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    _ Harch_ 28 3 1857.J ___ _____ _ TH. E _...

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    THE LAWS OF POLITENESS. The American Gen...

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    .'• • ." The vanquished have no friends,...

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    THE EVE OF ST. MARK.—PHOTO THE SUL1OTE. ...

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    Qvbaraosvxa Paradise. Avith All Our Stra...

    "Latter-Day Poetry" ) with two volumes of translations from the German which will be of service to those who , ignorant of the great Teutonic tongue , are yet desirous of knowing something of its poetry : —The German lyrist j or , Metrical Versions from the Principal -German Lyric Poefs , by W . N . ( Cambridge : Macmilkn svndCo . );— and The Book of German Sony ' s , from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century , Translated and Indited by II . "VV . ijulckcn ( London : Ward and Lock ) . The latter is very handsomely brought out , and is profusely , quaintly , and beautifully illustrated .

    _ Harch_ 28 3 1857.J ___ _____ _ Th. E _...

    _ Harch _ 3 1857 . J ___ _____ _ TH . E _ XiJB A BjE &•_______ ^ __ 307

    The Laws Of Politeness. The American Gen...

    THE LAWS OF POLITENESS . The American Gentleman ' s Guide to Politeness and Fashion . By ITciiry Lunettes . Low and Co . Good linen , plenty of it , and country washing , according to Beau Brunimell , sufficed to constitute a gentleman . The Lunettes code , if more elaborate , is quite as silly . All Fashion Manuals that we have ever seen , indeed , are silly , all Guides to Good Manners , Hints on Etiquette , Rules for Correct Behaviour . They are , in general , the concoctions of ill-bred pedantry , and set forth such maxims as maybe supposed to domineer in the minds of very foolish footmen and uncommonl y inane lady ' s-maids . A book was lately published on the art of conversation , explaining the most approved methods of opening a dialogue . Thus , should you desire to know whether your companion at table has visited Damascus , it would be boorish

    to ask , "Bid you ever visit Damascus ? " while it would be Chesterfieldian to insinuate , _ Doubtless your mind is / well stored -with , experiences of travel . " Tie individual -who calls himself Colonel Lunettes is a conspicuous specimen of that sort of moral idiotcy which accompanies a servile adoration of fashionable forms , the only palliating circumstance being that be knows no more of fashion than of syntax , and mistakes simpering for civility and bad anecdotes for good manners . "Never make offensive personal allusions while you are conversing , " intimates this master of ceremony , who nevertheless caps a long list of commonplace stories about Johnson's dirty shirts and dangling hese , by _ informing us that Horace Greelay is never visible except when encased in a voluminous drab-coloured over ~ coat . J ? roni wit to wisdom : Colonel Lunette deplores the American partiality for black dress clothes , so different from the taste of England , in which blue , brown , or green garments

    are quite as common . He has a notion that the British are generally an overwashed people , and that their hair is usually so closely cropped that they might be supposed to have suffered from an epidemic of nervous fever . Then follow certain incontrovertible axioms : that one should not wear too many diamonds ; that one should not look like a travelling Jew ; that one should avoid the similitude of a loafer ; that one should-not wear a plaid taking two men to show the pattern ; that a gentleman cannot properly dress like a jockey ; that a ppeket handkerchief should not be as large as a sleet ; the less absolute principle being next laid down , " Never wear a coloured shirt . " Choose Excelsior for your motto , and avoid lemon-tinted gloves I If tall and rickety , assume a Talma ; if brief and rotund , clasp a

    close coat about you . Moreover , do not imitate Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer , whoj Colonel Lunettes informs " the American gentleman , " appears an the House of Commons one day with black hair , eyebrows , and whiskers , and the next with light whiskers , eyebrows , and hair . We hope the American gentleman will profit by the information . Similarly , a great Union lawyer , originally a Green Mountain Boy , may be observed , " his broad pock-marked face luminous as a coloured lantern outside an oyster saloon , " walking through the Empire City with a cloak turned wrong side out . Why no ° take example by Count Orloff , who , although a man of genius , wears an unexceptionably cut coat 'i Beware lest & red cornelian ring upon a fat finger resembles a cranberry jam in a setting of puff-paste . Incoherence is one of the privileges affected by Colonel Lunettes .

