The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-06-30
THE GRAND MANNER
yTHAs PASSED "A WAY, But WITH 1T
HAS CoMEMUCH 10 ADMIRE
Tho World Little Put Out ut Its DE-
nature.

pature'
rbe grand manner has gone from the
world and the world seq ns little put out
at its departure. Time was when II Was
the token at once of breeding and eauca-
lion. Scholarship unadorned with II
was held up to scorn as naked peuan,
try: manners with no touch of the grahu
air could not pass muster IN poille ca
ces; literature saw in 1t the sum anu
substance Of it's being. 1t dld duty ~
a whole lexicon of qualities, put lts ou.-
ward aspect was unmistakaple' cepeiia-
ing upon very simple theory OF society
and human life, There are tWG Glasses
of men, it held--those who attain anu
those who fail. 1t is for the lalter ~
struggle and complain and snow MARKS
Of the conflict but for the former II 10
the first duty to preserve an untroupleo
mien, an elegant composure, an arlSlo-
cratic nonchalance. man IL Ilo'e
Than his work. especially if that man be
a gentleman. Therefore let MIN oe
scribe himself by no narrow protesslolf'
but shine in twenty spheres with d liii0
neglect of each. 1t is for the great law
Yer to be wit, the wit to be States
man, the scholar a man OF fashioh' ~
specialize is to confess oneseiI iiicoinpe'
tent. Let the rank and file make d luss
about their work, but for the master
spirits the grand manner Is the couhsel
of perfection and with 1t came the
chance for a real art of society III men
are TO wear honors and successes lightly
+ha background of ease Will come lnlo
prominence and they will study 10
amuse. And so came that social finesse
which our -grandmothers adored'
those bowings and smirkings winch
their grandchildren scoffed at and the
whole pleasing science of the beau
monde The doctrine was both theory
of human conduct and social law,
preaching at once the arts Oh success
and amusement; and the grand man
ner became the fine flower OF accom-
plished gentility.
The tear Of sensibility may be dropped
over it's tomb, but there can be no ques-
ton of it's revival. 1t belonged to an
age when wealth, leisure, culture ana an
the good things Of life were confined TO
a class. and it dropped and witbered at
the advent of democracy. Our modern
seriousness and our modern business
like air killed it, and they chose the
i, cruelest of weapons. 1t might nave
survived frank opposition, it could not
endure being made to look ridiculous
Then people asked awkward questions.
Were not these often elderly, and gene
rally erudite, butterflies an anachro-
nisn, wanting in earnestness, in pur-
pose, in philosophy of life? Even its
practical side was denied it. Specialists
came to look askance at the scholar VINO
protested to be a man of the world; con-
stituencies suspected politician with a
taste for letters, and attorneys jibed at
the lawyer who had the dangerous rick
of style The populace lost it's admira-
ton for the fine gentleman, and the cap
italist in seeking to copy his ways, cor
rupted the model. Lace and brocade
were INDEPENDENTLY exchanged for
broadcIoth and mo clrintoshcs, and the
world looked complacently on the
change and complimented itself on its
good sense.
But with the rubbish went much that
was admirable At it's best this grand
manner meant an exuberant vitality,
genuine zest for life. It's exponentf
might fail, but they failed gallantly. II
respect which might be ludicrous but
was rarely ignoble. The scholar wh(
spends his life on a textbook may be 6
finer scholar, but we question II he Is 8,
fine a man as his predecessor, who hao
dozen other accomplishments 1t is
better of course, that a politician should
study the housing of the poor or the
drink question than annotate Horace o.
write treatise on taste; but the resul
is too often a poor shrivelled creature
crammed with details but thin in blood
and weak in energy. 1t is all, perhaps
gain for u.s. but are the men them
selves the equal of their forefathers
Once specialization if carried to an ex
treme, was accounted sin against goo
taste; now 1t is the only sure way Of sal
vation OF course the old school wa
wrong we live in stirring practica
age and we should know better. Blu
they had at least, some philosophy t.
justify their fooishness and the loss /
apparent, If not on the market high
ways, at least In the by-paths of life
The history of English society. which
some day the Germans may undertake
will be a study of the decline and fall o
the grand manner. Originally an Eliza
bethan product and nobly typifed II
Sidney and Raleigh, 1t came to maturit
in the seventeenth century. The Suck
ling and the Lovelace school, who wer
at once cavaliers and poets and Lor
Herbert of Cherbury, who was philosc
pher poet, physicist, soldier and BRAY
in one are shining instances of it's best
But the eighteenth century was its hey
day. In that modish world of Rane
lagh and st. James, Brookes' and tn
Cocoa tree, we have a thousand In
stances of its perfection. Let it b
clearly understood what we mean.
was versatility followed as a fashio
and Joined with an affectation of cas-
and indifference, a manner, and not ne
cessarily a character. Most great me
have been many sided, but with tn
gentlemen Of the grand air it was sc
must be hidden from sight. A whol
hierarchy of ACKNOWLEDGMENT, b
lingbroke, Charles ToWnshend-wer
also wits and scholars. A large schoo
from Wilkes to Fox, were also rake
When the city apprentice went down S
James street of morning and saw |
the clear sunshine through the ope
window Fox at cards in his shirtsleeve
and reflected that this man the afte
noon before had made an epoch-makin
speech in the Commons, and had durin
the night in all likelihood, lost TO-