When  Mr.  Vesey  was  proposed  as  a  member  of  the  Literary
Club  Mr.  Burke  began  by  saying  that  he  was  a  man  of  gentle
manners.     '  Sir ',    said    Johnson,    '  you    need    say    no    more


Manners  and  Good  Breeding  269

When  you  have  said  a  man  of  gentle  manners  you  have  said
enough.'

Boswell,  Life  of  Johnson  (ed.   1856),  vol.  iv,  p.  26.
There  is  no  Society  or  Conversation  to  be  kept  up  without
Good-nature,  or  something  which  must  bear  its  appearance
and  take  its  place.  For  this  Reason  mankind  have  been  forced
to  invent  a  kind  of  Artificial  Humanity,  which  is  what  we
express  by  the  word  Good  Breeding.  For  if  we  examine  thor-
oughly the  Idea  of  what  we  call  so,  we  shall  find  it  to  be  nothing
else  but  an  Imitation  and  mimicry  of  Good-nature,  as  in  other
Terms,  Affability,  Complaisance  and  Easiness  of  Temper
reduced  into  an  art.
These  exterior  Shows  and  Appearances  of  Humanity  render
a  Man  wonderfully  popular  and  beloved  when  they  are  founded
upon  a  real  good  nature  ;  but  without  it  are  like  Hypocrisy
in  Religion,  or  a  bare  form  of  Holiness  which,  when  it  is  dis-
covered, makes  a  Man  more  detested  than  professed  Impiety.
Addison,   Spectator,   1711,  no.   169.
Dr.  Johnson  insisted  that  politeness  was  of  great  conse-
quence in  society.
