52. It is a breach of etiquette for a gentleman to keep his hat on
when handing a lady to a carriage.
53. The man who will insult his inferiors is a boor at heart,
however polished he may appear amongst his equals, or however
deferential to his superiors.
54. It is a breach of etiquette to display any bashfulness in
company. Lord Chesterfield says: "As for the _mauvaise honte_, I
hope you are above it. Your figure is like other people's; I
suppose you will care that your dress shall be so too, and to
avoid any singularity. What, then, should you be ashamed of? And
why not go into a mixed company with as much ease and as little
concern as you would go into your own room? Vice and ignorance are
the only things I know which one ought to be ashamed of; keep
clear of them, and you may go anywhere without fear or concern.
I have known some people who, from feeling the pain and
inconvenience of this _mauvaise honte_, have rushed into the other
extreme, and turned impudent, as cowards sometimes grow desperate
from the excess of danger; but this, too, is carefully to be
avoided, there being nothing more generally shocking than
impudence. The medium between the two extremes marks out the well-
bred man; he feels himself firm and easy in all companies; is
modest without being bashful, and steady without being impudent;
if he is a stranger, he observes with care the manners and ways of
the people most esteemed at that place, and conforms to them with
complaisance."
55. It is a breach of etiquette to wear an air of abstraction in
society if your mind is really so absorbed that you cannot pay
attention to what is going on around you, you had better stay at
home. An absent mind is much more frequently a proof of self-
conceit than of genius.