THE FORCE OF HABIT. 273 



and what was customary he would get without wast- 

 ing his breath. 



I have merely by the above supposed case endea- 

 voured to give some idea of the very different proba- 

 bilities there are of two persons the one a judge and 

 the other not so getting what they want at the 



hands of a dealer I must add, in anything 



and to show how soon the novice and the judge are 

 detected. That the novice will be detected at once 

 is quite clear ; but I will further add, if a man accus- 

 tomed to look at horses was to wish to pass for one 

 who was not, I do not believe he could do it ; a some- 

 thing, an habitual mannerism would detect him : in 

 short, neither party could do anything like the other. 

 Such men as the Marquis of Abercorn and Lord 

 Lonsdale would both probably show the same refined 

 manners at their own tables, and be equally at home 

 at a Levee ; but the former could no more look at a 

 pack of fox-hounds or a stable of hunters in the same 

 way as the latter would, than the latter' s coach-maker 

 could act the part of his noble customer either as 

 host or guest. You could no more tell a man how 

 to act the part of a horseman than you could tell him 

 how to act that of a Gentleman : you may tell him 

 not to commit such atrocities as to eat with his knife, 

 wipe his hands on the table-cloth in lieu of his 

 napkin, eat his soup with his spoon lengthways 

 instead of sideways, or to literally wash his mouth in 

 his finger glass ; but he will not even sit down on his 

 chair like a Gentleman if he is not one ; nor will a 

 novice even walk through a stable like a man used to 

 do so. Habit must give the air of both. If a vulgar 

 man will thrust himself among Gentlemen, he is sure 



VOL. I. T 



