Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-01-13
MYSTERIOUS CHARM OF MANNER.
The Gift Which f. SOnfet times BETTER for
the POssessOr than Great Fortunes.
Edmund Yates In London World.

Edmund Yates In London World
Just as there are certain indelible traits in
| the British national character, SO there are
hundreds of English families whose members
are mutually connected not more by ties of
kindred than by the common possession of some
popularity Of physiognomy or department. Elk
| IRENE urbanity is the tradition Of one house: a
| certain almost brutal brusque is the patrlmony
OF another. Nobody belonging to the ancient
| race OF Carabas was ever known to be able to
| eat cold tongue with comfort The rival house
| in the next county is equally liable to be nau-
| seated by the taste Of honey. The nose and
upper lip of the Cavendishes have been famous
| ever since the days of Bess Of Hardwick The
| present Duke OfWellingtOn is an almost exact
| resemblance of the hero of Waterloo, with the
| somewhat important exception that he has
| none OF his sires development of jaw. Nor are
| demeanOr and little tricks of manner handed
| down from father to son and from one genera
| tlon to another in less degree. There Is one
| noble family in England which accompanies q
hereditary cast of the left eye with singularly
accentuated effeminacy of bearing. second
| might be named. each son and daughter of
which are troubled by chronic brevity of breath,
| There Is a third whose distinguishing pecu-
| larity Is the attribute which the world calls
such a charm of manner" This REGULARITY OF
/ >,
| An ancestor of the present head of the house
| was cOtempory OF Falkland, and ecpsed that
accomplished and interesting nObleman-tO-
wards whom the English public of the present
day Is beginning to entertain something of the
same Kind OF sentiment as experienced by
| the Athenians in the case of Aristides-in ur-
| banity and all cOurty and knightly virtues
He was anything but an Apostle. but it was
| said of him that given a half an hours start,
he could cut out any man In England in the at
fhnn ,sc ,,-rt.,
| rious charm of manner has never been wanting
| To any son or daughter of the race. 1t has ad-
| hered to parents and children with a tenacity
worthy OF the govt. 1t has never found q
| place in any OF Mr. Cations treatises on here
| dlty; but 1t no more departs out of the house.
| hold than have hitherto done the family Jewels
| or the silver spoons and forks. The sciOns Of
| one ancient stock are born to good looks. of
another to good luck, every member of a third
| Is cricketer. and every member of a fourth
| rides peculiar and different hObby-horse Of
| his own or her own. The charm of manner is
| just as tangible an attribute as any other It is
jewel above price; but its virtues are not with
| out certain accompanying perils which are pc
culiarly their own.
1t is said of the present Lord Napier and Et-
| trick that when, at the height of his diplo-
matte popularity. he was asked who was the
pleasantest man in Europe, he naively replied,
II am" The consciousness Of such a reputa-
tiOn Is a tremendous burden: and it is not given
to every enc to bear 1t with the grace and ease
OF our sometime ambassador at st. Petersburg
and Berlin. The individual, to whom the heri-
tage of "a charm of manner descends learns
from earliest years, not that it is his or her duty
to please, but that it is his or her destiny to
please. On every side the set phrase is applied
by parents, brothers, uncles, sisters. cousins
and aunts. Occasionally, the youthful Alci-
biads finds that he is not appreciated at his true
worth: When he is at school rude youths ask
him what he is grinning at, what he means
with his COMPOUNDED simpering ways, and why
he always speaks as If his mouth was full of
plums? But when the strictly academic stage
is reached, all this is different. and the under
graduate exhibits, In unrestraned exuberance,
that power of attraction which Is the admira-
ton OF all men and the secret of rew"