There is a _bienseance_ with regard to people of the lowest degree; a
gentleman observes it with his footman, even with the beggar in the
street. He considers them as objects of compassion, not of insult; he
speaks to neither _d'un ton brusque_, but corrects the one coolly, and
refuses the other with humanity. There is no one occasion in the world,
in which _le ton brusque_ is becoming a gentleman. In short, _les
bienseances_ are another word for _manners_, and extend to every part of
life. They are propriety; the Graces should attend in order to complete
them: the Graces enable us to do genteelly and pleasingly what _les
bienseances_ require to be done at all. The latter are an obligation
upon every man; the former are an infinite advantage and ornament to any
man.