90 MANNERS AND FASHION. 



others ; so, if Swift is to .be believed, courtiers are " tha 

 most insignificant race of people that the island can afford, 

 and with the smallest tincture of good manners." 



But perhaps it is in that class of social observances 

 comprehended under the term Fashion, which we must 

 here discuss parenthetically, that this process of corruption 

 is seen with the greatest distinctness. As contrasted with 

 Manners, which dictate our minor acts in relation to other 

 persons. Fashion dictates our minor acts in relation to our- 

 selves. While the one prescribes that part of our deport- 

 ment which directly affects our neighbours ; the other pre- 

 scribes that part of our deportment which is immarily j)er- 

 sonal, and in which our neighbours are concerned only as 

 spectators. Thus distinguished as they are, however, the 

 two have a common source. For while, as we have shown, 

 Manners originate by imitation of f ae behaviour pursued 

 towards the great ; Fashion originates by imitation of the 

 behaviour of the great. While the one has its derivation 

 in the titles, phrases, and salutes used to those in power ; 

 the other is derived from the habits and appearances exhib* 

 ited hy those in power. 



The Carrib mother who squeezes her child's head into 

 a shape like that of the chief; the young savage who makes 

 marks on himself similar to the scars carried by the war- 

 riors of his tribe (which is probably the origin of tattoo- 

 ing) ; the Highlander who adopts the plaid worn by the 

 head of his clan ; the courtiers who affect greyness, or limp, 

 or cover their necks, in imitation of their king ; and the 

 people who ape the courtiers ; are alike acting under a kind 

 of government connate with that of Manners, and, like it 

 too, primarily beneficiaL For notwithstanding the num- 

 berless absurdities into which this copyism has led the j)eo- 

 ple, from nose-rings to ear-rings, from painted faces to 

 beauty-spots, from shaven heads to powdered wigs, from 

 filed teeth and stained nails to bell-girdles, peaked shoes. 



