Those graceful acts,
Those thousand decencies that daily flow
From all her words and actions.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. VIII_. MILTON.
Of manners gentle, of affections mild;
In wit a man, simplicity a child.
* * * * *
A safe companion and an easy friend
Unblamed through life, lamented in thy end.
_Epitaph on Gay_. A. POPE.
Her air, her manners, all who saw admired;
Courteous though coy, and gentle though retired:
The joy of youth and health her eyes displayed,
And ease of heart her every look conveyed.
_Parish Register, Pt. II_. G. CRABBE.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
_Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
What would you have? your gentleness shall force
More than your force move us to gentleness.
_As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 7_. SHAKESPEARE.
'Tis not enough your counsel still be true;
Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do.
_Essay on Criticism, Pt. III_. A. POPE.
Fit for the mountains and the barb'rous caves,
Where manners ne'er were preached.
_Twelfth Night, Act iv. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
He was the mildest mannered man
That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat.
_Don Juan, Canto III_. LORD BYRON.
Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues
We write in water.
_King Henry VIII., Act iv. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
Manners with fortunes, humors turn with climes,
Tenets with books, and principles with times.
_Moral Essays, Epistle I_. A. POPE.
Plain living and high thinking are no more.
The homely beauty of the good old cause
Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence.
And pure religion breathing household laws.
_Written in London, September, 1802_. W. WORDSWORTH.
Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,
And catch the manners living as they rise;
Laugh where we must, be candid where we can,
But vindicate the ways of God to man.
_Essay on Man, Epistle I_. A. POPE.