Section Iv.--Manners.

POLITENESS.

Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, President of New-Jersey College, once gave out Politeness, to a division of one of his classes, as a subject for composition. The young gentlemen were delighted with it; and when the time came for reading, some of them expatiated upon it largely, learnedly, and politely. After they had all read, they waited for the President to sum up their observations, and then state his own views. But, he told them, he should only give them a short definition, which they might always remember. "POLITENESS," said he, "IS REAL KINDNESS, KINDLY EXPRESSED." This is the sum and substance of all true politeness; and if my readers will put it in practice, they will be surprised to see how every body will be charmed with their manners.

Good Breeding.

Gassendi was a youth of such extraordinary abilities and attainments as to command universal admiration; but in his manners he was generally silent, never ostentatiously obtruding upon others his own knowledge. He was never in a hurry to give his opinion before he knew that of the persons who were conversing with him. He was never fond of displaying himself.

I knew a young man whose behavior was directly the opposite of Gassendi's: a compound of ignorance, self-conceit, and impudence. He was forward to talk in all companies. His opinion, on all subjects, was cheap--a gift that went a-begging. He could tell the farmer how to till the soil; the mechanic how to use his tools; the merchant, how to make his gains; the doctor, how to cure his patient; the minister, how to preach; and the cook, how to bake her bread. He wanted only a pair of long ears to complete his character.