94 MANNEES AKD FASHION. 



question of no moment. He will utter his belief notwith 

 standing the threatened punishment ; he will break conven- 

 tions spite of the petty persecutions that will be visited on 

 him. Show him that his actions are inimical to his fellow- 

 men, and he will pause. Prove that he is disregardiug 

 their legitimate claims — that he is doing what in the nature 

 of things must produce unhappiness ; and he will alter his 

 course. But until you do this — until you demonstrate that 

 his proceedings are essentially inconvenient or inelegant, 

 essentially irrational, unjust, or ungenerous, he will perse- 

 vere. 



Some, indeed, argue that his conduct is unjust and un- 

 generous. They say that he has no right to annoy other 

 people by his whims ; that the gentleman to whom his let- 

 ter comes with no " Esq." appended to the address, and the 

 lady whose evening party he enters with gloveless hands, 

 are vexed at what they consider his want of respect, or want 

 of breeding ; that thus his eccentricities cannot be indulged 

 save at the expense of his neighbours' feelings ; and that 

 hence his nonconformity is in plain terms selfishness. 



He answers that this position, if logically developed, 

 would deprive men of all liberty whatever. Each must 

 conform all his acts to the public taste, and not his own. 

 The public taste on every point having been once ascer- 

 tained, men's habits must thenceforth remain for ever 

 fixed ; seeing that no man can adopt other habits without 

 sinning against the public taste, and giving people disagree- 

 able feelings. Consequently, be it an era of pig-tails or high- 

 heeled shoes, of starched rufi*s or trunk-hose, all must con- 

 tinue to wear pig-tails, high-heeled shoes, starched rufts, or 

 trunk-hose to the crack of doom. 



If it be still urged that he is not justified in breaking 

 through others' forms that he may establish his own, and 

 so sacrificing the wishes of many to the Welshes of one, he 

 replies that all religious and political changes might be 



