of that shocking, awkward trick, of biting yours; but that is not enough:  you must keep the ends of them smooth and clean, not tipped with black, as the ordinary people’s always are.  The ends of your nails should be small segments of circles, which, by a very little care in the cutting, they are very easily brought to; every time that you wipe your hands, rub the skin round your nails backward, that it may not grow up, and shorten your nails too much.  The cleanliness of the rest of your person, which, by the way, will conduce greatly to your health, I refer from time to time to the bagnio.  My mentioning these particulars arises (I freely own) from some suspicion that the hints are not unnecessary; for, when you were a schoolboy, you were slovenly and dirty above your fellows.  I must add another caution, which is that upon no account whatever, you put your fingers, as too many people are apt to do, in your nose or ears.  It is the most shocking, nasty, vulgar rudeness, that can be offered to company; it disgusts one, it turns one’s stomach; and, for my own part, I would much rather know that a man’s fingers were actually in his breech, than see them in his nose.  Wash your ears well every morning, and blow your nose in your handkerchief whenever you have occasion; but, by the way, without looking at it afterward.  There should be in the least, as well as in the greatest parts of a gentleman, ‘les manieres nobles’.  Sense will teach you some, observation others; attend carefully to the manners, the diction, the motions, of people of the first fashion, and form your own upon them.  On the other hand, observe a little those of the vulgar, in order to avoid them:  for though the things which they say or do may be the same, the manner is always totally different:  and in that, and nothing else, consists the characteristic of a man of fashion.  The lowest peasant speaks, moves, dresses, eats, and drinks, as much as a man of the first fashion, but does them all quite differently; so that by doing and saying most things in a manner opposite to that of the vulgar, you have a great chance of doing and saying them right.  There are gradations in awkwardness and vulgarism, as there are in everything else.  ‘Les manieres de robe’, though not quite right, are still better than ‘les manieres bourgeoises’; and these, though bad, are still better than ‘les manieres de campagne’.  But the language, the air, the dress, and the manners of the court, are the only true standard ’des manieres nobles, et d’un honnete homme.  Ex pede Herculem’ is an old and true saying, and very applicable to our present subject; for a man of parts, who has been bred at courts, and used to keep the best company, will distinguish himself, and is to be known from the vulgar by every word, attitude, gesture, and even look.  I cannot leave these seeming ‘minutiae’, without repeating to you the necessity of your carving well; which is an article, little as it is, that is useful twice every day of one’s life; and the doing it ill is very troublesome to one’s self, and very disagreeable, often ridiculous, to others.