    As to the American gentleman ' s wedding-dress , it depends on the hour at which the ceremony is performed . If in the morning , adopt a rich deep brown frock coat * black cashmere waistcoat with violet-coloured palm-leaf figure , black and cherry silk neck-tie , delicate drab trousers , and primrose gloves ; if in the evening , a claret dress coat , wliite-ribbed silk waistcoat , black"unwhisperables , " silk stockings , and shoes—be careful otherwise to have a well-appointed hat , faultless gloves , and immaculate boots , and wad a little if necessary , since " wadding is the homage which snobbishness pays to symmetry . " Parenthetically , if you are an emperor , do not hold out your hand for your mother to kiss , as did Napoleon . It is touchingly chivalrous , if you are a boy of sixteen , to kiss your mother and say , " Mother , you are the most beautiful and irresistible of your beautiful and irresistible sex . ''

    However , when in claret , or rich brown cloth coat , hold up your bead in the street ; if you meet ladies and gentlemen together , bow to the ladies , and " include the gentlemen in a sweeping motion / ' but do not offer to shako hands with a lady in full morning costume should your glove be darkcoloured or your hand uncovered , Lift your hat to each , in succession of nge or rank , with some such playful expression as" I am sorry my glove ia not quite fresh , Mrs . , but you need no assurance of my being always the most devoted of your friends" " " admirers , " " Really-, Mias , you are ao beautifully dressed , and looking so charmingly , that I daro not venture too near ! " . — which would be the perfection of chivalrous manners . Herein is disclosed the perfection of social colloquy , as recommended to the American gentleman : —

    A ready and graceful rei > l y to a com 2 ) liment may also bo regarded as a conversational cmbolhslinient . It is not polite to retort to the language of courtesy with a charge ot insincerity , or of flattery . Plaijfidnesa frequently affords the best resource , or tho ! ' f ™/ ca " rte 0 U 8 > as in Lord NelBon ' 8 celebrated reply to Lady Hamilton ' s questions of Why do you differ so much from other men ? Why are you so superior to tho rest of your sex ? " " If there were more Emmas , there would be more Hclsons . " One may say , "I fear I owe your commondation to the partiulity of friendship ; " , " 1 trust you . may never be undeceived in regard to my poor accomplishments ;" . or , Keally , madam , your penetration enables you to make discoveries fornio . " Then , again , to one of the lenient sex , one may reply , « Mrs . Ulaak sees all lior friends tiirough tho moat becoming of glasses—her own eyes . " And to an older gentleman , wno hououra you . with tho fiut of a compliment , thua proving that it may uouiotlmuu oo false that

    .'• • ." The Vanquished Have No Friends,...

    . '• • . " The vanquished have no friends , " " Keally , sir , I do not know whether I am most overwhelmed by admiration for your ¦ wit and politeness , or by gratitude for your kindness . " Or some phrase like this -will occasionally bo appropriate : " I am afraid , sir , I shall plume myself too highly upon your good opinion . You do me much honour ; " or , "It will be my devoir , aa well as my happiness , for the feature , to deserve your commendation , sir ; " or , You inspire as much as you encourage me , dear sir ; if I possess any claim to your flattering compliment , you have yourself elicited it . " To a compliment to one ' s wit , or the like , one may reply : " Dulness is always banished by the presenceof Miss - " or , " Who could fail to toe , in some degree at least , inspired in such a presence ?" A man who could talk in this manner must be , we think , the perfection of a fool . With ladies , however , Though , all mere silliness and twaddle should be regarded as equally unworthy of them and yourselves , yet , in general association with the fairest ornaments of creation , agreeabUiiy , rather than profundity , should be your aim .

    If you ever happened to visit the scene of a mutilating railway accident , and picked up a young girl ' s foot With a boot on it , avoid alluding to that incident in the presence of ladies . "Would Cuvier have talked in such presence , of the modern dogs that found the mastodon in Siberia , and gorged themselves upon antediluvian beef ? Should you poach on an irascible British gentleman ' s estate , and be caught in the fact , ask yourself cordially to lunch , and the British sense of humour will be tickled into oonviviality . Above all , dread . those peculiarities of American colloquial language which Colonel I-iunettes affirms may be heard in very good society in the Empire State : — " Do tell , Jul , " exclaimed a young lady ; " vliere have you been marvelling to ? You look like Time in tlie primer !" " No you don ' t , " returned the young lady addressed ; ' ? you can ' t come it ov « r dis cMT !"

