departure
from the simple rules laid down on these heads, is the best possible
proof of the standing, position, and associations of the one at fault.

Any one point of etiquette if brought to the bar of common-sense would
be pronounced reasonable, proper, and sensible; and there is strictly
speaking no question of etiquette that cannot be thus judged and upon
which a like verdict would not be given. There is no one rule of
etiquette that can be described as absurd or ridiculous, arbitrary or
tyrannical, and taken collectively the rules are but social obligations
due from one person to another. Why should we not be a well-mannered
p