Year: 1878

are told in the outset that nothing can
be more certain than the fact of this de-
cay. The only thing left for an essay.
ist is to explain the causes of such de.
cline. But what is the worth of ex
plantations showing that fine manners
ought to have declined, if their declen-
sion cannot be demonstrated There
has never been period in which this
complaint has not been made. Let US
go back to the extremely formal court
of the Grand Monarch in the seven
teenth century. La Rochefoucauld in
the midst Of it gave forth the maxim
which is now echoed from day to day.
"Most young people fancy that they are
natural when they are only coarse and
i'll bred" 1t is curious fact. too, that
at the very time when we hear this jere-
mind over the decay Of ceremonial in
society. Mr.. Herbert Spencer is writing
series VI articles, in which he shows
that the laws Of manners are elaborated
much more clearly than those of morals
and of government in The earlier stages
of national lite; that in many important
ways the moral laws Of primitive tribes
comes to be based OH established man
ners; and that the excess in manners to
he found in many u royal palace is but
a remnant of barbarism. One must
Judge of fine manners as whole; and
when we bewail some particular loss on
special occasions, ask whether the gem
eral behavior of our people has not been
prodigiously improved and unexpectedly
refined. Our sres in their youth knelt
down to their fathers in the morning to
ask for their blessing, and never ad-
dressed them without the preliminary
Sir" Our sons do nothing
of the kind; the younger children call
their mother the ridiculous nickname of
Mummy" and the father has nick
name among the boys laughable to the
ears Of outsiders, but iull Of tender as
sociations in the inner circle of home.
Yet parents now get quite as much COR
dial respect as they ever did from their
progeny, and perhaps they get even more
affection; while it is an undupitable fact
tina. tle standard of manners through
out all classes of the community has
risen. ...s


We have said that manners must be
considered as whole, and to illustrate
this we ask our leaders to 60 back with
us to the end of the fourteenth century,
when the splendid displays Of chivalry
AMI the fine manners which people are
always lalnentiig were still triumphant.
AT that time the Knight of La Tour
Landry was considered perfect ly,is-
band, the best Of fathers, the very pink
and pattern Of Christian gentleman.
His beloved wife died aad left him
sweet little daughters on his hand. He
wrote Il book for their spiritual nurture,
and got the clergy to help him. One of
our learned societies has recently repub-
lished it, for it is best known through
English translations. 1t is book
which very few men of the present day
can read without loathing. The Knight
of La Tour Landry raked together for
his innocent girls all the tales of unim-
aginable guilt which he could find, and
told them with horrible circumstan-
tiality and plainuess of speech, always
admonishing the young creatures that
this was what they were to avoid. Let
us come to the times of the Comte de
Grammont--the Count D0rsay of his
day. The most polished gentleman of
his age, he had manners which were ir-
resistibe, and which both the English
and French courts tried III vain to imi
tate. But he was card sharper and
swindler. He wanted money; he as.
sembled his friends to meet accomplices;
he locked the doors; he cheated them;
he netted their cash, and then let them
go free. He lost no reputation by it;
he only showed his cleverness; and who
could resist the Count de Grammontl
We go on to the next century, when
still we had good manners; but we had
also gluttony, drunkenness and brutal
ity to an amazing extent. These were
the times when people shut the shutters
and lit the candles long before sunset,
in order that tLey might get comfortably
drunk and roll under the table in their
helplessness. London World.


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AN UNFORTUNATE WoMAN.--A New