disgraced in its two extremes: And, by the generality of mankind, confined within the narrow bounds of mere good breeding, which, in truth, is only one instance of it.

There is a kind of character, which does not in the least deserve to be reckoned polite, though it is exact in every punctilio of behaviour. Such as would not for the world omit paying you the civility of a bow, or fail in the least circumstance of decorum : But then these people do this so merely for their own sake, that whether you are pleased or embarrassed with it, is little of their care. They have performed their own parts, and are satisfied. One there is, who says more civil things than half mankind besides, and yet, is " So obliging "that he never obliged." For while he is paying the highest court to some one person of the company, he must of course neglect the rest, which is ill made up, by a forced recollection at last, and some lame civility, which, however it may be worded, does in effect express only this, "I protest I had quite forgot

you: but as insignificant as you are, I must "not, for my own sake, let you go home out "of humour." Thus every one in their turn, finding his civility to be just as variable as his

interest, no one thinks himself obliged to hint for it.

This then is a proof, that true politeness, whose great end is giving real pleasure, can have its source only in a virtuous and benevolent heart. Yet this is not all: it must observe propriety too. There is a character of perfect good nature, that loves to have every thing about it happy or merry. This is a character greatly to be beloved, but has little claim to the title of politeness. Such persons have no notion of freedom without noise and tumult: and by taking off every proper restraint, and sinking themselves to the level of their companions, even lessen the pleasure these would have in the company of their superiors.

Cleanthes too loved to have every body about him pleased and easy. But in his family, freedom went hand in hand, with order; while his experience of the world, in an age of more real accomplishments, preserved his whole behaviour agreeable to his company, and becoming his station.

Certainly this regard to the different stations of life is too much neglected by all ranks of people. A few reflections will show this but

too plainly. That the government of states and kingdoms should be placed in a few hands was, in the earliest ages of the world, found necessary to the well-being of society. Power gave a kind of sanction to the persons in whose hands it was vested; and when the peoples' minds were awed into obedience, there was the less need of punishments to restrain their actions. Each various rank of them viewed, with profound respect, that which was most regularly beautiful: and the pile of government rose, in due proportion, with harmony in all its parts *.

.}

Very different is the present scene, where all sorts of people put themselves upon a level: where the meanest and most ignorant censure without reserve, the greatest and the wisest: where the sublimest subjects are scanned without reverence, the softest treated without delicacy.

There was a time, when from this principle of politeness, our sex received a thousand delicate distinctions, which made us as it were amends for our exclusion from the more shining and tumultuous scenes of life. Per

* If Mr. Burke never read these Essays, it is a curious circumstance that he should have made use of this same metaphor (though much more highly ornamented) in his admired work on the French Revolution,

haps it is a good deal our own fault, that within some years, the manner of treating us has been entirely altered. When the fine lady becomes a hoyden, no wonder if the fine gentleman behaves to her like a clown. When people go out of their own proper character, it is like what silly folks imagine about going out of the conjurer's circle: beyond those limits you must expect no mercy.

It would be endless to reckon up the various errors on each side of true politeness, which form humourists and flatterers, characters of blunt or ceremonious impertinence. But that I may give as true a standard of the thing itself, as I am capable of doing, I will conclude my paper with the character of Cynthio, from whose conversation and behaviour I have possibly collected most of the hints which form it. "Cynthio has added to his natural sense "a thorough knowledge of the world: by

*

* In one of Mrs. Talbot's Letters to Mrs. Carter, she says that she believes the character of Cynthio to have been meant by her daughter for Dr. Gregory; but she adds, that in her opinion the character flatters him very much. Dr. Gregory was a Canon of Christ-church, and had married Lady Mary Grey, with all the branches of which family Mrs. and Miss Talbot were very intimately acquainted. It is probable that Miss Talbot was a better. judge of the minute and delicate circumstances on which true politeness so much depends, than her mother was.

"which he has attained that masterly ease in "behaviour, and that graceful carelessness "of manner, that no body, I know, possesses "in so high a degree. You may see, that "his politeness flows from something superior "to the little forms of custom, from a humane " and benevolent heart, directed by a judg "ment, that always seizes what is just and proper; and formed into such an habitual good breeding, that no forced attention even puts you in mind, at the time, that Cynthio is taking pains to entertain you, "though upon recollection you find him to “be, for that very reason, a man of the compleatest politeness.

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"His conversation is always suited to the company he is in, yet so as never to depart "from the propriety of his own character. "As he is naturally indolent, he is generally "the least talkative of the set: but he makes

up for this, by expressing more in a few "words, than the generality of people do in

a great many sentences. He is formed in"deed for making conversation agreeable; "since he has good nature, which makes him

place every thing that can have a share in "it, in the most favourable light that it is "capable of: and a turn of humour, that can

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