    "No , no , chimed in a youth of tlie party , " you can ' t come it quite , Miss Lib I Don t try to poke fun at us !" " You've all been sparking ia the woods , I guess . !" " Oh , oh , " laughed one of the speakers , " 1 thought you'd get it through your liair , at last—that ' s rich !" "Why ! " retorted the interlocutor , tartly , " do you think I don't know t ' other from which ?" "I think you ' know beans' as well as most Hoosiers , " replied lier particular admirer , in a tone of unmistakable blandishment . " Everybody knows Jul ' s some pumpkins , " admitted one of her fair companions . " Come , Jul , rig yourself in a . j ifly , " said a bonny lassie , who had not yet spoken ; " you are in for a spree !" " What's in the wind—who ' s to stand the shot ? " cautiously inquired the damsel addresser ! .

    "We ' re bound on a spree I tell you ! You must be yreen to thinlc we'll own the corn now ! Come , fix up immediately , if not sooner 1 " So saying , the energetic speaker seized , her friend round the Avaist and gallopaded her out of the room . "To eat , " Disraeli says , " really to eat , one should eat alone , in an easy dress , "b y a soft light , and of a single dish at a time . " That sentiment is repudiated on . the part of American gentlemen . They prefer the ' society of ladies , and are prepared . to sit accordingly : —¦ It is then suitable to sit upright , with the feet on the floor , and the hands quietly adjusted before one , either holding the hat and stick ( as when paying a morning visit ) , or the dress-hat carried in the evening , or , to give ease , on occasion , a book , roll of paper , or the like . This " clotted nonsense " is contained ia a bulky volume of professedly serious purport .

    The Eve Of St. Mark.—Photo The Sul1ote. ...

    THE EVE OF ST . MARK . —PHOTO THE SUL 1 OTE . The Eve of St . Murh ; a Romance of Venice . By Thomas Double day . 2 vols . ( Smitb , Elder , and Co . )—Mr . Doubleday is a particularly versuiile -writer * He has published a Financial History of England , a Letter on Ancient Northumbrian Music , an Essay on the Law of Population , a Political Biography of Sir Robert Peel , and this Romance of Venice . Contrary to our expectations , The Bee of St . Mar 7 t \ % an interesting story , vividly coloured and not a little dramatic in its construction . The style is occasionally exaggerated , especially where Mr . Doubleday resolves to describe beauty ia beautiful language , his portraits being more luxurious than natural ; but the pictures of old Venice are careful studies from historyand tlic tale

    , moves rapidly through a stirring succession of incidents . The appearances and disappearances of the mystic Valide" are skilfully managed , as well aa the dramatic circumstances of tlie Englishman ' s visit to the haunts of tho pagan Esmcralda . Most readers would have preferred a 1 < jss harrowing catastrophe ; but Mr . Doubloday had the proprieties of time and place in view , and did not feel bound to force on & " ¦ huppy for ever and ever" conclusion . Tho book is really a romance—a diorama of antique Venetian life , enriched by the tints of leg-endry , and heightened in effect by elaborate descriptions of architecture , furniture , costumes and manners , and "limpscs into tlie wild world of mysticism which the dark-age philosophers loved to explore .

    Photo the , Stthole : a Tale of Mui / crn . Greece . H > y David It . Morier . 3 vols . ( Booth . )—Mr . Moxier has a perfect knowledge of modern Grecian manners " and , we should say , of Turkish character also ; but that has not enabled him to compose an interesting tale . His Photo in a theatrical figure his Angelica , dead and living , seems like a reminiscence of a hundred bygone heroines ; the romance is made up of cuverns , Klephtic fights , pistol shots half-consummated executions , a beautiful woman bathed against lier will in a Turkish harem to make her ready for the monstrous Turk , and a perpetualllengthening of broken

    y Bonus dialogues by snatches of Greek and ' . Lnrkisli , wanting at once in emphasis and euphony . No doubt the scenery is correctly painted ; tho character-sketches are often striking , but tlic story —it must be said—is dull . Indeed , it ia to be regretted that Mr . Morier undertook to make heroes of tlie modern Greeks , even with , such aid aa Klophlic costumes could lend him . Photo , perhaps , was a beautiful boy , but vtfint of one Apollo iu a gang of felon-faced inlanders and mountain banditti ? I he women are tigresses , -without their terrible beauty Mr Morior has a theory , which , he expounds in kit * third volume , concerning the duty ol England towards the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire , which

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 28, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28031857/page/19/