10.  In short, you cannot conceive how advantageous a graceful carriage and a pleasing address are, upon all occasions; they ensnare the affections, steal a prepossession in our favour, and play about the heart till they engage it.

Now to acquire a graceful air, you must attend to your dancing; no one can either sit, stand, or walk well unless he dances well.  And in learning to dance be particularly attentive to the motion of your arms, for a stiffness in the wrist will make any man look aukward.  If a man walks well, presents himself well in company, wears his hat well, moves his head properly and his arms gracefully, it is almost all that is necessary.

11.  There is also an aukwardness in speech, that naturally falls under this head, and ought to, and may be guarded against; such as forgetting names and mistaking one name for another; to speak of Mr. What-d’ye-call him, or, You-know-who, Mrs. Thingum, What’s-her-name, or, How-d’ye-call her, is exceedingly aukward and vulgar.  ’Tis the same to address people by improper titles, as sir for my lord; to begin a story without being able to finish it, and break off in the middle, with “I have forgot the rest.”

12.  Our voice and manner of speaking, too, should likewise be attended to.  Some will mumble over their words, so as not to be intelligible, and others will speak so fast as not to be understood, and in doing this, will sputter and spit in your face; some will bawl as if they were speaking to the deaf:  others will speak so low as scarcely to be heard; and many will put their faces so close to your’s as to offend you with their breath.

13.  All these habits are horrid and disgustful, but may easily be got the better of with care.  They are the vulgar characteristics of a low-bred man, or are proofs that very little pains have been bestowed in his education.  In short, an attention to these little matters is of greater importance than you are aware of; many a sensible man having lost ground for want of these little graces, and many a one possessed of these perfections alone, having made his way through life, that otherwise would not have been noticed.

Cleanliness of Person.

14.  But as no one can please in company, however graceful his air, unless he be clean and neat in his person, this qualification comes next to be considered.

15.  Negligence of one’s person not only implies an unsufferable indolence, but an indifference whether we please or not.  In others, it betrays an insolence and affectation, arising from a presumption that they are sure of pleasing, without having recourse to those means by which many are obliged to use.

16.  He who is not thoroughly clean in his person, will be offensive to all he converses with.  A particular regard to the cleanness of your mouth, teeth, hands and nails, is but common decency.  A foul mouth and unclean hands are certain marks of vulgarity; the first is the cause of an offensive breath, which nobody can bear, and the last is declaratory of dirty work; one may always know a gentleman by the state of his hands and nails.  The flesh at the roots should be kept back, so as to shew the semicircles at the bottom of the nails; the edges of the nails should never be cut down below the ends of the fingers; nor should they be suffered to grow longer than the fingers.