If You Can Once Engage

This Is The Day When People Reciprocally Offer, And Receive, The Kindest And The Warmest Wishes, Though, In General, Without Meaning Them On One Side, Or Believing Them On The Other. They Are Formed By The Head, In Compliance With Custom, Though Disavowed By The Heart, In Consequence Of Nature.

You Must Be Respectful And Assenting, But Without Being Servile And Abject. You Must Be Frank, But Without Indiscretion, And Close, Without Being Costive. You Must Keep Up Dignity Of Character, Without The Least Pride Of Birth, Or Rank. You Must Be Gay, Within All The Bounds Of Decency And Respect; And Grave, Without The Affectation Of Wisdom, Which Does Not Become The Age Of Twenty. You Must Be Essentially Secret, Without Being Dark And Mysterious. You Must Be Firm, And Even Bold, But With Great Seeming Modesty.

Wit Is So Shining A Quality That Everybody Admires It; Most People Aim At It, All People Fear It, And Few Love It Unless In Themselves. A Man Must Have A Good Share Of Wit Himself To Endure A Great Share Of It In Another.

Most Arts Require Long Study And Application, But The Most Useful Art Of All, That Of Pleasing, Requires Only The Desire.

Any Affectation Whatsoever In Dress Implies, In My Mind, A Flaw In The Understanding.